Man and Nature in America

From the author:

I have written Man and Nature in America in the hope of providing today’s readers with some historical perspective on the problem implied in this title. Since I am an historian and not a scientist, I cannot claim expert knowledge or original wisdom in all the fields I have surveyed. But I have tried to summarize fairly the representative opinions of leading authorities whose knowledge and wisdom may be greater than mine. I think there can be little question of the importance of our current ‘concerns over man’s relationship to his environment. The possibilities of nuclear war and of overpopulation are only two of the most serious and dramatic forms· of the historic conflict between philosophies of harmony and balance and of exploitation. I have not attempted, however, to write another history of conservation in the United States, except in the sense of the preservation of both man and nature through the adjustment of the constructive and destructive forces of modern civilization.