Seeing Nature in the Twentieth Century

In this course, students survey important American contributions to modern American environmental nonfiction. From the founding of the National Park Service (1916) to the first Earth Day (1970) and onward to America's withdrawal from the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017, we consider the diverse ways in which modern Americans have grappled with environmental issues. Our readings include writers like Mary Austin, Aldo Leopold, Annie Dillard, Leslie Marmon Silko, and Evelyn White.