Nature at War: American Environments and World War II

Cambridge University Press
Edition: New, 4/2/2020
EAN 9781108412070, ISBN10: 1108412076

Paperback, 387 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.5 cm
Language: English
Originally published in English

This anthology is the first sustained examination of American involvement in World War II through an environmental lens. World War II was a total and global war that involved the extraction, processing, and use of vast quantities of natural resources. The wartime military-industrial complex, the 'Arsenal of Democracy,' experienced tremendous economic growth and technological development, employing resources at a higher intensity than ever before. The war years witnessed transformations in American agriculture; the proliferation of militarized landscapes; the popularization of chemical and pharmaceutical products; a rapid increase in energy consumption and the development of nuclear energy; a remaking of the nation's transportation networks; a shift in population toward the Sunbelt and the West Coast; a vast expansion in the federal government, in conjunction with industrial firms; and the emergence of environmentalism. World War II represented a quantitative and qualitative leap in resource use, with lasting implications for American government, science, society, health, and ecology.

Preface
American environments and the Second World War Peter Mansoor
Acknowledgments
Introduction
total war and American nature Thomas Robertson and Richard P. Tucker
Part I. New Weapons, New Spaces
1. A war of mobility
transportation, American productive power, and the environment during World War II Thomas Robertson and Christopher W. Wells
2. For land's sake
World War II military land acquisition and alteration Jean Mansavage
Part II. Military Materials I (Inorganic)
3. 'Tanks Are Born Underground'
mining and World War II Kent Curtis
4. Fueling the 'American Century'
establishing the US petroleum imperative Brian Black
Part III. Military Materials II (Organic)
5. Soldiers of the soil
labor, nature, and American agriculture during World War II Kendra Smith-Howard
6. When meals became weapons
American food in World War II Kellen Backer
7. From field to foxhole
cigarettes and soldiers in World War II Joel R. Bius
Part IV. New Landscapes
Cities and Coasts
8. A watery grave?
World War II and the environment on the American Gulf Coast Christopher M. Rein
9. World War II and the urban environment
redirecting American politics in Los Angeles and beyond Sarah S. Elkind
Part V. New Frontiers
Microbes, Molecules, and Atoms
10. Battling insects and infection
American chemical and pharmaceutical expansion during World War II Martha N. Gardner
11. Shattered worlds
place, environment, and militarized landscapes at the dawn of atomic America Ryan H. Edgington
Part VI. Conservation
12. Total war and the total environment
World War II and the shift from conservation to environmentalism Thomas Robertson
Index.