Details

Subject(s)

• Fire ants—Control—History—20th century—Southern States [Browse]
• Fire ants—Environmental aspects—Control—History—20th century—Southern States [Browse]
• Insecticides—Environmental aspects—History—20th century—Southern States [Browse]

Summary note

Sometime in the first half of the twentieth century, a coterie of fire ants came ashore from South American ships docked in Mobile, Alabama. Fanning out across the region, the fire ants invaded the South, damaging crops, harassing game animals, and hindering harvesting methods. Responding to a collective call from southerners to eliminate these invasive pests, the U.S. Department of Agriculture developed a campaign that not only failed to eradicate the fire ants but left a wake of dead wildlife, sickened cattle, and public protest. With political intrigue, environmental tragedy, and such figures as Rachel Carson and E. O. Wilson, The Fire Ant Wars is a grippingly perceptive tale of changing social attitudes and scientific practices. Tracing the political and scientific eradication campaigns, Joshua Buhs's bracing study uses the saga as a means to consider twentieth-century American concepts of nature and environmental stewardship. In telling the story, Buhs explores how human concepts of nature evolve and how these ideas affect the natural and social worlds. Spotlighting a particular issue to discuss larger questions of science, public perceptions, and public policy-from pre-environmental awareness to the activist years of the early environmental movement-The Fire Ant Wars will appeal to historians of science, environmentalists, and biologists alike.

Notes

Description based upon print version of record.

Bibliographic references

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Source of description

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 24. Apr 2020)

Language note

English

Contents

• Front matter
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• Chapter One: From South America to the American South, 1900-1950
• Chapter Two: Grins a Prohibitive Fracture, 1945-1957
• Chapter Three: Fire Ants, from Savage to Invincible, 1957-1972
• Chapter Four: The Fire Ant Wars, 1958-1983
• Chapter Five: The Practice of Nature, 1978-2000
• References
• Index

Show 8 more Contents items

ISBN

• 1-282-90179-6
• 9786612901799
• 0-226-07984-8

OCLC

• 688242182
• 741350918

Doi

• 10.7208/9780226079844

Statement on language in description

Princeton University Library aims to describe library materials in a manner that is respectful to the individuals and communities who create, use, and are represented in the collections we manage. Read more...