History / United States / General

A comprehensive history of “happenstance plants” in American urban environments. Beginning in the late nineteenth century and continuing to the present, Falck examines the proliferation, perception, and treatment of weeds in metropolitan centers from Boston to Los Angeles.

Melosi examines water resources in the United States and addresses whether access to water is an inalienable right of citizens, and if government is responsible for its distribution as a public good. He provides historical background on the construction, administration, and adaptability of water supply and wastewater systems in urban America. Looking to the future, he compares the costs and benefits of public versus private water supply, examining the global movement toward privatization.

A historical guidebook for topics ranging from the networked city to the global internet that illuminates the political, economic, and technological forces shaping the infrastructure of modern life.

An examination of the relationship between African Americans and the environment in U.S. history, “To Love the Wind and the Rain” contains essays covering topics such as slavery, religion, the turpentine industry, gardening, outdoor recreation, women and politics.

This revised edition of a seminal work in the field of urban environmental history traces the development of waste management and related technologies from the Progressive Era to the present.

Exploration in Environmental History represents four decades of writing from one of the most distinguished scholars in the field of environmental history. Samuel Hays’s dedication and research is apparent in every one of these essays, four of which are published here for the first time.

View the Digital Edition

This book is a fascinating re-creation of the lives of women in the time of great social change that followed the end of the French and Indian War in western Pennsylvania. Keeping House: Women’s Lives in Western Pennsylvania, 1790-1850, tells how the daughters, wives, and mothers who crossed the Allegheny Mountains responded and adapted to unaccustomed physical and psychological hardships as they established lives for themselves and their families in their new homes.

Crisis in Bethlehem provides an insider’s look at Bethlehem Steel’s bonanza years, its collapse, how it coped (and did not cope) with crisis, and the human costs involved.

Before movies, radio, and television challenged the hegemony of the printed word, the Saturday Evening Post was the preeminent vehicle of mass culture in the United States. And to the extent that a mass medium can be the expression of a single individual, this magazine, with a peak circulation of almost three million copies a week, was the expression of its editor, George Horace Lorimer. Cohn shows how Lorimer made the Post into a uniquely powerful magazine that both celebrated and helped form the values of the time.

This book describes the nature of government in all the contiguous territories of the United States from 1784-1912, offering a comprehensive view of the role and meaning of territorial government.

A fascinating look at life during pioneer times in western Pennsylvania. Describes the hardship, danger and drudgery of day-to-day life on the frontier. Topics include cabin raising, crop harvests, tanning, weaving, disease, religion, and superstition. Also follows the progression from pioneer life to industrial society.

The essays in this collection commemorate the 175th anniversary of the establishment of the United States Constitution, offering perspectives on its history and its meaning to modern society.