Fiege Book Review In Mark Fiege’s book “The Republic of Nature,” the author embarks on an elaborate, yet eloquent quest to chronicle pivotal points in American history from an environmental perspective. This scholarly work composed by Fiege details the environmental perspective of American history by focusing on nine key moments showing how nature is very much entrenched in the fibers that manifested this great nation. The author sheds light on the forces that shape the lands of America and humanities desire to master and manipulate nature, while the human individual experience is dictated by the cycles that govern nature. The story of the human experience unfolds in Mark Fiege’s book through history’s actors and their challenges amongst an array of environmental possibilities, which led to nature being the deciding factor on how …show more content…
American history and its landscape was shaped. Fiege starts of the book by giving the reader an intimate look at the life and perspective of Abraham Lincoln prior to his presidency in the piece entitled “Land of Lincoln. “The piece starts off by detailing the opening ceremony of the Lincoln Memorial in the ceremony. The author sheds light on how even after the Civil War and the abolishment of slavery, the remnants of the hatred and separation that whites have towards African-Americans is still evident as blacks are not allowed to mingle or access the Lincoln Memorial as whites are able to. Fiege then goes on to describe the Lincoln Memorial as a holy temple of sorts that emanates the boundless and range less possibilities of American liberty and ingenuity. The author chronicles nature’s role in the construction of the Lincoln Memorial material and resource standpoint, and he also raises issues of the political nature as well in the “Land of Lincoln” piece. Mark Fiege’s depiction of Abraham Lincoln’s early years of adulthood in “Nature’s Nobleman,” truly a perspective on what shaped and molded his political views. The manual labor jobs that Lincoln had allowed him to see the burdens and hardships of white Americans were unable to earn a decent wage because of the economic hardships caused by slavery. The literary picture painted by the author chronicles the travels of Lincoln throughout America shows that he was an experienced frontiersman, but it also gave him an objective view of everyone affected by the economic and social injustices of slavery. The author’s tie-ins of nature and the frontier life to both the physical and mental makeup of Lincoln as a man as well thought out by Fiege. Construction of the Lincoln Memorial was Fiege’s opportunity to illustrate the limits bestowed by nature governing Man’s unlimited creativity and ingenuity ultimately leaving nature as a deciding factor in what man is able to accomplish. In the chapters entitled “King Cotton” and “The Nature of Gettysburg” were considerably intertwined due to political pressure from the Union constituents for the Confederacy practices of slavery. In the chapter of “King Cotton” Fiege illustrates the oppressive realities in which the evil nature of slavery is seen through the eyes of Solomon Northup. Northup was born a free man living in upstate New York; he was then kidnapped to Louisiana along with having his identity changed to Platt Epps. The author then drew attention to some of the dehumanizing practices of white slave owners to increase profit margins from the natural resource of cotton. The author also pointed out economic issues due to the abolishment of importation of slaves in 1810 which caused prices to rise to $300-$800 for individuals slave on average. To cope with these economic issues the South reevaluated agricultural techniques by manipulating nature by crossbreeding Mexican, Creole, and Georgia cotton to create a hybrid that will yield a higher profit margin. The author describes in great detail how cotton was indeed King, because it garnered great attention being the number one agricultural cash crop that it was detrimental to all parties involved, the slave owners and most of all the slaves themselves. Lincoln’s perspective on natural resources is that they should not be exploited merely from profitable gain, but should be focus should be driven towards improving and sustaining human life. The cause and effect of stanch opposition to the slave trade led to the battle of Gettysburg that Mark Fiege illustrates in a chapter “The Nature of Gettysburg.” The author chronicles in great detail how nature orchestrated how the Confederacy and the Union used the American landscape as an organic chessboard to wage the most important wars in American history. In the chapter the reader is given perspective on the hardships and biophysical costs for the defecting Confederacy as it embark on a daunting task of defending and maintaining their share of America. The Confederacy’s quest for independence comes with great costs with the loss of land to farm due to erosion that the war has caused which led to many soldiers becoming malnourished and not fit to fight in some cases. The King cash crop of cotton played a key role in bankrolling and funding the Confederacy to wage this war of independence. Fiege illustrates the Confederacy’s inability to sustain their war effort primarily on profits of cotton coupled with their destroyed agricultural system, there was no other choice for general Robert E Lee to take the fight north in search of food and natural resources. This track north for the Confederacy ultimately led them to the deciding battle of the war in Gettysburg Pennsylvania in which led to the Union by capitalizing on the environmental advantage Gettysburg presented. The Union sees the high ground as nature given them the tactical advantage that led to the defeat of the Confederacy. In the next two chapters Fiege uses this transitional period from war to chronicle America’s growth and development from an industrial standpoint by use of natural resources extracted from the environment. This transition starts with the chapter “Iron Horses” the author details the construction of the American railroads during the Industrial Revolution. Fiege immediately draws the reader’s attention to the exponential scope of the railroad construction project in its infancy from the land surveys that took place. American ingenuity was on display as the author described the daunting task of extracting such a railroad that will cross from coast-to-coast over the challenging American terrain. The author illustrated the mindset that the construction of the cross-country railroad would in capsule that once and for all that the union is indeed together. The construction of the railroad was a tumultuous task, and the demand for physical human and biological labor was exponential. The author gives perspective political issues again play a role in the construction of railroads as the legislators argue on key points on which states will have the railroad intersect through them. Political issues with the workforce also arose as Irish workers demanded higher wages which led to Chinese workers being part of the construction of the railroads. Fiege draws close attention to the abundance of resources used to construct the railroad, from timber, to steal, coal, and animal resources such as mules and horses. In the chapter “Atomic Sublime“ Fiege draws attention to all the nature of the elements and resources found construct the atomic bomb, and the eternal nature of man to construct such a polarizing device of destruction. In New Mexico, the United States, Canada, and the United Kingdom compiled a team of the world’s best scientists to create a bomb that would end World War II, and bring what they thought peace to the world. The author draws parallels by showing the mild mannered nature of the scientists, although showing them as real people with compassion they will be ultimately erecting the most destructive weapon in which the world has ever seen. The environmental history of the color line in the 1950s is put on display in “The Road Brown versus The Board.” The author draws perspective to the color line through the life of a young African-American girl named Linda Brown who attended all-black segregated school in Topeka Kansas.
The environmental perspectives drawn in this chapter allows the reader to see just how difficult the daily task of going to school was on Linda. The color line not only kept African-Americans out of the arena of education, but it also hindered their ability to live sufficient lives due to the environmental hardships they endured. The author also shared insight on the African-Americans known as Exodusters, who were freed slaves displaced after the Civil War that migrated to Topeka Kansas that made up the populations of Tennesseetown in Mudtown. The color line dispute came to a head in 1950 with the case of” Brown versus the Board of Education of Topeka.” This controversial case was tried in the Supreme Court with the decision being made to end all segregated schools allowing African-American children to go to the same schools afforded to white
children. The final chapter discussed for the purpose of this review “It’s A Gas,” gives the intimate look at the gasoline shortage of the 1970s and overconsumption of hydrocarbon fuels leading up to today Customers were restless and went to great lengths to obtain gasoline during the shortage of 1973 and 1974. The consumption of fossil fuels in the US rose dramatically leading up to this period in American history due to heavy reliance on mechanical technology. American citizen’s reliance on automobiles consumed the abundance of oil reserves; however World War II and the military-industrial complex that arose during the Cold War consumed the majority of the world found in the United States. With the oil embargo lifted in 1974 by OPEC a Saudi Arabian based corporation, Americans were once again able to purchase gas as they did prior to the storage. Political tension between the United States and Saudi Arabia have escalated leading to Saudi princes funding the terrorist group Al Qaeda who were the perpetrators of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Mark Fiege went to great depths and overall succeeded in composing nature story and prospective on how the landscape of America was shaped. The book itself is ambitious in its effort to depict humanities desire to manipulate a master nature, but also simultaneously coexisting and adhering to the environment in order to benefit from it. In the chapter is “Land of Lincoln” and “Nature’s Nobleman,” a first-person perspective on Abraham Lincoln as a person before he became a political figure. The personal early life experiences of Lincoln endured was carefully depicted by the author to draw prospective on Abraham Lincoln as a humanitarian and a common man before he became president. In the chapter “King Cotton”, the excerpt exemplified the focus and direction in which Fiege’s message of nature being the deciding factor is so profound. As the name of the chapter suggests, cotton was in fact the ruler of the south. With the white man’s constant desire for wealth in expansion, the author explains how African-American slaves were the burden bearers to growth and explanation of this southern cotton empire. The author is attention to sharing the Afro-American struggle and lack of environmental stability that continued into the 20th century with the piece “The Road Brown V. The Board.” I feel the portion of the book that went off track when Fiege went from chronicling the Industrial Revolution in “Iron Horses”, and then jumped to the 1950s with “The Road Brown V. The Board.” I feel a very important segment of American history was left out but not touching on America’s role in World War II and how it managed natural resources. Aside from the fact that the devoted a chapter to illustrating the construction of the atomic bomb during the time period of World War II, I felt a chapter dedicated to how Americans coping in the mainland during WWII would have been essential to this book. Fiege made a bad decision not inserting a chapter discussing the nation galvanizing itself for the war effort, while dealing with the economic recovery after the Great Depression of the early 1930s. Withstanding this oversight made by Fiege he shows the progression of American ingenuity and manipulation of natural resources for the greater good of maintaining, and improving human life.
Testament to his resilience and determination in the face of angry segregationists, Ernest assumed the role of head of his family at the age of sixteen, after his father’s death in 1953. Ernest’s mother, an elementary school teacher, and his younger brother Scott both respected this new allotment Ernest assumed at such a young age. His mother knew it was useless attempting to persuade the headstrong Ernest to reconsider attendance at Little Rock Central High School after he had been selected as one of the nine Negro children to attend. Students were selected based ...
In 1950's America, there was a uprising that would sculpt the world into the place we now inhabit. The particular event in question is one concerning the black communities plight in 1950's America, with names such such as Rosa Parks, Emmett Till and (most importantly), Elizabeth Eckford Heading the list of names who took a stand, and, in turn, made America the place it is today. As the years went by, details of the many riots the segregation incurred were documented. The focus of this essay will be on a particular documentation titled 'The Long Shadow of Little Rock', a book published in 1962 on what happened to Elizabeth Eckford in Little Rock, Arkansas. However, just what can we learn from this Document?
Magoc, Chris J. Environmental Issues in American History: A Reference Guide with Primary Documents. Westport, CT: Greenwood, 2006. Print.
In McLaurin’s hometown of Wade, North Carolina, segregation was obvious and everywhere in daily routines of life. Segregation was often meant to mean that blacks had separate facilities from whites, yet equal. However, this was often not the case. In fact, it was quite opposite. Many times, a public restroom for white was well kept, nice, and clean, whereas if it was for a black, it was dirty and rundown. A good example of the difference in facilities for whites and blacks were the elementary schools McLaurin described. The black elementary school was a one-story frame building, had no lunch program, no indoor plumbing, poor sports equipment, and hardly a playground. The white elementary school however, was a two-story brick building, “a large auditorium and stage, indoor plumbing and modern restrooms, a well-equipped kitchen, and a large dining room in which hot lunches were served daily (23).” It is clear when the two schools are compared against one another, that there is a vast difference in facilities which are for blacks, and those that a...
movement of African American students into predominantly white neighborhood schools and the mixing of two separate but legally equal peoples.
Before the decision of Brown v. Board of Education, many people accepted school segregation and, in most of the southern states, required segregation. Schools during this time were supposed to uphold the “separate but equal” standard set during the 1896 case of Plessy v. Ferguson; however, most, if not all, of the “black” schools were not comparable to the “white” schools. The resources the “white” schools had available definitely exceed the resources given to “black” schools not only in quantity, but also in quality. Brown v. Board of Education was not the first case that assaulted the public school segregation in the south. The title of the case was shortened from Oliver Brown ET. Al. v. the Board of Education of Topeka Kansas. The official titled included reference to the other twelve cases that were started in the early 1950’s that came from South Carolina, Virginia, Delaware and the District of Columbia. The case carried Oliver Brown’s name because he was the only male parent fighting for integration. The case of Brown v. Board o...
Their story started in 1954 when Brown v Board of Education ruled that segregation in schools was unconstitutional. It was the first legal decision that opposed the ‘separate but equal’ doctrine that had become standard since the Plessy v Ferguson case in 1896 which propagated segregation: “'separate' facilities provided for blacks and whites were legally acceptable provided that they were of an 'equal' standard” (Kirk, “Crisis at Central High”). Little Rock, Arkansas, was on...
The case started with a third-grader named Linda Brown. She was a black girl who lived just seen blocks away from an elementary school for white children. Despite living so close to that particular school, Linda had to walk more than a mile, and through a dangerous railroad switchyard, to get to the black elementary school in which she was enrolled. Oliver Brown, Linda's father tried to get Linda switched to the white school, but the principal of that school refuse to enroll her. After being told that his daughter could not attend the school that was closer to their home and that would be safer for Linda to get to and from, Mr. Brown went to the NAACP for help, and as it turned out, the NAACP had been looking for a case with strong enough merits that it could challenge the issue of segregation in pubic schools. The NAACP found other parents to join the suit and it then filed an injunction seeking to end segregation in the public schools in Kansas (Knappman, 1994, pg 466).
Education has long been regarded as a valuable asset for all of America's youth. Yet, for decades, the full benefits of education were denied to African Americans as a result of the prevailing social condition of Jim Crowism. Not until the verdict in Brown V the Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, would this denial be acknowledged and slowly dismantled.
The Conservation movement was a driving force at the beginning of the twentieth century. It was a time during which Americans were coming to terms with their wasteful ways, and learning to conserve what they quickly realized to be limited resources. In the article from the Ladies’ Home Journal, the author points out that in times past, Americans took advantage of what they thought of as inexhaustible resources. For example, "if they wanted lumber for their houses, rails for their fences, fuel for their stoves, they would cut down half a forest at a time; and whatever they could not use or sell they would leave to rot on the ground. They never bothered their heads to inquire where more wood was coming from when this was gone" (33). The twentieth century opened with a vision towards the future, towards preserving the land that had previously been taken for granted. The Conservation movement came along around the same time as one of the first major waves of the feminist movement. With the two struggles going on: one for the freedom of nature and the other for the freedom of women, it stands to follow that they coincided. As homemakers, activists, and citizens of the United States of America, women have had an important role in Conservation.
In September 1957, nine African American high school students set off to be the first African American students to desegregate the all white Central High School. The six agirls and the three boys were selected by their brightness and capability of ignoring threats of the white students at Central High. This was all part of the Little Rock school board’s plan to desegregate the city schools gradually, by starting with a small group of kids at a single high school. However, the plan turned out to be a lot more complex when Governor Orval Faubus decided not to let the nine enter the school.
Mary Mebane used her own experience on the bus to show how segregation affected her life. Mary Mebane points out, white people “could sit anywhere they choose, even in the colored section. Only the black passengers had to obey segregation laws.” When Mebane was young, she saw a conflict on the bus. The driver asked a black person who sat in the ‘no-man’s-land’ to move back to colored section to give the seat for the white person who was standing on the bus because the bus was full. Segregation on the bus represented how white people unequally treat black people. When black people refused this driver to move, the driver try to send them to police. Black people were living in the shadow of racism and segregation at that time. However, that situation still affects school system and community now. Mebane asserts, “It was a world without option.” Black people have lower economic and social status because they are restricted to a small box because of segregation. “In Six Decades After Brown Ruling, in US Schools Still Segregated”, Dexter Mullins claims that in some schools like Valley West Elementary School in Houston, about 90% of people are not white people. These kinds of schools do not have enough funds to support adequate school resource to these students, and these students have lower opportunities to contact with cultural diversity. Both reasons negatively impact on the
The United States continued to assimilate and provide greater opportunities for African-Americans, on May 17, 1954, the United States Supreme Court handed down its decision regarding the case called Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas, in which the plaintiffs charged that the education of black children in separate public schools from their white counterparts was unconstitutional. The opinion of the Court stated that the "segregation of white and colored children in public schools has a detrimental effect upon the colored children”. This historic discission further inflamed the racest in the south, and many ...
The prevailing presence of white politicians in the American government during the period of civil unrest prolonged difficulties. Heavy prejudice and racism dominated an individual’s judgement upon African Americans as their fight for equal rights were just beginning in the 1950s. The landmark lawsuit of Brown vs. Board of Education in 1954 “fueled an intransigent, violent resistance during which Southern states used a variety of tactics to evade the law” ("The Civil Rights Act of 1964: A Long Struggle for Freedom Civil Rights Era (1950–1963)). Previously, children had to go to school separately, which led to the creation of a separate school for African Americans that was controlled by whites. The education and materials for colored children were considerably lacking in comparison, which they found themselves in – “without a good education” as a result a “poor education lifestyle for the African Americans”(Trueman, Chris
In American Literature many authors write about nature and how nature affects man's lives. In life, nature is an important part of people. Many people live, work, or partake in revelry in nature. Nature has received attention from authors spanning several centuries. Their attitudes vary over time and also reflect the different outlooks of the authors who chose to discuss this important historical movement. A further examination of this movement, reveals prevalence of nature's influence on man and how it affects their lives.