A living past: environmental histories of modern Latin America

Finding the "Latin American" in Latin American environmental history / John Soluri, Claudia Leal, Jose Augusto Padua -- Mexico's ecological revolutions / Chris Boyer, Martha Micheline Cariño Olvera -- The greater Caribbean and the transformation of tropicality / Reinaldo Funes Monzote -- Indigenous imprints and remnants in the tropical Andes / Nicolás Cuvi -- The dilemma of the "splendid cradle" : nature and territory in the construction of Brazil / José Augusto Pádua -- From threatening to threatened jungles / Claudia Leal -- The wall and the ivy : environmental narratives from an urban continent / Lise Sedrez, Regina Horta Duarte -- Home cooking : campesinos, cuisine, and agrodiversity / John Soluri -- Hoofprints : cattle ranching and landscape transformation / Shawn Van Ausdal, Robert W. Wilcox -- Extraction stories : workers, nature, and communities in the mining and oil industries / Myrna I. Santiago -- Prodigality and sustainability : the environmental sciences and the quest for development / Stuart McCook -- A panorama of parks : deep nature, depopulation, and the cadence of conserving nature / Emily Wakild -- Latin American environmental history in global perspective / J.R. McNeill

Though still a relatively young field, the study of Latin American environmental history is blossoming, as the contributions to this definitive volume demonstrate. Bringing together thirteen leading experts on the region, A Living Past synthesizes a wide range of scholarship to offer new perspectives on environmental change in Latin America and the Spanish Caribbean since the nineteenth century. Each chapter provides insightful, up-to-date syntheses of current scholarship on critical countries and ecosystems (including Brazil, Mexico, the Caribbean, the tropical Andes, and tropical forests) and such cross-cutting themes as agriculture, conservation, mining, ranching, science, and urbanization. Together, these studies provide valuable historical contexts for making sense of contemporary environmental challenges facing the region