Encyclopedia of the Environment in American Literature

This encyclopedia introduces readers to American poetry, fiction and nonfiction with a focus on the environment (broadly defined as humanity’s natural surroundings), from the discovery of America through the present. The work includes biographical and literary entries on material from early explorers and colonists such as Columbus, Bartolomé de Las Casas and Thomas Harriot; Native American creation myths; canonical 18th- and 19th-century works of Jefferson, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Hawthorne, Twain, Dickinson and others; to more recent figures such as Jack London, Ernest Hemingway, Norman Mailer, Stanley Cavell, Rachel Carson, Jon Krakauer and Al Gore. It is meant to provide a synoptic appreciation of how the very concept of the environment has changed over the past five centuries, offering both a general introduction to the topic and a valuable resource for high school and university courses focused on environmental issues.

Geoff Hamilton is an assistant professor of English literature at York University in Toronto, Canada.
Brian Jones is an independent scholar in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.

Edited by Geoff Hamilton and Brian Jones
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 356
Bibliographic Info: index
Copyright Date: 2013
pISBN: 978-0-7864-6541-5
eISBN: 978-1-4766-0053-6
Imprint: McFarland

Table of Contents

Preface  1
Introduction  3
The Encyclopedia  5
Index  347

“engaging…an enjoyable and reliable resource”—Library Journal; “where this volume is unique is in its broad definition of literature, encompassing formats ranging form oral histories to government policies to the fine arts. Entries are substantial, running at least a full page, and they include bibliographies. Recommended”—Choice; “well-written and well-researched essays”—ARBA; “a welcome addition to libraries seeking materials on the literary environmental movement or nature writing across the disciplines”—Reference Reviews.