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William Cronon

ウィリアム・クロノン

William Cronon

Profile

Gender
Male
Born
1954-09-11 （New Haven, Connecticut）
Nationality
United States
Languages
English
Residence History
New Haven, Connecticut → Madison, Wisconsin

Career

Occupations
Historian, Environmental historian, Professor
Active Years
1976-
Affiliations
University of Wisconsin–Madison, The Trust for Public Land (board member), The Wilderness Society, American Historical Association
Influenced By
Edmund Sears Morgan
Influenced
Contemporary environmental historians

Education

University of Wisconsin–Madison
History & English (double major)
Degree: BA
Period: 1972–1976
Year of Graduation: 1976
Country: United States
BA with double major in History and English
Yale University
American History
Degree: MA
Period: 1977–1979
Year of Graduation: 1979
Country: United States
MA in American History
Yale University
American History
Degree: MPhil
Period: 1979–1980
Year of Graduation: 1980
Country: United States
Master of Philosophy
University of Oxford (Jesus College)
British urban and economic history
Degree: DPhil
Period: 1980–1981
Year of Graduation: 1981
Country: United Kingdom
Rhodes Scholar
Yale University
American History
Degree: PhD
Period: 1985–1990
Year of Graduation: 1990
Country: United States
PhD in American History

Awards

MacArthur Fellowship
1985
Organization: MacArthur Foundation
Result: 受賞
Bancroft Prize
1992
Work: Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West
Organization: Columbia University (Bancroft Prize)
Result: 受賞
George Perkins Marsh Prize
1993
Work: Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West
Organization: American Society for Environmental History
Result: 受賞
Pulitzer Prize for History
1992
Work: Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West
Organization: Columbia University (Pulitzer Prize)
Result: 最終候補（ファイナリスト）
Corresponding Fellow of the British Academy
2017
Organization: British Academy
Result: 選出
William B. Hesseltine Award
2001
Work: Why the Past Matters
Organization: Wisconsin Magazine of History
Result: 受賞

Awards & Nominations

Works

Major Works

Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England

1983 Environmental history

Analyzes how interactions between Native Americans and colonists shaped New England's ecosystems and economies, arguing that concepts of property and land use fundamentally influenced environmental change.

land useNative American environmental interventionsproperty and ecosystems

Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West

1991 Environmental history / Urban history

Explores the economic and material linkages between Chicago and the rural Midwest, showing how urbanization and capitalism transformed landscapes and ecological practices.

city-country linkagescapitalism and environmentcommodification and circulation

Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature

1995 Essay / Environmental thought

Reexamines concepts of wilderness and nature, critiquing the myth of untouched wilderness and urging a reconceived sense of human–nature relationships.

critique of wilderness concepthuman–nature interdependenceenvironmental ethics

Bibliography

  • Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England (1983)
  • Nature's Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West (1991)
  • Uncommon Ground: Rethinking the Human Place in Nature (1995)
  • The Trouble with Wilderness: Or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature (essay, 1995)
  • Why the Past Matters (essay, 2000)

Adaptations

  • Appearance in Ken Burns' documentary 'The National Parks: America's Best Idea' (documentary, 2009)

Style & Themes

Literary Style
narrative, interdisciplinary historical writingintegration of economic/urban history with environmental analysis
Recurring Motifs
city–country interactionsproperty and resource usehuman actions and ecosystems

Legacy

Cronon significantly expanded environmental history by demonstrating how urban and economic processes shape environmental change. His work has had enduring influence on environmental thought, conservation policy, and urban history scholarship.

Academic Societies

  • American Historical Association
  • British Academy (Corresponding Fellow)

In Popular Culture

  • Appearances in Ken Burns' documentary and other public-facing media

Quotes

  • “Learning to honor the wild — learning to remember and acknowledge the autonomy of the other — means striving for critical self-consciousness in all of our actions... If wildness can stop being (just) out there and start being (also) in here, if it can start being as humane as it is natural, then perhaps we can get on with the unending task of struggling to live rightly in the world.”
    Source: Essay 'The Trouble with Wilderness' and discussion in Uncommon Ground (1995) (1995)

Trivia

  • Awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in 1985.
  • Attended Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar.
  • Served as president of the American Historical Association in 2012.