Table of Contents

1. Matters of life and death; 2. Evolution's visible hands; 3. Hunting and fishing; 4. Eradication; 5. Altering environments; 6. Evolution revolution; 7. Intentional evolution; 8. Co-evolution; 9. Evolution of the industrial revolution; 10. History of technology; 11. Environmental history; 12. Conclusion; Glossary.

Promotional Information

This book introduces a new field that unites history and biology to create a fuller understanding of the past.

About the Author

Edmund Russell is the Hall Distinguished Professor of US History at the University of Kansas. He works primarily in environmental history and the history of technology. He is the author of War and Nature: Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring (Cambridge University Press, 2001), and co-editor, with Richard Tucker, of Natural Enemy, Natural Ally: Toward an Environmental History of War (2004). Russell's work has won the Edelstein Prize of the Society for the History of Technology, the Rachel Carson Prize, and the Leopold-Hidy Prize of the American Society for Environmental History and the Forum for the History of Science in America.

Reviews

'This is not a traditional monograph. Instead, Evolutionary History reads like a well-written how-to manual. And in this case, the instruction is how to enlarge the scope of historical study to include evolutionary processes. Too often and for too long, scholars have held that human history and natural evolution sprung from separate roots and occurred in separate realms. Russell's two-part counter to this illustrates how humans shaped evolution in profound ways and how these changes have, in turn, altered the course of world history.' Environmental History
"Russell has written an excellent, absorbing book about a relatively new scholarship paradigm, evolutionary history. The author's research in history and biology make him uniquely qualified to provide a fresh perspective on melding these two seemingly disparate disciplines. Via such an interdisciplinary approach, Russell promotes a more comprehensive and accurate understanding of the past and present. Highly recommended." J.N. Muzio, Choice Magazine
"Russell has written an excellent, absorbing book about a relatively new scholarship paradigm, evolutionary history. Highly recommended." -Choice
"... accessible and engagingly written, thoughtful, and thought-provoking... Written in a manner that will make it attractive to scholars and students alike, it will force perceptive readers to re-examine their fields. History, and especially the histories of technology and the environment, surely benefit from the insights of biology and evolution." -- Stephen H. Cutliffe, American Historical Review
"...an engaging case for 'evolutionary history...' -Henry Nicholls, Galapagos Matters