The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, and the Making of Modern Germany

David Blackbourn

ISBN 10: 0393062120 / ISBN 13: 9780393062120

Published by W. W. Norton & Company, 2006

Pages can have notes/highlighting. Spine may show signs of wear. ~ ThriftBooks: Read More, Spend Less. Seller Inventory # G0393062120I3N00

Synopsis:

A history of Germany from the mid-eighteenth century to the present documents its rise as reflected by the nation's water and landscape developments, covering such topics as Frederick the Great's transformation of previously uninhabitable marshlands, the Rhine engineering projects, and the developments of hydroelectric power.

Review: "Startlingly original... This is history at its most synoptic, weaving together disparate themes in a counterpoint of science and aesthetics, race and reclamation, hydrology and mythology" (Daniel Johnson Sunday Times)

"This book offers a fresh insight into this passage of German history and will interest engineers, ecologists, economists, politicians and historians alike" (Bookends)

"Sublimely good... Blackbourn has found an original and suggestive way into the history of both Germany's aggrandisement and its humility... far more than a good book on an out-of-the-way subject" (The Economist)

"David Blackbourn has written an entertainingly original history, rich in insights into man and nature and the German - in fact, the European - mind" (Mark Kurlansky, bestselling author of Cod)

"Brilliantly conceived, David Blackbourn's thought-provoking exploration of the ambivalence built into past attempts to exploit the environment offers a wholly novel approach to understanding modern German history. His book is a tour de force in historical writing" (Ian Kershaw)

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Conquest of Nature: Water, Landscape, ...
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Publication Date: 2006
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Good
Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket