The Republic of Nature: An Environmental History of the United States

By: Mark Fiege

Narrated by: William Bahl

Length: 19 hrs and 31 mins

Publisher's Summary

In the dramatic narratives that comprise The Republic of Nature, Mark Fiege reframes the canonical account of American history based on the simple but radical premise that nothing in the nation's past can be considered apart from the natural circumstances in which it occurred. Revisiting historical icons so familiar that schoolchildren learn to take them for granted, he makes surprising connections that enable readers to see old stories in a new light.

Among the historical moments revisited here, a revolutionary nation arises from its environment and struggles to reconcile the diversity of its people with the claim that nature is the source of liberty. Abraham Lincoln, an unlettered citizen from the countryside, steers the Union through a moment of extreme peril, guided by his clear-eyed vision of nature's capacity for improvement. In Topeka, Kansas, transformations of land and life prompt a lawsuit that culminates in the momentous civil rights case of Brown v. Board of Education.

By focusing on materials and processes intrinsic to all things and by highlighting the nature of the United States, Fiege recovers the forgotten and overlooked ground on which so much history has unfolded.

The book is published by University of Washington Press.

©2012 University of Washington Press (P)2018 Redwood Audiobooks

Critic Reviews

"Extraordinary: beautifully written, ambitious in its arguments, and impressive in scope and scholarship. . . a compelling and ambitious study of American history." (Journal of American History)

"Will undoubtedly leave an imprint on the field of environmental history and beyond." (Northwest Quarterly)

"Is an incredibly ambitious and completely unprecedented book… The intended audience is wide, and this book invites the broadest consideration and debate." (Isis)

Justice done through a good quality narration <3

I dont know why some are saying the problem they have found about the narration quality !!! I strongly believe that the quality and the voice justify the audiobook thoughts live. Now come to the book materials which is about Environmental History of the United States. In scanning American history, Fiege encourages us to find the intermingling of people and nature wherever we look. As he notes in his introduction, where he takes readers on a tour of the Lincoln Memorial, “What you see is the product of a long process in which the republic extracted resources from its landscape and rearranged them in a record of change over time. Everything before you contains an element of the natural, whether marble, trees, or grass, humid air or damp bodies, or the Smoky Bear hats and green uniforms of National Park Service rangers”

So much history has unfolded

In this audiobook we have found that the author Fiege recovers the forgotten and overlooked ground on which so much history has unfolded. This is an amazing audible to get much more depth knowledge about the historical moments. So many thanks for sharing.

History of the America

This book explores the cultural background of American land use and the history from Native American control through our own. Don't expect all shrubs; the insight into native cultures that inspired their use of the land is very deep and far-reaching.

Completely unprecedented book

Amazing book if you need tht extra motivation to become an entrepreneur. Is bigger than i thought but also looks amazing. The audio quality is superb and the design inside is amazing.

Highlights human–environment

Each of these revised appraisals highlights human–environment interconnections. As the book's title suggests, the key to Fiege's interpretation is to recognize the role of nature in shaping the stories we tell about the past.

An inspiration

As close as you'll get to integrity and honesty in a business book. An inspiration. Listen it. Change your business thoughts.

Range of possibilities

The ultimate limit on that range of possibilities, and thus the final determinant of human history, is nature

Welcome antidote to historical narratives

Fiege is simply incorporating many elements of geography's grand human–land tradition and in the process he produces a welcome antidote to historical narratives bereft of connections with the natural world.

The rise of environmental history

The logic of social history had an equally important formative influence on the rise of environmental history

To recognize the role of nature

Revisiting environmental history's two core tasks reveals the strengths and the limitations of the hybrid turn.

The narrative style works well

Refreshingly, Fiege calls his approach a way to “open conversation, not end it” , and that is what this book does. As a audiobook, it will make a superb addition to many traditional American history courses. More broadly, as an invitation to share ideas about how to examine human–land relationships and incorporate these into ways we think about the past, Fiege's book succeeds in suggesting more common ground between the disciplines of history and geography.

About the history of conservation

Despite the book's ambitious subtitle, he does not attempt a grand singular narrative of American history. Nor does he merely revisit episodes in the nation's past traditionally focused on by environmental historians. To his credit, Fiege reexamines some of the singular iconic moments in the nation's history that commonly appear in all the audiobooks, but he does so through his interpretive lens that places nature center stage in the drama. In most cases, the narrative style works well.

Make us aware of what happened!

When environmental historians have looked at mining, they have tended to focus on its environmental consequences.

The evolution of public lands

Author might be underestimating the enduring addiction we have to the Carboniferous world beneath our feet but to be honest he is right to do so.

The growth of environmental legislation

Although the pedagogical purpose of Fiege's book is obvious, Fiege's narrative also suggests his own broader agenda for the field of environmental history.

Scholarly Enterprises

The field had its roots in several venerable scholarly enterprises—including the historiography of the American frontier, traditional American studies, the Annales school, historical geography, cultural ecology, and the political history of conservation—but it coalesced with the rise of the environmental movement in the 1960s and 1970s, catalyzed by a growing sense that solving national and global environmental problems required a historical perspective.

American environmental history scholarship

Author wants to turn to that world to examine several vital areas of American environmental history scholarship

Environmentalism as a movement

Historians have given us only a partial portrait of postwar environmentalism as a movement, and environmental historians are just beginning to contend with the complicated relationship between the environmental-management state and conservatism.

Evidence in nature matter

To gather evidence in nature matter it seems a modest request well worth pondering. Depth in learning and thoughtfull options.

Atomic Sublime

The following chapter explores parallel topics seventy years later as Fiege creatively wrestles with both the wonder and terror of developing the Bomb and a whole new form of energy.