Collaborative archaeology and the lasting character of a historic Black communityThe Archaeology of Race and Class at Timbuctoo is the first book to examine the historic Black community of Timbuctoo, New Jersey, which was founded in 1826 by formerly enslaved migrants from Maryland and served as a stop on the Underground Railroad. In collaboration with descendants and community members, Christopher Barton explores the intersectionality of life at Timbuctoo ...

This book explores the history of children’s toys and games bearing racial stereotypes, and the role these objects played in the creation and maintenance of structures of racialism and racism in the United States, from approximately 1865 to the 1930s. This time period is one in which the creation of structures of childhood and children’s socialization into race was fostered. Additionally, commodities, like toys, were didactic and disciplinary media in the creation, modification and reprodu...

Why are African Americans so underrepresented when it comes to interest in nature, outdoor recreation, and environmentalism? In this thought-provoking study, Carolyn Finney looks beyond the discourse of the environmental justice movement to examine how the natural environment has been understood, commodified, and represented by both white and black Americans. Bridging the fields of environmental history, cultural studies, critical race studies, and geography, Finney argues that the legacie...

The book that launched environmental history, William Cronon's Changes in the Land, now revised and updated.Winner of the Francis Parkman PrizeIn this landmark work of environmental history, William Cronon offers an original and profound explanation of the effects European colonists' sense of property and their pursuit of capitalism had upon the ecosystems of New England. Reissued here with an updated afterword by the author and a ne...

A lively account of the dinosaur's role in Gilded Age America, examining the connection between business, paleontology, and museums.Although dinosaur fossils were first found in England, a series of dramatic discoveries during the late 1800s turned North America into a world center for vertebrate paleontology. At the same time, the United States emerged as the world's largest industrial economy, and creatures like Tyrannosaurus, Brontosaurus, and

Men in the Public Eye reveals why men's domination in and of the public sphere is a vital feature of gender relations in patriarchy. It also shows how public domains dominate private domains, contributing to the intensification of public patriarchies. Jeff Hearn explores these important issues by focusing on the period 1870-1920, when there was massive growth and transformation in the power of the public domains. He demonstrates that these historical debates and dilemmas are still relevant...

Humans have always been influenced by natural landscapes, and always will be—even as we create ever-larger cities and our developments fundamentally change the nature of the earth around us. In Human Ecology, noted city planner and landscape architect Frederick Steiner encourages us to consider how human cultures have been shaped by natural forces, and how we might use this understanding to contribute to a future where both nature and people thrive.Human ecology is the stu...

The timeless and essential anthology of Black Feminist thought—showing that Black women have always understood the need for feminism to be intersectional“In this pathbreaking collection of articles, Dr. Beverly Guy-Sheftall has taken us from the early 1830s to contemporary times. . . . She has refused to cut off contemporary African American women from the long line of sisters who have righteously struggled for the liberation of African American women from ...

Association for Humanist Sociology 2007 Book Award co-winnerJulian Steward Award 2006 Runner-UpOne community's fight against industrial contamination and environmental racismOver the past two decades, environmental racism has become the rallying cry for many communities as they discover the contaminations of toxic chemicals and industrial waste in their own backyards.Living next door to factories and industr...

American political scientist Robert Putnam wasn’t the first person to recognize that social capital – the relationships between people that allow communities to function well – is the grease that oils the wheels of society. But by publishing Bowling Alone, he moved the debate from one primarily concerned with family and individual relationships one that studied the social capital generated by people’s engagement with the civic life.Putnam drew heavily on the critical think...

With a basis in environmental history, this groundbreaking study challenges the idea that a meaningful attachment to nature and the outdoors is contrary to the black experience. The discussion shows that contemporary African American culture is usually seen as an urban culture, one that arose out of the Great Migration and has contributed to international trends in fashion, music, and the arts ever since. But because of this urban focus, many African Americans are not at peace with their r...

The People, Place, and Space Reader brings together the writings of scholars, designers, and activists from a variety of fields to make sense of the makings and meanings of the world we inhabit. They help us to understand the relationships between people and the environment at all scales, and to consider the active roles individuals, groups, and social structures play in creating the environments in which people live, work, and play. These readings highlight the ways in which spac...