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Summary: An Interesting Study of Our Relationship Towards Nature
Review: Keith Thomas's _Man and the Natural World_ is a nice text for anyone interested in the history of England's changing attitudes towards animals and the environment. Thomas notices an interesting shift. At one time, the language of Genesis dominated England's relationship to the natural world. The earth was put here, by God, for our cultivation and for us to rule over like kings. Yet, in the modern world, we take a much different approach, choosing to value natural resources and understand ourselves as a mere part of the natural order and not nature's master. (Of course, certain sects of society, and administration's, seem to cling onto a biblical understanding of humankind's place in the natural world, but no one can doubt the general shift in thinking). Naturally the question arises: how on earth did we move, as a society, from one viewpoint to the other?
It is this question that occupies the rest of Thomas's work, as he examines it from various angles. Thomas carefully shows how our modern views towards nature are not as modern as we might imagine, but rather start taking form in the sixteenth century and start steamrolling up to the present. As noted in his own introduction and other reviews, Thomas delves into the history of England by examining literary sources, often regarded as problematic sources for historical studies, in order to try and reconstruct the attitudes of England during the sixteenth, seventeenth, and nineteenth centuries.
I enjoyed Thomas's style. It is easy to read and quite accessible to a general audience. One does not need to know anything about the topic in order to digest this work. Yet Thomas also manages to pack it with a wide variety of quotes and secondary sources, providing a springboard for further study. Thus, _Man and the Natural World_ is both an ideal text for interested students and a nice read for anyone with a casual interest in Western civilization's relationship with the natural world.
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Summary: Unique Study, but no Masterpiece
Review: Sir Keith Thomas is one of the giants of English history. He was a pioneer in the use of anthropology in historical research and has produced important work on the double standard, literary, numeracy, witchcraft, and even a short life of James Oglethorpe, founder of Georgia. His Religion and the Decline of Magic remains a great work, despite being over thirty years old and despite the mass of subsequent work on witchcraft and popular religion. Man and the Natural World has the same feel as his earlier work. Thomas holds his topic in his hand, examines it for a paragraph and then turns it slightly to reveal a new facet. His transitions from one idea to the next are smooth and easy, giving one the impression that they have a full and well-rounded picture of some aspect of the mental world of early modern England. In Religion and the Decline of Magic the reader feels that everything has been explained and that church, superstition, material conditions, public health and popular culture all fit together in a complex but comprehensible whole. Man and the Natural World does not produce the same air of authority. It takes a broad view of the rise of modern conservationism, ranging from the late middle ages well into the nineteenth century, and Thomas' wide variety of sources is dazzling. Yet the reader probably already knows the punchline - the modern love of nature goes hand in hand with its subjugation and destruction. This book derives from a series of lectures given at Cambridge. It is not therefore intended for a popular audience, but it is nevertheless an easy read. Thomas' point is clear even if one has never heard of the author he quotes, so little background information is necessary. Thus, anyone interested in nature, environmentalism, humane treatment of animals or vegetarianism will find this book an interesting and accessible discussion of these ideologies' development. Those with a more specialized interest in English social and cultural history will find this an important treatment of a neglected subject, but not a masterpiece on the order of Religion and the Decline of Magic.
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