Living Past

John Soluri is Director of Global Studies at Carnegie Mellon University, where he teaches courses on food, energy, environment, and commodities in Latin America.Claudia Leal is Associate Professor at the Department of History at Universidad de los Andes in Bogota, Colombia. She has studied rainforest regions and the formation of societies after emancipation from slavery. She is currently researching the history of Colombian nature conservation.Jose Augusto Padua is Professor of Environmental History at the Institute of History, Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, where he is also coordinator of the Laboratory of History and Nature. From 2010 to 2015, he was President of the Brazilian Association of Research and Graduate Studies on Environment and Society.

• List of Illustrations, Tables, and FiguresList of MapsPrefaceIntroduction: Finding the "Latin American" in Latin American Environmental HistoryJohn Soluri, Claudia Leal, Jose Augusto PaduaChapter 1. Mexico's Ecological RevolutionsChris Boyer and Martha Micheline Carino OlveraChapter 2. The Greater Caribbean and the Transformation of TropicalityReinaldo Funes MonzoteChapter 3. Indigenous Imprints and Remnants in the Tropical AndesNicolas CuviChapter 4. The Dilemma of the "Splendid Cradle": Nature and Territory in the Construction of BrazilJose Augusto PaduaChapter 5. From Threatening to Threatened JunglesClaudia LealChapter 6. The Ivy and the Wall: Environmental Narratives from an Urban ContinentLise Sedrez and Regina Horta DuarteChapter 7. Home Cooking: Campesinos, Cuisine, and AgrodiversityJohn SoluriChpater 8. Hoofprints: Cattle Ranching and Landscape TransformationShawn Van Ausdal and Robert W. WilcoxChapter 9. Extraction Stories: Workers, Nature, and Communities in the Mining and Oil IndustriesMyrna I. SantiagoChapter 10. Prodigality and Sustainability: The Environmental Sciences and the Quest for DevelopmentStuart McCookChapter 11. A Panorama of Parks: Deep Nature, Depopulation, and the Cadence of Conserving NatureEmily WakildEpilogue: Latin American Environmental History in Global PerspectiveJ.R. McNeillSelected BibliographyIndex

"This collection will prove to be a valuable resource for many. Scholars in environmental humanities and science recognize the challenges in discussing these layered problems in the classroom. This book provides a model going forward in presenting the historical background of current crises. Meanwhile, undergraduate students will benefit from how each chapter situates the question at hand in social, cultural, economic, and political history. Graduate students will appreciate the thorough research outlined in the chapters and in the footnotes. Overall, A Living Past lives up to its name and frames the past as very much alive in the Latin American environment." H-Net Reviews