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Roderick Frazier Nash

ロデリック・エフ・ナッシュ

Roderick F. Nash

Profile

Gender
Male
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
Santa Barbara, California (University of California, Santa Barbara faculty) → Hanover, New Hampshire (Dartmouth College faculty, former)

Career

Occupations
historian, environmental historian, university professor, author
Active Years
1965-
Affiliations
University of California, Santa Barbara (Professor Emeritus), Dartmouth College (former faculty)
Influenced By
Merle Curti

Education

Harvard University
Degree: Bachelor of Arts
Period: 1956–1960
Year of Graduation: 1960
Country: United States
University of Wisconsin–Madison
Degree: Ph.D.
Period: 1960–1965
Year of Graduation: 1965
Country: United States
Dissertation 'Wilderness and the American Mind' is considered a foundational work in environmental history.

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Wilderness and the American Mind

1967 environmental history / non-fiction

Examines American attitudes toward 'wilderness' and the historical evolution of the concept from colonization through Transcendentalism, Primitivism, Preservationism, and Conservationism. Argues that to preserve wilderness paradoxically requires management of human behavior toward it.

wilderness concepthistory of attitudes toward naturepreservation and conservationenvironmental ethics

Bibliography

  • The Wisdom of Aldo Leopold (essay)
  • Philanthropy in the Shaping of American Higher Education (co-authored, 1965)
  • Wilderness and the American Mind (1967)
  • The American Environment: Readings in the History of Conservation (1968)
  • The Call of the Wild 1900–1916 (1970)
  • Environment and Americans: The Problem of Priorities (1972)
  • The Big Drops: Ten Legendary Rapids (1978, co-authored)
  • The Rights of Nature: A History of Environmental Ethics (1989)
  • American Environmentalism: Readings in Conservation History (1990)
  • The Nervous Generation: American Thought, 1917–1930 (1990)
  • From These Beginnings: A Biographical Approach to American History (Vols. I & II)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
scholarly, systematic expositionemphasis on historical documents and intellectual history analysis
Recurring Motifs
human–nature relationshipevolution of the wilderness concepttension between preservation and management

Legacy

'Wilderness and the American Mind' is regarded as a foundational text in environmental history, significantly influencing environmental education and environmental ethics debates. Nash helped establish an environmental studies program at UCSB and left a lasting impact on academia and education.

Quotes

  • If wilderness is to survive, we must, paradoxically, manage wilderness — at the very least, our behavior toward it must be managed.
    Source: Wilderness and the American Mind (1967)

Trivia

  • After witnessing an oil spill off Santa Barbara in 1969, he helped found an environmental studies program at UCSB.
  • An avid white-water river rafter.