• Traces how Canada's colonial and national development contributed to modern environmental problems such as urban sprawl, the collapse of fisheries, and climate change
• Includes over 200 photographs, maps, figures, and sidebar discussions on key figures, concepts, and cases
• Offers concise definitions of environmental concepts
• Ties Canadian history to issues relevant to contemporary society
• Introduces students to a new, dynamic approach to the past

Throughout history most people have associated northern North America with wilderness - with abundant fish and game, snow-capped mountains, and endless forest and prairie. Canada's contemporary picture gallery, however, contains more disturbing images - deforested mountains, empty fisheries, and melting ice caps. Adopting both a chronological and thematic approach, Laurel MacDowell examines human interactions with the land, and the origins of our current environmental crisis, from first peoples to the Kyoto Protocol. This richly illustrated exploration of the past from an environmental perspective will change the way Canadians and others around the world think about - and look at - Canada.

A richly illustrated introduction to the burgeoning field of Canadian environmental history.

About the Author
Laurel Sefton MacDowell is a professor of history in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Toronto.

Reviews

MacDowell...mounts an impressive summary of how Canadian history has been rethought from an environment perspective over the last 40 years. She demonstrates this with a copiously illustrated and well-referenced exploration of the evolution of Canada's landscape over millennia...a very accessible text for students and general readers, with excellent maps, illustrations, information boxes, and rich bibliographies for each chapter. Highly recommended.

-- B. Osborne, Queen's University at Kingston * Choice *



Book Information
ISBN 9780774821025
Author Laurel Sefton MacDowell
Format Paperback
Page Count 352
Imprint University of British Columbia Press
Publisher University of British Columbia Press
Weight(grams) 800g