Mining North America
An Environmental History since 1522
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 4156447 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Kathleen Anne Brosnan (University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma) |
| Year | 2018 |
| Volume | 105 |
| Issue | 3 |
| Pages | 641-642 |
| Publication date | 2018-12-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Journal of American History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0021-8723 • E-ISSN: 1945-2314 |
| Publisher | Oxford University Press (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1093/jahist/jay289 |
| OpenAlex | W2905844772 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
Mining North America establishes mining's centrality in two of the most transformative processes in world history: imperialism and industrialization. “As minerals moved from the periphery to the core of economic production, they reordered whole economies, reshaped deep-seated cultural and social patterns, redirected scientific and technological initiatives, redistributed military and economic might, refocused political power and international relations, and recast the health and fortunes of local communities and entire regions” (p. 2). The editors divide the insightful essays into three sections. In the first section, precious metal ventures in colonial Mexico initiated the capitalist transformations that followed. Surprisingly, repeated cycles of production, decline, and reanimation did not result in mineral exhaustion despite extensive environmental degradation. Instead, greater concentrations of capital, expanded use of fossil fuels, and technological improvements contributed to increased production over time. The second section identifies mining as the primary catalyst of North American industrialization, although the five essays deal only with the western United States. Mining occurred with a ferocious intensity. Pollution, flooding, cave-ins, subsidences, and other disasters followed. Mining's unprecedented scale necessitated the concentrated capital of corporations to finance greater mechanization. Workers responded to health hazards and lost autonomy by finding power through organization. Exploring the ecological toll in nineteenth-century Colorado, George Vrtis argues that mining's devastation also expanded the American conservation agenda
Archaeology · Capital (architecture · Economic history · Economics · Economy · Environmental history · Geography · Industrialisation · Political science · Politics · Power (physics · American Environmental and Regional History · Archaeology and Natural History · History · Law
| Citations per year | 0.63 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2018 - 2021 (4) |
| Highly cited | No |