holyoutlaw

Here are some links to materials that I read while at Antioch that influenced my thoughts and practices. In many cases, they brought to the fore ideas that had been developing in my hindbrain.

On changing views of “wilderness”: The Trouble with Wilderness, or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature by William Cronon. William Cronon also wrote Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West, an environmental history of Chicago that basically invented the field of urban environmental history.

On seeing nature in the city: “Thirteen Ways of Seeing Nature in LA” part one and part two, by Jenny Price. Also recommended: Flight Maps: Adventures with Nature in Modern America.

On the zoöpolis: Crow Planet: Essential Wisdom from the Urban Wilderness by Lyanda Lynn Haupt. Here is a link to her blog.

Seattle’s Native American and environmental histories:
Native Seattle: Histories from the Crossing-Over Place (Weyerhaeuser Environmental Books) by Coll Thrush. The Denny party was welcomed to Alki by Seattle’s Native American residents, but then they drop out of most histories of the city, except for an occasional appearance when someone dies. This book looks through all of Seattle’s native history, from before the Denny Party arrival to the present day. Of course it’s a much more complex subject than you first think.

Emerald City: An Environmental History of Seattle (Lamar Series in Western History) by Matthew Klingle. The environmental history of Seattle is also much more complex than you might first think. Everyone remembers the Denny regrade, but that was just the most spectacular of several regrades that happened all over the city. How the city’s coastline came to be, and how the Duwamish came to be so straight, are also topics that I found fascinating to read about.

On allowing kids to roam in nature: The Geography of Childhood (Concord Library) by Stephen Trimble and Gary Paul Nabhan. Having grown up in Chicago, where there was little or no opportunity for nature studies, I had an initial resistance to this book. But I think the important part, whether the roaming happens in the city or in nature, is that children do not get the free roaming that kids in my generation and before used to get.

Mirrored from Nature Intrudes. Please comment over there.