Chronology of Americans and the Environment

Gr 8 Up—The hundreds of entries in this detailed (but rather small font) time line are divided into chapters by century and labeled according to topic; categories are as broad as "Air Pollution" and "Public Health" and as narrow as "Cattle" and "Fur Trade." The entries are similarly varied. A few, such as the first, which notes the emergence of homo sapiens in Africa, provide necessarily bare-bones facts. Most others though, chronicling for example the reactions to the felling of a California giant sequoia in 1852; 1906 slaughterhouse reform as a result of the outcry around Upton Sinclair's The Jungle; and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill (the last entry), are longer and provide more social context. There are a few black-and-white reproductions of photographs and drawings. Of more value are the frequent sidebars, which excerpt, for instance, Chief Tecumseh's views on how Native Americans could protect their lands. Adding to the presentation are a rich index and a lengthy bibliography that includes an annotated website listing.