Note from the Editors

Abstract

Previous articleNext article FreeNote from the EditorsMark Hersey, Stephen Brain, and Sarah Stanford-McIntyreMark Hersey Search for more articles by this author , Stephen Brain Search for more articles by this author , and Sarah Stanford-McIntyre Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditEmailQR Code SectionsMoreMuch has changed about the practice of environmental history since it emerged as a self-conscious discipline in the last decades of the twentieth century. As it expanded in influence, it pushed beyond the boundaries of North America, influencing historiographies around the world, while the traditions of other continents shaped the field’s approaches to, understanding of, and indeed the very questions it asks about the historical relationships of people to the other-than-human world. At the same time, however, even as methodologies have evolved, the approaches of the earliest environmental historians continue to exert a strong appeal. This issue captures both the continued influence of the founding generation of environmental historians and the impressive methodological and geographical diversity that has come to mark the field.This issue begins with a memorial of Angus Wright, whose pioneering work helped move Latin American environmental history into the main currents of the broader field. The two essays that follow—a reflection by Peter Alagona, Mark Carey, and Adrian Howkins and an article by Philip Slavin—reflect the legacies of the field’s early efforts to engage with science. In their appeal to environmental historians to seriously consider (and esteem) coauthorship, Alagona, Carey, and Howkins encourage environmental historians not only to rekindle the relationship with science that animated many of the field’s foundational works, but to push the relationship further through enhanced collaboration with scientists. Slavin, who has frequently partnered across disciplines in precisely the way the reflection asks, brings new scientific discoveries to bear to shed light on the origins of the Black Death. Much as William McNeill did in the 1970s, Slavin seeks to leverage cutting-edge scientific techniques not merely to answer long-standing questions but to open new lines of inquiry.Articles by Viktor Pal and Michal Pospiszyl set their sights on countries heretofore little studied by environmental historians. Pal’s piece about recycling in socialist Hungary draws attention to the way that Cold War political dynamics created new spaces for environmental protection while simultaneously undermining those very efforts. Pospiszyl’s essay takes as its subject early modern Poland—a country just beginning to develop a domestic cohort of environmental historians—and, like Pal, shows how foreign ideas about environmental management blended with domestic politics to reshape both the actual and the political landscape.Moving back across the Atlantic to North America, William Knight and Kiethen Sutherland explore failed post–World War II experiments to introduce new species of salmon to northern Ontario. While previous historians have noted the unintended outcome of those experiments (in the inadvertent introduction of pink salmon to the Great Lakes), Knight and Sutherland turn the focus to the experiments themselves, highlighting the troubling colonial assumptions that undergirded them.The book reviews in this issue continue to showcase the global nature of the field and the diversity of approaches in it, offering assessments of titles that range from microhistories to sweeping systemic accounts. As is often the case, many reviewers commented upon the utility of the books under consideration for the undergraduate classroom.We also want to formally welcome Fraser Livingston, a newly minted PhD whose research centers on the longleaf pine forests of the southeastern United States, to the editorial team as the journal’s social media coordinator. We’re eager to work with him to call attention not only to the work of the journal but to that of environmental historians around the world.By the time this journal appears in print, the ASEH will have met in Boston for its 2023 meeting, and many of the journal’s readers will be preparing for conferences in places as far flung as Osogbo, Nigeria; Melbourne, Australia; Michoacán, Mexico; and Bern, Switzerland. We encourage you, as always, to look for us (or a member of our editorial board) there. We’re always happy to hear about your projects and do what we can to foster the growth of the field around the world. Previous articleNext article DetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Ahead of Print Published for the American Society for Environmental History and the Forest History Society Views: 28Total views on this site Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/723891 Views: 28Total views on this site HistoryPublished online March 21, 2023 © 2023 Forest History Society and American Society for Environmental History. All rights reserved.PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.