AMS 210 - America's History with Wilderness Places

Institution:

Goucher College

Subject:

Description:

Almost no one today disputes the importance of preserving wild tracts of land. While there's disagreement about the size, location and uses of wilderness areas, it's hard to imagine anyone arguing that we should open every acre in America to development. This shared conviction that there's something valuable about wilderness is of fairly recent origin. For example, the very mountains that we celebrate for their majestic beauty were once viewed as "ugly protuberances" that defaced the natural landscape. This course will examine America's changing perceptions of wild landscapes, from the early settlers, who viewed the "howling wilderness" as the devil's den, to our own view of wilderness areas as places of recreation. This examination of how writers, visual artists, philosophers, and early environmentalists changed America's attitudes towards wild landscape offers a striking case study in how our relationship to nature is shaped by culture.

Credits:

3.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

WWW.GOUCHER.EDU

Phone Number:

(410) 337-6000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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