Scars on the Land
An Environmental History of Slavery in the American South
Impossibile aggiungere al carrello
Rimozione dalla Lista desideri non riuscita.
Non è stato possibile aggiungere il titolo alla Libreria
Non è stato possibile seguire il Podcast
Esecuzione del comando Non seguire più non riuscita
Ascolta ora a 0,99 €/mese per 3 mesi con il tuo abbonamento Audible.
Scars on the Land
Acquista ora a 15,95 €
-
Letto da:
-
Lyle Blaker
-
Di:
-
David Silkenat
A proposito di questo titolo
Scars on the Land is the first comprehensive history of American slavery to examine how the environment fundamentally formed enslaved people's lives and how slavery remade the Southern landscape. Over two centuries, from the establishment of slavery in the Chesapeake to the Civil War, one simple calculation had profound consequences: Rather than measuring productivity based on outputs per acre, Southern planters sought to maximize how much labor they could extract from their enslaved workforce. They saw the landscape as disposable, relocating to more fertile prospects once they had leached the soils and cut down the forests.
On the leading edge of the frontier, slavery laid waste to fragile ecosystems, draining swamps, clearing forests to plant crops and fuel steamships, and introducing devastating invasive species. On its trailing edge, slavery left eroded hillsides, rivers clogged with sterile soil, and the extinction of native species. While environmental destruction fueled slavery's expansion, no environment could long survive intensive slave labor. The scars manifested themselves in different ways, but the land too fell victim to the slave owner's lash.
©2022 Oxford University Press (P)2022 Tantor