Rec Request: Non-fiction about Cities and Nature

[forestofglory]

So it occurred to me that if I want to write more about nature and/or the built environment maybe it would be good to read more about those topics too. So thought I’d ask for recs. I sometimes have trouble reading the latest planning and ecology news because a lot of it is depressing and/or terrifying. At work I end up reading a lot of new articles about the Bay Area housing crisis and it wears me down after a while. But I’m sure there’s good stuff out there that I’m missing.

Here’s a couple of things along these lines that I’ve liked to give you an idea of what I have read on these topics recently. (And also because even when I’m asking for recs I love to give recs -- sorry!)

“Knowing Prairies” by Liz Anna Kozik This short graphic essay is an excellent introduction to some key conflicts in restoration ecology.

Braiding Sweetgrassby Robin Wall Kimmerer This book of essays by biologist and member of the Citizen Potawatomi Nation about blending indigous and western ways of knowing is amazing about inspiring.

Trying Leviathan: The Nineteenth-Century New York Court Case That Put the Whale on Trial and Challenged the Order of Nature by D. Graham Burnett This book is framed around a trial but its really a detailed dive into how people in 1818 NYC thought about whales a topic I found utter fansinating

Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West by William Cronon This book blew my mind when I first read it. It is all about how the city is connected to the countryside, and explains how the expansion of the US frontier was driven but cities.

The Color of Law: A Forgotten History of How Our Government Segregated America by Richard Rothstein This detailed history of segregation in the US is really good but also very depressing.

Ok, most of those are book length, but I'll happy take recs for shorter things or sequential art.

Comments

[frith_in_thorns]

I enjoyed Collapse by Jared Diamond recently!

[forestofglory]

Thank you! I've read some of Diamond's books and enjoyed them so I will look into this one.

[monksandbones]

OMG, Nature's Metropolis blew my mind too when I read it in grad school!

You might enjoy some of the books I've been reading lately. Both Harley Rustad, Big Lonely Doug: The Story of One of Canada's Last Great Trees (House of Anansi Press, 2018) and John Vaillant, The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed (Knopf Canada, 2006) deal with issues of old growth forest logging and conservation on the BC coast, and the difficult balance between employment and economic opportunity, conservation, and issues of indigenous sovereignty.

[forestofglory]

Thank you! Those both sound fascinating!

[riventhorn]

I did my PhD with a focus on environmental history (same field that William Cronon is in), so I could give you lots and lots of recs, but here are a few. Note that the Taylor book is massive and better as a reference and starting place for learning about various topics and finding other books about them.


Klingle, Matthew W. Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle. New Haven: Yale
University Press, 2007.

Taylor, Dorceta E. The Environment and the People in American Cities, 1600-1900. Durham,
NC: Duke University Press, 2009.

Orsi, Jared. Hazardous Metropolis: Flooding and Urban Ecology in Los Angeles. 2004.

Kelman, Ari. A River and Its City: The Nature of Landscape in New Orleans. 2003.

Hirt, Sonia A. Zoned in the USA: The Origins and Implications of American Land-Use
Regulation. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2014.

[forestofglory]

Environmental History is so cool! My masters thesis ended up having an environmental history component.

This looks like a great list to get me started. (And honestly now that I'm not in grad school I read this kind of thing pretty slowly though I'm trying to be better)

[swingandswirl]

Funnily enough, this was also on my feed! I'm not sure it's directly relevant, but I thought it was very interesting: https://bigthink.com/strange-maps/marchettis-constant?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

As far as city biographies go, I read and enjoyed The Seven Ages Of Paris by Alastair Horne. Mind, best as I can tell, the history of Paris can be summed up as: things built, revolution, things burned, things were rebuilt, rinse lather and repeat. I recall it being an interesting, accessible book, though.

[forestofglory]

Thank you!

A much wider remit

[jesse_the_k]

But Charles C Mann's history of the Columbian Exchange is just mindblowing. Very readable, full of nifty ideas, includes an accessible critique of historiographic trends.

1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus
and
1493: Uncovering the New World That Columbus Created

Re: A much wider remit

[forestofglory]

Thanks! I've read 1493 and it had so much humans being cruel to each other than I found it a bit hard going even though it was a really interesting topic. I should read 1491 though.

Re: A much wider remit

[jesse_the_k]

I feel you on the cruelty in 1493. The earlier book is somewhat less savage, and theorizes how the rain forest was actually gardened/managed before the Spanish started tearing up South America.

Re: A much wider remit

[forestofglory]

Good to know. That bit about the amazon sounds extremely cool!

[lunabee34]

You might be interested in Spell of the Sensuous; here's my goodreads review: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/2325247079

[forestofglory]

Oh that looks really interesting, thank you!

[dolorosa_12]

For nature writing, I strongly recommend the nonfiction of Robert MacFarlane. His books are wonderful.

[forestofglory]

Thank you! My library has couple of his books so I've placed a hold on Landmarks -- because that came up 1st and looks great!

[alchimie]

I was also going to rec Landmarks -- I just finished it and it is absolutely beautiful, and he recommends a ton of other books within it that also sound amazing.