Nature and Culture in the Northern Forest: Region, Heritage, and Environment in the Rural Northeast (American Land & Life)

Nearly 30 million acres of the Northern Forest stretch across New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Within this broad area live roughly a million residents whose lives are intimately associated with the forest ecosystem and whose individual stories are closely linked to the region's cultural and environmental history. The fourteen engaging essays in Nature and Culture in the Northern Forest effectively explore the relationships among place, work, and community in this complex landscape. Together they serve as a stimulating introduction to the interdisciplinary study of this unique region. Each of the four sections views through a different lens the interconnections between place and people. The essayists in “Encounters” have their hiking boots on as they focus on personal encounters with flora and fauna of the region. The energizing accounts in “Teaching and Learning” question our assumptions about education and scholarship by proposing invigorating collaborations between teachers and students in ways determined by the land itself, not by the abstractions of pedagogy. With the freshness of Thoreau's irreverence, the authors in “Rethinking Place” look at key figures in the forest's literary and cultural development to help us think about the affiliations between place and citizenship. In “Nature as Commodity,” three essayists consider the ways that writers from the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries thought about nature as a product and, thus, how their conclusions bear on the contemporary retailing of place. The writers in Nature and Culture in the Northern Forest reveal the rich affinities between a specific place and the literature, thought, and other cultural expressions it has nurtured. Their insightful and stimulating connections exemplify adventurous bioregional thinking that encompasses both natural and cultural realities while staying rooted in the particular landscape of some of the Northeast's wildest forests and oldest settlements. Nearly 30 Million Acres Of The Northern Forest Stretch Across New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, And Maine. Within This Broad Area Live Roughly A Million Residents Whose Lives Are Intimately Associated With The Forest Ecosystem And Whose Individual Stories Are Closely Linked To The Region's Cultural And Environmental History. The Fourteen Engaging Essays In Nature And Culture In The Northern Forest Effectively Explore The Relationships Among Place, Work, And Community In This Complex Landscape. Together They Serve As A Stimulating Introduction To The Interdisciplinary Study Of This Unique Region. The Writers In Nature And Culture In The Northern Forest Reveal The Rich Affinities Between A Specific Place And The Literature, Thought, And Other Cultural Expressions It Has Nurtured. Their Insightful And Stimulating Connections Exemplify Adventurous Bioregional Thinking That Encompasses Both Natural And Cultural Realities While Staying Rooted In The Particular Landscape Ofsome Of The Northeast's Wildest Forests And Oldest Settlements.--jacket. Reading Place In The Northern Forest / Pavel Cenkl -- Meeting Twinflower (linnaea Borealis) / Timothy Stetter -- Music Of The Northern Forest : Boreal Birdsong In Literature And On The Trail / Terrence Mosher -- Life As Beech : Survival In The New England Forest / Natalie Coe -- Robert Frost In The Fields And Nils-aslak Valkeapää At The Treeline : Ecological Knowledge And Academic Learning At The Northern Forest Edge / Kathleen Osgood Dana -- Interdisciplinary Teaching About The Adirondacks / Ernest H. Williams, Patrick D. Reynolds, And Onno Oerlemans -- Youth, Refinement, And Environmental Knowledge In The Nineteenth-century Rural North / Jill Mudgett -- Place As A Catalyst For Engaged Learning At Franklin Pierce University / Catherine Owen Koning, Robert Goodby, John Harris -- Benton Mackaye's 1904 White Mountains Hike : Exploring A Landscape Of Logging, Camp Ethics, And Patriotism / Larry Anderson -- William James At Chocorua : A Northern Forest Philosopher / Daniel S. Malachuk -- A Traverse Of The Presidential Range With The Scottish Highlands On My Mind / Richard Paradis -- Living With The Woods : Disturbance Histories In Thoreau And Burroughs / Jim Warren -- In Awe Of The Body : Physical Contact, Indulgence Shopping, And Nature Writing / Priscilla Paton -- Claiming Maine : Acquisition And Commodification In Thoreau's The Maine Woods / Lorianne Disabato -- So Much Beauty Locked Up In It : Of Ecocriticism And Axe-murder / Matthew Bolinder. Edited By Pavel Cenkl ; Foreword By John Elder. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Contents......Page 6 Foreword......Page 8 Reading Place in the Northern Forest......Page 16 Encounters......Page 30 Meeting Twinflower (Linnaea borealis)......Page 32 Music of the Northern Forest: Boreal Birdsong in Literature and on the Trail......Page 43 Life as Beech: Survival in the New England Forest......Page 64 Teaching and Learning......Page 74 Robert Frost in the Fields and Nils-Aslak Valkeapää at the Treeline: Ecological Knowledge and Academic Learning at the Northern Forest Edge......Page 76 Interdisciplinary Teaching about the Adirondacks......Page 92 Youth, Refinement, and Environmental Knowledge in the Nineteenth-Century Rural North......Page 113 Place as a Catalyst for Engaged Learning at Franklin Pierce University......Page 148 Rethinking Place......Page 166 Benton MacKaye’s 1904 White Mountains Hike: Exploring a Landscape of Logging, “Camp Ethics,” and Patriotism......Page 168 William James at Chocorua: A Northern Forest Philosopher......Page 186 A Traverse of the Presidential Range with the Scottish Highlands on My Mind......Page 202 Living with the Woods: Disturbance Histories in Thoreau and Burroughs......Page 228 Nature as Commodity......Page 240 In Awe of the Body: Physical Contact, Indulgence Shopping, and Nature Writing......Page 242 Claiming Maine: Acquisition and Commodification in Thoreau’s The Maine Woods......Page 261 So Much Beauty Locked Up in It: Of Ecocriticism and Axe-Murder......Page 276 Contributors......Page 292 Index......Page 296 Reading place in the northern forest / Pavel Cenkl Music of the northern forest : boreal bird song in literature and on the trail / Terrence Mosher Meeting twinflower (Linnaea borealis) / Timothy Stetter Life as beech : survival in the New England forest / Natalie Coe Robert Frost in the fields and Nils-Aslak Valkeap at the treeline : ecological knowledge and academic learning at the northern forest edge / Kati Dana Interdisciplinary teaching on the Adirondacks / Ernest H. Williams, Patrick D. Reynolds, and Onno Oerlemans Youth, refinement, and environmental knowledge in the nineteenth century rural North / Jill Mudgett Place as a catalyst for engaged learning at Franklin Pierce University / Catherine Owen Koning, Robert Goodby, John Harris Logging, "camp ethics," and patriotism : following the footsteps of Benton MacKaye's 1904 White Mountains hike / Larry Anderson William James and Chocorua / Daniel S. Malachuk A traverse of the presidential range with the Scottish Highlands on my mind / Richard Paradis Living with the woods : disturbance histories in Thoreau and Burroughs / Jim Warren In awe of the body : physical contact, indulgence shopping, and nature writing / Priscilla Paton Claiming Maine : acquisition and commodification in Thoreau's The Maine woods / Lorianne DiSabato "So much beauty locked up in it" : of ecocriticism and axe-murder / Matthew Bolinder. Nearly 30 million acres of the Northern Forest stretch across New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine. Within this broad area live roughly a million residents whose lives are intimately associated with the forest ecosystem. This title includes essays that explore the relationships among place, work, and community in this complex landscape.