This book describes the emergence of ecological understanding among the English Romantic poets, arguing that this new holistic paradigm offered a conceptual and ideological basis for American environmentalism. Coleridge, Wordsworth, Blake, John Clare, and Mary Shelley all contributed to the fundamental ideas and core values of the modern environmental movement; their vital influence was openly acknowledged by Emerson, Thoreau, John Muir, and Mary Austin. By revealing hitherto unsuspected links between English and American nature writers, this book elucidates the Romantic origins of American environmentalism.

About the Author
JAMES MCKUSICK is Associate Professor of English at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, USA. He is the author of Coleridge's Philosophy of Language and numerous scholarly articles on Coleridge, Byron, and John Clare.


Reviews
'McKusick provides insight into this transatlantic tradition by combining traditional literary analysis with interdisciplinary environmental history.' - Choice 'Green Writing is a splendid and provocative work of socially engaged ecological criticism, offering readers much food for thought.' - Romantic Circle Review



Book Information
ISBN 9780230105614
Author James McKusick
Format Paperback
Page Count 265
Imprint Palgrave Macmillan
Publisher Palgrave Macmillan