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Show 35 history, intellectual history emerged as a common historical treatment. Most notab le among those employing this approach were Roderick Nash and Samuel P. Hays. In Wilderness and the American Mind, Nash charted a transfom1ation in the meaning of wi lderness. From the pastoral biases to the modern appreciation and ambivalence for wilderness, Nash uncovered and evaluated the linguistic, social, and environmental evolution of the elusive idea. Although wilderness was born in the context of fear and opposition, the modern incarnation of the word evokes positive images of solitude and beauty for some and negative connotations of government intrusion for others. This approach to environmental history research allowed a view of the relationship between wilderness and society over decades. In Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency, I lays took a simi lar approach to exam ine the meaning of conservation during the Progressive era.% I listorians in this discipline credit the success of the Environmental His10ry Journal and the formation of the American Society for Environmental History for opening the field to more theoretical interpretations, historical models, and methodologies. In Down to Earth: Nature's Role in American History, Steinberg advanced the field by using an environmental perspective to look at major events and issues in American history. However, Steinberg's book, like most scholarship in environmental history, said little about the news media's role. Other researchers have noted this absence of literature on the media's role in environmental history. Exami ning environmental historiography, Neuzil and Kovarik wrote: "At least one path is still largely unexplored ... The role of the media as a social 96 I lays, Conservation and the Gospel of Efficiency. |
