Fall 2008 - The Johns Hopkins University Press

Nature and Historyin the Potomac CountryFrom Hunter-Gatherers to the Age of JeffersonJames D. RiceJames D. Rice’s unique study of the Potomac River basin begins with a mystery.Why, when the whole of the region offered fertile soil and excellentfishing and hunting, was nearly three-quarters of the land uninhabited on theeve of colonization? Rice wonders how the existence of this no man’s landaffected nearby Native American and, later, colonial settlements. Did it functionas a commons, as a place where all were free to hunt and fish? Or was itperceived as a strange and hostile wilderness?Rice discovers environmental factors at the center of the story. Making use ofextensive archaeological and anthropological research, as well as the vast scholarshipon farming practices in the colonial period, he traces the region’s historyfrom its earliest known habitation. With exceptionally vivid prose, Ricemakes clear the implications of unbridled economic development for the forests,streams, and wetlands of the Potomac River basin. How, Rice asks, did humankindexploit and alter the landscape and the quality of the river’s waters?Equal parts environmental, Native American, and colonial history, Nature andHistory in the Potomac Country is a useful and innovative study of the PotomacRiver, its valley, and its people.James D. RicE is a professor of history at SUNY Plattsburgh.January 384 pages 6 x 96 halftones, 2 line drawings978-0-8018-9032-1 0-8018-9032-2$40.00(s) / £21.00 hcAmerican History / Chesapeake Bay RegionTHE JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY PRESS www.press.jhu.edu 22