Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature

william cronon

In a lead essay that powerfully states the broad argument of the book, William Cronon writes that the environmentalist goal of wilderness preservation is conceptually and politically wrongheaded. Among the ironies and entanglements resulting from this goal are the sale of nature in our malls through the Nature Company, and the disputes between working people and environmentalists over spotted owls and other objects of species preservation.

The problem is that we haven't learned to live responsibly in nature. The environmentalist aim of legislating humans out of the wilderness is no solution. People, Cronon argues, are inextricably tied to nature, whether they live in cities or countryside. Rather than attempt to exclude humans, environmental advocates should help us learn to live in some sustainable relationship with nature. It is our home.

Genres nonfictionenvironmentnaturehistoryphilosophyscienceecologyessaysanthropologysociology

560 pages, Paperback

First published January 1,1995

This edition

Format: 560 pages, Paperback
Published: October 17, 1996 by W. W. Norton \u0026 Company
ISBN: 9780393315110
ASIN: 0393315118
Language: English

About the author

william cronon

William "Bill" Cronon is a noted environmental historian, and the Frederick Jackson Turner and Vilas Research Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He was president of the American Historical Association (AHA) in 2012.