Books
Discovering the Unknown Landscape
A History of America's Wetlands
Anne Vileisis
Excellent historical account of America's evolving political approach to managing wetlands.
The Plough that Broke the Steppes:
Agriculture and Environment on Russia's Grasslands, 1700-1914.
David Moon
The US wasn't the first to have a dustbowl - Russia had one almost a century earlier and became the birthplace of soil science.
Nature’s Metropolis:
Chicago and the Great West.
William Cronon
Chicago , and much of the American midwest, was founded on wetlands. A thorough, and engaging history of how they fueled US economic development.
Mosquito Empires:
Ecology and War in the Greater Caribbean.
J.R. McNeil
How disease carrying microbes have shaped post-Columbian history in the Americas.
A Natural History of Quiet Waters
Curtis J. Badger
Short and accessible. Packed with interesting tales and little known wetland facts.
Dirt
The ecstatic skin of the earth.
William Bryant Logan
Logan brings soil alive in masterful and pungent work. Full of astonishing facts about the world under our feet.
Rambunctious Garden
Saving Nature in a Post-Wild World.
Emma Marris
There's no going back to truly pristine, natural environments, if they ever existed. Marris provides a refreshing path forward not to reclaim nature, but be part of it.
Dark Eden
The swamp in nineteenth-century American culture.
David C. Miller
A challenging read that sheds light on the dark call of the wild.
Field Notes from a Catastrophe
Man, Nature and CLimate Change.
Elizabeth Kolbert
Kolbert personalizes climate change. The Dutch boy with his (or her) finger in the dike has a name, and a story.
Air
The restless shape of the world.
William Bryant Logan
Logan's other book, possibly more engaging and entertaining than Dirt. You'll be shocked to find out what is in the invisible air we breathe.
Crimes against Nature:
Squatters, Poachers, Thieves, and the Hidden History of American Conservation.
Karl Jacoby
National Parks didn't start as pristine, untouched lands. We had to kick people out.
The Big Muddy:
An Environmental History of the Mississippi River and Its Peoples from Hernando de Soto to Hurricane Katrina.
Christopher Morris
The Mississippi River used to be home to a large, thriving wetland based culture. We thought we could control her with levees...
Wetlands of the American Midwest:
A Historical Geography of Changing Attitudes.
Hugh C. Prince
Wetlands as commodities.
The New Wild
Why Invasive Species with be Nature's Salvation.
Fred Pearce
We spend much of our wilderness protection resources fighting invasive species. Pearce asks why.
Lab Girl
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Hope Jahren
An autobiographical story about the life of a contemporary scientist. It is a crazy, unexpected world, much like the the science discoveries themselves.
The New Wild
Why Invasive Species with be Nature's Salvation.
Fred Pearce
We spend much of our wilderness protection resources fighting invasive species. Pearce asks why.
The Botany of Desire
A Plant's-Eye View of theWorld
Michael Pollan
What if it's plants that have domesticated us?
Microbe Hunters
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Paul de Kruif
In 1670(ish) Antony Leeuwenhoek invented the microscope in his basement. Since then the microscopic world has gotten a whole lot bigger.
Guns, Germs and Steel
The Fates of Human Societies
Jared Diamond
An ambitious, sweeping history of the development of human civilization.
Discovering the Unknown Landscape
A History of America's Wetlands
Anne Vileisis
Excellent historical account of America's evolving political approach to managing wetlands.