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Available From UC Press
American Perceptions of Immigrant and Invasive Species
Strangers on the Land
Sometimes by accident and sometimes on purpose, humans have transported plants and animals to new habitats around the world. Arriving in ever-increasing numbers to American soil, recent invaders have competed with, preyed on, hybridized with, and carried diseases to native species, transforming our ecosystems and creating anxiety among environmentalists and the general public. But is American anxiety over this crisis of ecological identity a recent phenomenon? Charting shifting attitudes to alien species since the 1850s, Peter Coates brings to light the rich cultural and historical aspects of this story by situating the history of immigrant flora and fauna within the wider context of human immigration. Through an illuminating series of particular invasions, including the English sparrow and the eucalyptus tree, what he finds is that we have always perceived plants and animals in relation to ourselves and the polities to which we belong. Setting the saga of human relations with the environment in the broad context of scientific, social, and cultural history, this thought-provoking book demonstrates how profoundly notions of nationality and debates over race and immigration have shaped American understandings of the natural world.
Peter Coates is Reader in American and Environmental History in the Department of Historical Studies at the University of Bristol, UK. Among his books is Nature: Western Attitudes Since Ancient Times (UC Press).
"Anyone who thinks worry about invasive species is a new phenomenon should think again! Coates depicts a 19th century America awash in fear of starlings, English sparrows, Hessian flies, gypsy moths, and tree-of-heaven. This is a scholarly yet lively review of the factors that have shaped attitudes towards introduced species, replete with innumerable vignettes of surprising critics and defenders of various new arrivals. Any aficionado of invasions will be enthralled."—Dan Simberloff, author of Strangers in Paradise: Impact and Management of Nonindigenous Species in Florida
"This is a fascinating work of scholarship, one I could hardly put down. It is a must read for anyone interested in the social and moral context of managing non-native species."—Dov Sax, co-editor of Species Invasions: Insights into Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography
"This is a fascinating work of scholarship, one I could hardly put down. It is a must read for anyone interested in the social and moral context of managing non-native species."—Dov Sax, co-editor of Species Invasions: Insights into Ecology, Evolution, and Biogeography