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Book Review
| Encyclopedia of World Environmental History. Edited by Shepard Krech, III, J. R. McNeill, and Carolyn Merchant. New York: Routledge, 2004. 3 vols. Illustrations, maps, list of contributors, further reading, index. $495.
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| The editors of this volume set an ambitious goal for themselves: "This Encyclopedia offers a comprehensive, up-to-date, in-depth, worldwide vision of environmental history, on every scale from local to global" (p. x). In many ways, they realize their ambitions. In others, they fall short. Both the successes and shortcomings provide insight into the state of environmental history. |
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The successes are formidable. As should be the case in an encyclopedia, the editors have pulled together an enormous quantity of information. The numbers give some sense of the scale: 3 volumes, 1,429 pages, 520 entries, 20 maps, 111 photos, and 115 sidebars. The categories of topics range widely, from technology and science to religion, from people to nonliving resources, from exploitation to arts, literature, and architecture, and from energy sources to law and regulation. The editors include a useful overview of major topics in environmental history in their introduction. |
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To test coverage, I brainstormed a list of topics and then compared it with the list of entries. The encyclopedia performed well. The 520 essays include longtime favorite topics for environmental historians, such as conservation, preservation, environmentalism, wilderness, hunting and fishing, ecology, dams, National Park Service, Gifford Pinchot, John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Alice Hamilton, Rachel Carson, romanticism, air pollution, water pollution, technology, endangered species, diseases, urbanization, and commodification. |
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Other topics have not played such prominent roles in the field but deserve more attention. Entries on areas outside North America and Europe (still the dominant foci of the field) are good examples. They describe countries in Asia (such as Japan and Philippines), Latin America (such as Brazil and Mexico), and Africa (such as South Africa and Egypt), and Australia and Antarctica. They analyze religions, such as Jainism and Shinto. They include resources, such as manioc, guano, peat, and taro. And they cover natural features, such as the Niger Delta and the Rio de la Plata. Their inclusion speaks highly of the editors' commitment to furthering a global perspective. |
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The essays themselves, written by hundreds of authors, succeed in presenting key ideas clearly and accessibly for a variety of audiences. Many entries cross-reference others, and an index further assists readers in locating topics. Lists of further reading at the end of each essay (typically three to five publications, with more for broader topics) are valuable tools for researchers wanting to pursue topics in depth. |
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A handsome layout shows the encyclopedia's information to advantage. The typeface is a readable size, bold lettering contributes to orienting readers to each page, and white space breaks up what could have been overcrowded pages. |
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This work is so valuable that it should be updated at intervals. The following comments are intended as suggestions for future editions. |
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The Encyclopedia could do more to guide readers through topics. The editors list seventeen general categories of entries in the introduction. In addition to those mentioned in the second paragraph of this review, they include sociocultural resources; biomes, climate, and natural events; economic systems; and eras and civilizations, ancient. All of these groupings are useful and important. |
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