Mining North America

By John Robert McNeill (editor), George Vrtis (editor),

Book cover of Mining North America: An Environmental History Since 1522

Book description

Over the past five hundred years, North Americans have increasingly relied on mining to produce much of their material and cultural life. From cell phones and computers to cars, roads, pipes, pans, and even wall tile, mineral-intensive products have become central to North American societies. As this process has unfolded,…

When you buy books, we may earn a commission that helps keep our lights on (or join the rebellion as a member).

Why read it?

1 author picked Mining North America as one of their favorite books. Why do they recommend it?

This anthology makes the case that an empire of extraction has existed from the dawn of the colonial era until deep into the 21st Century. The essays in the “Health and Environmental Justice” section are both fascinating and disturbing. And how could they not be disturbing with such words as these in chapter titles? “Uranium Mine and Mine Tailings.” “Arsenic Pollution.” “Quebec Asbestos.” Nearly every chapter in this section emphasizes the impact on indigenous populations with the chapter title on the tar sands of Alberta, Canada, being particularly stark. It opens with this: “If the Rivers Ran South.”

If you love Mining North America...

Ad

Book cover of Tap Dancing on Everest: A Young Doctor's Unlikely Adventure

Tap Dancing on Everest by Mimi Zieman,

Tap Dancing on Everest, part coming-of-age memoir, part true-survival adventure story, is about a young medical student, the daughter of a Holocaust survivor raised in N.Y.C., who battles self-doubt to serve as the doctor—and only woman—on a remote Everest climb in Tibet.

The team attempts a new route up…

Want books like Mining North America?

Our community of 12,000+ authors has personally recommended 100 books like Mining North America.

Browse books like Mining North America

Book cover of A Sand County Almanac: And Sketches Here and There
Book cover of Coming Into the Country
Book cover of The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History

Share your top 3 reads of 2024!

And get a beautiful page showing off your 3 favorite reads.

1,992

readers submitted
so far, will you?

Ad

📚 If you like Mining North America, you might also like...

Book cover of The Extraordinary Journey of David Ingram: An Elizabethan Sailor in Native North America

The Extraordinary Journey of David Ingram by Dean Snow,

An ordinary sailor named David Ingram walked 3600 miles from Mexico to Canada over the course of eleven months in 1568-9. There, he and two companions were rescued by a French ship on the Bay of Fundy. They were the first Englishmen to explore the interior of North America.

English…

Book cover of Need to Know: World War II and the Rise of American Intelligence

Need to Know by Nicholas Reynolds,

The authoritative but accessible history of the birth of modern American intelligence in World War II that treats not just one but all of the various disciplines: spies, codebreakers, saboteurs.

Told in a relatable style that focuses on actual people, it was a New Yorker "Best of 2022" selection and…

5 book lists we think you will like!

Interested in environmentalism, North America, and Canada?

Environmentalism 198 books
North America 73 books
Canada 454 books