Animals in Nineteenth-Century America examines animal life and human-animal relationships in a pivotal century in American and world history. Spanning the “long nineteenth century” (1770s–1910s), this collection of primary sources and images traces how the United States was transformed in this period from a mosaic of Indigenous multispecies homelands into a managed landscape of industry, settlement, and control.
Each source is accompanied by a detailed contextual headnote and helpful annotations, and Susan Nance’s introductory essay charts the arc of animal history as various species confronted anthropogenic environmental change and human politics. The volume will be a valuable resource for those studying animal history, environmental history, or American history.
Comments
“Susan Nance brings us a much-needed collection of diverse and textured sources and documents that is destined to become a classic text in American animal history. Animals in Nineteenth-Century America will be priceless in the classroom. And it sets a high bar for the larger field of global historical studies.” — Daniel Vandersommers, University of Dayton
“A trove of fascinating, often unexpected, and consistently important documents that demonstrate the complexities of human-animal relations in nineteenth-century America. Nance’s expert introductions, annotations, and questions/writing prompts guide readers to a nuanced understanding of the documents and their relation to broader historical contexts. Exploring this book will be a thought-provoking experience for anyone.” — Nigel Rothfels, University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee
“Susan Nance has created an extraordinary resource for scholars and students of animal history and nineteenth-century America. This collection of primary sources offers rare breadth and depth on a century of remarkable change, highlighting a diverse set of human and nonhuman actors who interacted and shaped the past.” — Andrew Robichaud, Boston University
