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American Canopy: Trees, Forests, And The Making Of A Nation (2012)

by Eric Rutkow(Favorite Author)

4.05 of 5 Votes: 2

ISBN

1439193541 (ISBN13: 9781439193549)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Scribner

review 1: A thoroughly enjoyable, albeit a little overwhelming in its detailed history, book that provides a look at our history from the perspective of our trees, our exploitation and consumption of them, their contribution to critical phases of the country’s development and our eventual movement to protect them and the ecosystems of which they are part.The book was part of the genre of storytelling from the perspective of a particular product or commodity’s effect on the world, e.g., Mark Kurlansky’s books, Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World; Salt: A World History; Tom Standage’s A History of the World in Six Glasses and Michael Pollan’s The Botany of Desire: A Plant's-Eye View of the World. As in these books Rutkow reveals how history has been influenc... moreed by the American Forests and surprises us with so much we never really knew. For example, White Pines! Who can imagine White Pines 250 feet tall, with the first 100 feet having no branches, and a 4 foot diameter at the base! And then all the wood needed just to heat, power transportation and machines, and build homes, railways, bridges and then airplanes for the war effort!And General Washington – what a tree person! His wonderment at tree diversity and his efforts to create more by seeking new trees, planting for diversity in species and space, and corresponding to people about trees and waxing philosophical: “Those trees which my hands have planted … by their rapid growth, at once indicate knowledge of my declining years, and their disposition to spread their mantle over me before I go hence to return no more. For this, their gratitude, I will nurture them while I stay.” (p. 53)One reviewer writing about Rutkow’s work summarized “Our country and national character were profoundly shaped by the presence of an immense and seemingly inexhaustible supply of trees, and our changing attitudes toward trees and forest reflect our no-longer-young society’s gradual acceptance of limits.”(Washington Post, Colin Woodard, Published: June 1, 2012) The stories about Pinchot, Muir, Weyerhauser, Morton, Roosevelt and others, and indeed the whole book, reminds one of the tension and conflict from the very early years of the nation until today between the people who want to use the resources, unfettered, and those who want to preserve them for other reasons, esthetic, spiritual, pleasure or just sustainability! The arguments from the western states against forming national parks and national forests sound similar to today’s, i.e., the government has no business owning and controlling land. Interesting that in the early days of our nation the government didn’t want to keep land and had a desire to get rid of public lands as soon as possible and into the hands of private owners. After all, where in the constitution does it say that the central government should control land?In the story of development and growth in New York City and the replacement of forests with slums, he provides on of the most provocative quotes, “Cities are places where you cut down trees and then name streets after them!” (p. 85) The whole story of the evolution of Central Park and the birth of the parks movement is fascinating. No less so is the discussion of the huge influence of one book, Man and Nature by George Marsh. This book sowed the first seeds of the conservation movement, was published during the Civil War and had its greatest influence right in the middle of the industrial revolution!Rutkow has made an enjoyable and important contribution with this book.
review 2: Tracing the importance of trees in American history, Eric Rutkow is understandably forced to be selective in what he dwells on in American Canopy. Despite glossing over some areas I would not have, he still has put together a very engaging and clearly well researched series of tales showing how Americans have finally come to understand the profundity of trees through centuries of reliance, abuse and increasingly responsible management.Highlights of American Canopy for me tend to center around the earlier history of the American colonies and the nascent US. From the use of Maine's white pines for shipmasts and early (futile) attempts to restrict the best trees for use by the Royal Navy, to the symbolic importance of liberty trees in town squares throughout states. Much focus is placed on the absolutely vast stock of timber settlers found waiting for them and the profligacy it engendered. Seemingly unending supplies of wood rendered needless any degree of resource management by America's earliest European colonists, and the author charts the long course of that philosophy, and its consequences, into the modern day.Though broadly a chronological history of the country and its use of trees, Rutkow takes time out to focus on various themes, including expansion of logging from the northeast to the lake states, the deep south and the pacific northwest. He also details the fall of two iconic American trees - the chestnut and the elm - all but wiped out by disease. Familiar names include Frederick Law Olmsted, designer of Central Park; John Muir and Gifford Pinchot, two of America's founding conservationists; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, whose Civilian Conservation Corps brought forest tourism to the American people and whose deep love of trees many who know him mainly in the context of World War 2 will find fascinating.The final section of American Canopy expands to include the environmental movement of the latter 20th century as a whole. I didn't mind this but it did seem to me to roam somewhat from the core topic. My only real criticism of American Canopy as a whole relates back to one of my first points - in what Rutkow chooses to omit. I was expecting Theodore Roosevelt to feature much more heavily in this book, and the work done to secure so much land for conservation purposes through the National Parks system around the turn of the century. Perhaps the author felt it has been dealt with elsewhere but to me it seemed an oversight. It also seemed to me that the role of trees and timber in the Civil War was given short-thrift. While it's possible there simply weren't many good stories to tell about this period as they would relate to trees, I probably would have tried to include something. less

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