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Readings

Required Texts

Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1994. ISBN: 0395683300.

Cook, James. Journals of Captain Cook. Penguin USA, 2000. ISBN: 0140436472.

Cronon, William. Changes in the Land. New York: Hill and Wang, 2003. ISBN: 0809016346.

Crosby, Alfred. The Columbian Exchange. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003. ISBN: 0275980731.

Defoe, Daniel. Journal of the Plague Year. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992. ISBN: 0393961885. (Download a version from the Gutenberg Project.)

Engels, Friedrich. The Condition of the Working Class in England. London; New York: Penguin Books, 1987. ISBN: 0140444866.

Herlihy, David. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0674076133.

Jacoby, Karl. Crimes Against Nature. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2001. ISBN: 0520220277.

Mancall, Peter. Envisioning America. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1995. ISBN: 0312122527.

McNeill, J. R., and W. H. McNeill. The Human Web. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003. ISBN: 039305179X.

O'Grada, C. Black '47 and Beyond. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1999. ISBN: 0691015503.

White, Richard. The Organic Machine. New York: Hill and Wang, 1995. ISBN: 0809015838.

Readings by Class Session

SES # TOPICS READINGS QUESTIONS TERMS HANDOUTS
1-2 Introduction McNeill, J. R., and W. H. McNeill. The Human Web. pp. 25-40.

Related Web Sites

The Maoi

Easter Island

Arctodus simus Yukonensis

Dinnertime at Cuddie Springs: Hunting and Butchering Megafauna?

Smithsonian Institution: Virtual Tour of the National Museum of Natural History: Ice Age Mammals: Giant Ground Sloth

Illinois State Museum: Ground Sloths

Illinois State Museum: Armadillo
(PDF) Kinds of Societies (PDF)
3-4 The Disease Environment Herlihy, David. The Black Death and the Transformation of the West. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1997. ISBN: 0674076133.

Defoe, Daniel. Journal of the Plague Year. New York: W.W. Norton, 1992, pp. 1-51. ISBN: 0393961885.

McNeill, J. R., and W. H. McNeill. The Human Web. pp. 75-81 and 264-6.

Related Web Sites

Electronic Textbook of Dermatology: Bubonic Plague

The Black Death

PBS: A Science Odyssey: People and Discoveries: Bubonic Plague Hits San Francisco

The Black Death (PDF)

Journal of the Plague Year (PDF)

(PDF)
5-6 The Columbian Exchange Crosby, Alfred. The Columbian Exchange. Westport, Conn.: Praeger, 2003. Chapters 2, 3 and 5. ISBN: 0275980731.

Mancall, Peter. Envisioning America. Boston: Bedford Books of St. Martin's Press, 1995, pp. 45-61, 112-132 and 140-148. ISBN: 0312122527.

McNeill, J. R., and W. H. McNeill. The Human Web. pp. 108-15 and 160-1.
Crosby, The Columbian Exchange (PDF)

Selections in Mancall (PDF)
(PDF)
7-8 Wilderness and Garden Cronon, William. Changes in the Land. New York: Hill and Wang, 2003. ISBN: 0809016346.

Related Web Sites

Museum of Garden History: Tradescant Knot Garden

Versailles Gardens
Changes in the Land (PDF) (PDF)
9-10 Science and Nature Cook, James. Journals of Captain Cook. Penguin edition, 2000, pp. 39-61, 125-134, 335-339, 374-390 and 530-547. ISBN: 0140436472.

McNeill, J. R., and W. H. McNeill. The Human Web. pp. 137-53, 162-78, 186-9 and 200-5.
The Journals of Captain Cook (PDF) (PDF) Bestiary and Natural History (PDF)
11 Field Trip to Burndy Library Related Web Site

Burndy Library
12-14 Landscape and Agriculture O'Grada, C. Black '47 and Beyond. Chapters 1, 3 and 4.

Related Web Sites

Irish Famine: Views of the Famine

Map of Irish Counties
The Irish Famine (PDF) (PDF) Goldsmith, Oliver. "The Deserted Village." (PDF)

The Shock of Industrialization (PDF)
15-16 Industry and Demography Engels, Friedrich. Chapters 2 and 5 in The Condition of the Working Class in England. London; New York: Penguin Books, 1987. ISBN: 0140444866.

Related Web Sites

England before (1701) and after (1911) the Industrial Revolution

BBC: History: Industrialisation

Condition of the Working Class (PDF) (PDF)
17-18 Conservation and Preservation Jacoby. "Introduction." In Crimes Against Nature. Chapters 4-6.

McNeill, J. R., and W. H. McNeill. The Human Web. pp. 217-23, 230-52 and 279-84.
Conservation and Preservation (PDF) (PDF)
20-21 Poisoning and Environmentalism Carson, Rachel. Silent Spring. Chapters 1, 7, 9, 10, 14 and 16.

Rosenberg, Tina. "What the World Needs Now is DDT?" The New York Times Sunday Magazine. April 11, 2004.
Silent Spring (PDF)
22-23 Current Events McNeill, J. R., and W. H. McNeill. The Human Web. pp. 284-8 and 319-327.

White, Richard. The Organic Machine.
The Organic Machine (PDF) (PDF)