“The end of Modern History”?^*

* I acknowledge with gratitude the critiques and helpful suggestions of David Lowenthal, David Livingstone, and Craig Colten on earlier versions of this article. The views, expressed, however, are entirely my own.

Abstract

The first half of the twentieth century marked both an end to confidence in human control of the earth and a prelude to the contemporary era of intense environmental concern after 1950. This conspectus of the environmental history/historical geography of the transitional years between 1900 and 1950 focuses on rising concerns over resource supplies and exploitation, particularly land settlement, timber supplies, soil erosion, and river‐basin control. Conservation and the pervasiveness of ecological thinking and analogy form a strong underlying theme.

• ecology
• environmental history
• historical geography
• human‐land relationships
• land settlement
• resource exploitation
• soil erosion
• water control

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Michael Williams

Dr. Williams is a professor of geography and the director of the Environmental Change and Management program at the University of Oxford, Oxford, England OXI 3TB.