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Nye, David E., 1946-

America as second creation : technology and narratives of new beginnings / David E. Nye. - x, 371 p. : ill., maps ; 24 cm.

Originally published: 2003.

In the American beginning -- Preconditions -- 1. Narrating the assimilation of nature -- 2. Surveying the ground -- First narratives: the axe -- 3. Axe, clearing, cabin -- The nurturing forest -- Second narrative: the mill -- 5. The mill, or "natural power" -- Pollution and class conflict -- Third narrative: the canal and the railroad -- 7. "Let us conquer space" -- 8. "The route of superior desolation" -- Fourth narrative: irrigation -- 9. "Conquered rivers are better servants than wild clouds" -- 10. Water monopoly: Federal irrigation and factories in the field -- Metannarrative: synthesis and rebuttal -- 11. Progress, or entropy? -- Second creation, conservation, and wilderness.

ISBN: 0262640597 (pbk.) 9780262640596 (pbk.)

Standard No.: VK385341

Subjects--Topical Terms:
Frontier and pioneer life--United States
Frontier and pioneer life--Historiography.--United States
Technology--Social aspects--History.--United States
Technology--Social aspects--Historiography.--United States
Land settlement--History--United States
Land settlement--Historiography.--United States
National characteristics, American

Subjects--Geographic Terms:
United States--Discovery and exploration
United States--Colonization
United States--Historical geography

LC Class. No.: E179.5 / .N94 2004

Dewey Class. No.: 973.5