Arcadian America : the death and life of an environmental tradition / Aaron Sachs.

Main entry:

Sachs, Aaron (Aaron Jacob)

Title & Author:

Arcadian America : the death and life of an environmental tradition / Aaron Sachs.

Publication:

Description:

xi, 484 pages : illustrations, map ; 24 cm.

Series:

New directions in narrative history

Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Prologue : waterfalls and cemeteries -- Common shade : cultivating a place for death -- The middle landscapes of New England culture -- Sleepy Hollow : a young nation in repose -- Stumps -- Three men of the middle border (part one) : twilight -- Three men of the middle border (part two) : American homelessness -- Atlantis : Arcadia and Armageddon -- Epilogue : American Gothic; or death by landscape.

Summary:

"Perhaps America's best environmental idea was not the national park but the garden cemetery, a use of space that quickly gained popularity in the mid-nineteenth century. Such spaces of repose brought key elements of the countryside into rapidly expanding cities, making nature accessible to all and serving to remind visitors of the natural cycles of life. In this unique interdisciplinary blend of historical narrative, cultural criticism, and poignant memoir, Aaron Sachs argues that American cemeteries embody a forgotten landscape tradition that has much to teach us in our current moment of environmental crisis. Until the trauma of the Civil War, many Americans sought to shape society into what they thought of as an Arcadia--not an Eden where fruit simply fell off the tree, but a public garden that depended on an ethic of communal care, and whose sense of beauty and repose related directly to an acknowledgement of mortality and limitation. Sachs explores the notion of Arcadia in the works of nineteenth-century nature writers, novelists, painters, horticulturists, landscape architects, and city planners, and holds up for comparison the twenty-first century's--and his own--tendency toward denial of both death and environmental limits. His far-reaching insights suggest new possibilities for the environmental movement today and new ways of understanding American history"-- Provided by publisher.

Resources:
Book review (H-Net)

ISBN:

9780300176407 (hardback)
0300176406 (hardback)
9780300205886 (pbk.)
0300205880 (pbk.)

Subject:

Cemeteries United States History 19th century.
Cemeteries Social aspects United States.
Cemeteries Environmental aspects United States.
Arcadia in literature.
Arcadia in art.
Environmentalism Social aspects United States.
Environmental responsibility United States.
Cimetières États-Unis Histoire 19e siècle.
Cimetières Aspect social États-Unis.
Cimetières Aspect de l'environnement États-Unis.
Environnementalisme Aspect social États-Unis.
Responsabilité environnementale États-Unis.
HISTORY Social History.
HISTORY United States 19th Century.
ARCHITECTURE Landscape.
SOCIAL SCIENCE Death & Dying.
Family and Relationships.
Cemeteries
Cemeteries Environmental aspects
Environmental responsibility
Environmentalism Social aspects
United States

Form/genre:

History

Added entries:

New directions in narrative history.

Holdings:

Location: Library main 282669
Call No.: BIB 220365
Status: Available

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