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The Great American Forest by Rutherford Platt β€ Prentice-Hall, Inc 1965
The Great American Forest by Rutherford Platt Prentice-Hall, Inc 1965
Title: The Great American Forest
Author: Rutherford Platt
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Prentice-Hall, Inc 1965
LCCN: 65-25253
Size: 6.6 X 9.6 * 271 pages
Synopsis: Preface: The history of the human race has always been related to-and sometimes dominated by-the history of forests. Even the larger mammals could not begin to inherit the earth until, less than fifty million years ago, with the cooling climate, the hardwood trees began to flourish. And this occurrence provoked one of the greatest crises in the history of man himself, when toward the end of the last great ice age the spread of forests over what had been a sub-arctic plain forced a whole new way of life upon homo sapiens.
The majority of men in Europe and America lead lives which seem to them almost completely isolated from the forces of nature, and they are likely to be ignorant of the value and of even the existence of forests. Yet today forests cover about 664 million acres of the continental United States and account for more than thirty per cent of its total area. In Great Britain, on the other hand, they occupy only four percent of its land.
In both countries they were, of course, once far more extensive, and the difference between the two figures is a very rough measure of the length of time each country has been inhabited by men increasingly capable of profoundly modifying the physical world they inhabit. Forests are now more and more dependent upon the tolerance of the creature they formerly threatened. Once they were something to be conquered; now they are, in the minds of a thoughtful minority, something to be saved. And the moment at which the balance shifts is a result of the length of time that civilized man has been attempting to impose his will upon a land. To Caesar's legions, accustomed to a long-tamed Italy, the great forests of Germany were a terror. Not much more than a millennium and a half later Englishmen were beginning to be seriously concerned about the possible exhaustion of timber, although at almost the same moment most newcomers to the American continent were, like Caesar's legions, terrified of the forest and concerned with nothing except the clearing of it.
Two Europeans, André and François Michaux, did realize that the New World represented something which had vanished from Europe forever and they came to America early in the nineteenth century to describe it in The North American Sylva. But it was not until about a century later that even a minority of Americans began to realize that forests were something which ought to be saved from destruction. It is logical but also startling that a century ago anything referred to as a Wilderness Bill would have been naturally assumed to be something aimed at conquering rather than preserving our forests.
Rutherford Platt's fascinating fact-filled book is concerned with the various aspects of one-third of the United States. It describes what forests are, how they live and develop, where the different kinds occur, what they do and what is done to them-in short it introduces the reader to a dwindling and threatened part of America, which is materially and spiritually important; a part of America which has been energetically exploited, often shamefully abused, but little understood. It is, therefore, a most fitting first volume in a series dealing with our natural world.
-Joseph Wood Krutch
Overall Condition: Acceptable: The book has obvious wear. It has some wear to the cover, but its integrity is intact. The front hinge is starting to crack. There is no writing in the margins or underlining and highlighting of text, and there are no missing pages or anything that would compromise the legibility or understanding of the text. See images.
Secure shipping bubble-wrapped in a new box.
2026--U.S. shipping for this (Two Pounds Media Mail) is $5.22 with tracking.
Multiple items will be combined for the lowest shipping price.
International Shipping cost is based on the destination so inquire before buying. Mobile users must scroll to the bottom and click on 'use desktop site' to bring up the Ask a Question link which sends me an email.
(PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE MAKING ANY PAYMENT FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S.)
==========================================================================================================================
Just about all the books are USED books. Some have been used more gently than others. Some have been in libraries and have typical library extras. Some are so old and/or interesting that they are being offered for the sake of preservation regardless of the condition they are in. If the condition of the book is very important to you, please feel free to click the 'Ask seller a question' link and I will tell you more.
=========================================================================================
Title: The Great American Forest
Author: Rutherford Platt
Format: Hardcover
Publisher: Prentice-Hall, Inc 1965
LCCN: 65-25253
Size: 6.6 X 9.6 * 271 pages
Synopsis: Preface: The history of the human race has always been related to-and sometimes dominated by-the history of forests. Even the larger mammals could not begin to inherit the earth until, less than fifty million years ago, with the cooling climate, the hardwood trees began to flourish. And this occurrence provoked one of the greatest crises in the history of man himself, when toward the end of the last great ice age the spread of forests over what had been a sub-arctic plain forced a whole new way of life upon homo sapiens.
The majority of men in Europe and America lead lives which seem to them almost completely isolated from the forces of nature, and they are likely to be ignorant of the value and of even the existence of forests. Yet today forests cover about 664 million acres of the continental United States and account for more than thirty per cent of its total area. In Great Britain, on the other hand, they occupy only four percent of its land.
In both countries they were, of course, once far more extensive, and the difference between the two figures is a very rough measure of the length of time each country has been inhabited by men increasingly capable of profoundly modifying the physical world they inhabit. Forests are now more and more dependent upon the tolerance of the creature they formerly threatened. Once they were something to be conquered; now they are, in the minds of a thoughtful minority, something to be saved. And the moment at which the balance shifts is a result of the length of time that civilized man has been attempting to impose his will upon a land. To Caesar's legions, accustomed to a long-tamed Italy, the great forests of Germany were a terror. Not much more than a millennium and a half later Englishmen were beginning to be seriously concerned about the possible exhaustion of timber, although at almost the same moment most newcomers to the American continent were, like Caesar's legions, terrified of the forest and concerned with nothing except the clearing of it.
Two Europeans, André and François Michaux, did realize that the New World represented something which had vanished from Europe forever and they came to America early in the nineteenth century to describe it in The North American Sylva. But it was not until about a century later that even a minority of Americans began to realize that forests were something which ought to be saved from destruction. It is logical but also startling that a century ago anything referred to as a Wilderness Bill would have been naturally assumed to be something aimed at conquering rather than preserving our forests.
Rutherford Platt's fascinating fact-filled book is concerned with the various aspects of one-third of the United States. It describes what forests are, how they live and develop, where the different kinds occur, what they do and what is done to them-in short it introduces the reader to a dwindling and threatened part of America, which is materially and spiritually important; a part of America which has been energetically exploited, often shamefully abused, but little understood. It is, therefore, a most fitting first volume in a series dealing with our natural world.
-Joseph Wood Krutch
Overall Condition: Acceptable: The book has obvious wear. It has some wear to the cover, but its integrity is intact. The front hinge is starting to crack. There is no writing in the margins or underlining and highlighting of text, and there are no missing pages or anything that would compromise the legibility or understanding of the text. See images.
Secure shipping bubble-wrapped in a new box.
2026--U.S. shipping for this (Two Pounds Media Mail) is $5.22 with tracking.
Multiple items will be combined for the lowest shipping price.
International Shipping cost is based on the destination so inquire before buying. Mobile users must scroll to the bottom and click on 'use desktop site' to bring up the Ask a Question link which sends me an email.
(PLEASE CONTACT ME BEFORE MAKING ANY PAYMENT FROM OUTSIDE THE U.S.)
==========================================================================================================================
Just about all the books are USED books. Some have been used more gently than others. Some have been in libraries and have typical library extras. Some are so old and/or interesting that they are being offered for the sake of preservation regardless of the condition they are in. If the condition of the book is very important to you, please feel free to click the 'Ask seller a question' link and I will tell you more.
=========================================================================================
