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The Invention of the American Desert

Art, Land, and the Politics of Environment
Book Hero Magic crafted this summary to help describe this book. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Summary
The Invention of the American Desert explores the complex cultural and environmental history of the deserts in the American West. This collection of interdisciplinary essays examines how the desert has been imagined as a symbol of individualism, frontier spirit, and land acquisition, while also addressing the profound social and ecological violence inflicted upon it. The book considers the desert's role as a site for modernist experimentation, military-industrial activities, and ecological crises, reflecting on its significance amid contemporary climate challenges and rising desertification.
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Format: Hardback
$14299
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Book Hero Magic created this recommendation. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! IS THIS YOUR NEXT READ?

This volume will appeal to readers interested in arts, culture, environmental studies, and American history, particularly those seeking nuanced perspectives on landscape, identity, and ecological issues.

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Book Hero Magic formatted this description to make it easier to read. While it's new and still learning, it may not be perfect - your feedback is welcome! Description

Long viewed as a tabula rasa, the deserts of the American West have played a distinct role in the projection of American cultural identities. Historically represented through fantasies of individualism, frontier ruggedness, and land acquisition, the desert is also the site of extreme social and environmental violence.

The Invention of the American Desert brings together a wide-ranging group of interdisciplinary essays that explore, through diverse perspectives, dialectical problems posed by an environment that has served as a testing ground for modernist experimentation, military-industrial incursions, and ecological disasters throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.

In light of the urgent climate crisis and the planetโ€™s increasing desertification, this volume reflects on the nature and legacy of the desert as a crucible for competing visions of land, environment, and art.

Book Details

INFORMATION

ISBN: 9780520306691

Publisher: University of California Press

Format: Hardback

Date Published: 02 November 2021

Country: United States

Imprint: University of California Press

Illustration: 74 b-w illustrations

Contributors:

  • Edited by Lyle Massey
  • Edited by James Nisbet

Audience: Professional and scholarly

DIMENSIONS

Spine width: 15.0mm

Width: 178.0mm

Height: 254.0mm

Weight: 726g

Pages: 256

About the Author

Lyle Massey is Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine. She is the author of Picturing Space, Displacing Bodies: Anamorphosis in Early Modern Theories of Perspectiveย and the editor of The Treatise on Perspective: Published and Unpublished.

James Nisbet is Associate Professor of Art History and Visual Studies at the University of California, Irvine, and the author of Ecologies, Environments, and Energy Systems in Art of the 1960s and 1970s.

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