Nature Incorporated
Industrialization and the Waters of New England

A reinterpretation of industrialization that centres on the struggle to control and master nature.

Theodore Steinberg (Author)

9780521527118, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 29 January 2004

304 pages, 19 b/w illus.
22.9 x 15.3 x 1.9 cm, 0.462 kg

"Nature Incorporated is an imaginative and innovative work offering rich new perspectives on a familiar topic. It is a strong reminder of the contribution that interdisciplinary approaches so central to environmental history make to an understanding of the past." Thomas Dublin, Journal of Interdisciplinary History

Nature Incorporated explores the Industrial Revolution in New England from an environmental perspective. The advent of the industrial age brought about significant changes in gender and class relations, and also in work and culture, but it also involved a fundamental change in the way the natural world was handled. Focusing on the legendary Waltham-Lowell style mills, this book examines how these textile factories brought water under their exclusive control. It examines the legal issues that arose in settling disputes over water. And it describes the far reaching ecological consequences of industrial change. Steinberg offers a reinterpretation of industrialization that centers on the struggle to control and master nature.

Part I. Origins: 1. The transformation of water
2. Control of water company
3. Waters
Part II. Maturation: 4. The struggle over water
5. The law of water
6. Depleted waters
7. Fouled water
Part III. Decline: 8. The productive value of water.

Subject Areas: Pollution & threats to the environment [RNP]