Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports into AmericaUniv of South Carolina Press, 15 жовт. 2012 р. - 248 стор. A fresh look at the origins of our iconic immigrant flora and fauna, revealed with wit and reverence for nature Aliens live among us. Thousands of species of nonnative flora and fauna have taken up residence within U.S. borders. Our lawns sprout African grasses, our roadsides flower with European weeds, and our homes harbor Asian, European, and African pests. Misguided enthusiasts deliberately introduced carp, kudzu, and starlings. And the American cowboy spread such alien life forms as cows, horses, tumbleweed, and anthrax, supplanting and supplementing the often unexpected ways "Native" Americans influenced the environment. Aliens in the Backyard recounts the origins and impacts of these and other nonindigenous species on our environment and pays overdue tribute to the resolve of nature to survive in the face of challenge and change. In considering the new home that imported species have made for themselves on the continent, John Leland departs from those environmentalists who universally decry the invasion of outsiders. Instead Leland finds that uncovering stories of alien arrivals and assimilation is a more intriguing—and ultimately more beneficial—endeavor. Mixing natural history with engaging anecdotes, Leland cuts through problematic myths coloring our grasp of the natural world and suggests that how these alien species have reshaped our landscape is now as much a part of our shared heritage as tales of our presidents and politics. Simultaneously he poses questions about which of our accepted icons are truly American (not apple pie or Kentucky bluegrass; not Idaho potatoes or Boston ivy). Leland's ode to survival reveals how plant and animal immigrants have made the country as much an environmental melting pot as its famed melding of human cultures, and he invites us to reconsider what it means to be American. |
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... English explorer William Hilton found them in Florida in 1664, and the French explorer Père Marquette thought that those he ate along the Mississippi River in 1673 were “excellent.” Europeans were growing watermelon in Massachusetts by ...
... English word sesame comes, via Latin, from the Greek sesame, which is itself Semitic and kin to the Akkadian samassamu. In a sense, we are speaking ancient Mesopotamian when we utter the magic formula “Open sesame,” which is the last ...
... American explorers thought it indigenous. In 1700 John Lawson traveled from Charleston, South Carolina, up the Santee River and into North Carolina. Of Indian agriculture he observed, “the kidneybeanes were here before the English.
... English came being very plentiful in the Indian corn fields.” Lawson may call cowpeas “kidney beans,” but he is not referring to the familiar kidney beans of today. Those are Phaseolus vulgaris, which are indigenous to South America ...
... English aristocrats anxious to create gardens with a more natural look than the hitherto popular French formal gardens. Armies of workers kept these lawns trimmed. Blenheim Palace in England employed fifty men to scythe its lawn, and ...
Зміст
What Grandmother Grew in Her Backyard | |
Malarias Gifts to America | |
Older Than You Think | |
And Their Alien Habits | |
Less Native Than You Think | |
Roadside Weeds | |
Some of Those Who Share Your Quarters | |
The WellIntentioned Ecological | |
As Rootless as the Humans Who Invited Them | |
An Unnatural Pastime | |
Index | |
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Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports Into America John Leland Попередній перегляд недоступний - 2005 |
Aliens in the Backyard: Plant and Animal Imports Into America John Leland Попередній перегляд недоступний - 2005 |