Common Fields: Environmental History of St.Louis - Softcover

"Common Fields may inspire a new genre in the field of environmental history that focuses attention on individual cities. In fact, other volumes are now being crafted with the organization of Common Fields as a model." --Martin V. Melosi in Journal of American History, March 1998 "The Missouri Historical Society Press can take considerable pride in having published Common Fields. This is a book that should add much to the conversation among St. Louis area residents about the past and present condition of their environment. At the same time, it should enjoy a much wider readership as well." --Phillip V. Scarpino in Public Historian, spring 1998

In Common Fields, environmental historian Andrew Hurley has gathered thirteen original essays to tell a compelling story of one city's history. It is a story built on the never-ending tension between urban growth and environmental sustainability - a tension that defines the fate not just of St. Louis, but of cities around the world. In these pages, geographers, archaeologists, and historians come together to consider the enduring ties between a city's diverse residents and the physical environment on which their well-being depends.