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Book Review
| Public History and the Environment. Edited by Martin V. Melosi and Philip V. Scarpino. Malabar, Fla.: Krieger Publishing Co., 2004. xiv + 291 pp. Illustrations, maps, bibliography, index. Cloth $38.50.
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| The aim of this diverse collection of fifteen essays is for the authors to "examine the interplay between public and environmental history through the lens of their own professional experiences" (p. vii). Most of the authors appear to be public historians rather than environmental, and the main audience also appears to be public historians. That said, there ought to be much here to interest both public and environmental historians. The chapters are organized into six sections: Landscape; Cultural Resources Management; Litigation Support and Environmental Remediation; Museums, Media, and Historical Societies; Policy Analysis; and Environment at the Grassroots. These represent different strands, opportunities and approaches in public history, each with potentially strong environmental history components. |
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Among the chapter highlights are David Glassberg on "Interpreting Landscapes," Lisa Mighetto on "Researching Endangered Species," Alan Newell on the "Environmental Historian as Expert Witness," Craig Colten on "Hazardous Waste and Environmental Remediation," Christopher Clarke on "Museums, the Environment, and Public History," Martin Reuss on "Historians and Federal Environmental Policy" through eight key questions for addressing the context of environmental policy, and Susan Flader on "Environmental History at the Grassroots: The Missouri State Parks Experience" which interestingly and usefully illustrates the confluence of environmental and public history with grassroots organizing. |
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In their introduction, the editors note that environmental history is "creative and innovative" and "treats the relationship between humans and their physical environment over time" (p. viii), yet has not had much influence on public decision making and policy. A paragraph later, less explicitly, the editors seem to imply that public history has yet to achieve the scholarly breadth and depth of environmental history but is much better at reaching a variety of audiences. Some public history practitioners go as far as to advocate two-way communication and collaboration with the public in research. The editors see many unrealized "exciting possibilities" in the joining of these two strengths. And they suggest environmental history should be more a mode of thinking rather than a field of study for public history practitioners. No doubt both have their strengths and there is something for at least both public and environmental historians in the ideas and cases presented. |
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A good number of relevant figures and photos are included as well as a useful index. It is unfortunate that there are regular, if not extremely frequent, typos throughout the book. Most importantly, the breadth and diversity of the papers calls out for a concluding summary and conclusions that would have offered more than the editors' interesting, but short, introduction. This is a very diverse set of essays, containing some excellent experience and ideas. More might have been made of them, and hopefully many readers will make more of them. |
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Scott Slocombe is professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario. |
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