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The Invention of Sustainability


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The issue of sustainability, and the idea that economic growth and development might destroy its own foundations, is one of the defining political problems of our era. This groundbreaking study traces the emergence of this idea, and demonstrates how sustainability was closely linked to hopes for growth, and the destiny of expanding European states, from the sixteenth century. Weaving together aspirations for power, for economic development and agricultural improvement, and ideas about forestry, climate, the sciences of the soil and of life itself, this book sets out how new knowledge and metrics led people to imagine both new horizons for progress, but also the possibility of collapse. In the nineteenth century, anxieties about sustainability, often driven by science, proliferated in debates about contemporary and historical empires and the American frontier. The fear of progress undoing itself confronted society with finding ways to live with and manage nature.




Parks in Hertfordshire Since 1500


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The cultural, political, and economic influences on the changing fortunes of Hertfordshire’s great parks over the past 500 years are examined in this authoritative history. Fascinating accounts of such parks as Hatfield, Moor Park, and Knebworth are illustrated by revisiting each historical era and its prevailing fashions, such as the enthusiasm for deer hunting in the 16th century and the golden age of landscape gardening in the 18th century. Close analysis of each time period’s cartographical sources further supports this fitting record of the county’s green spaces, which ultimately outlines the ongoing decline in Hertfordshire’s parklands, now divided piecemeal between golf courses, schools, and hotels; sold as real estate; or precariously maintained as tourist attractions.




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Essex in the Age of Enlightenment


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Essex in the Age of Enlightenment brings together eleven studies in historical biography by John Bensusan-Butt. In a direct and engaging style, they explore the lives of musicians, artists, a highly original architect, a skilled doctor, a forthright lawyer who was painted by Thomas Gainsborough, a benevolent cleric, a suicidal poet and others who lived in or near Colchester in Essex. These essays examine patronage and the arts in Georgian provincial towns, public service and philanthropy as well as urban culture, polite society and its politics and personalities. John Bensusan-Butt (1911-1997) was a knowledgeable local historian whose research career spanned some forty years. Shani D'Cruze is Honorary Reader at Keele University. She is the author of A Pleasing Prospect: Social Change and Urban Culture in Eighteenth-Century Colchester (Hertford, 2008) and is also a historian of gender, crime and violence.




Dictionary Of British And Irish Botanists And Horticulturists Including plant collectors, flower painters and garden designers


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Over the past four centuries botanists and gardeners in the British Isles have gathered, maintained and propagated many varying species of plants. Their work has been documented in innumerable books and articles which are often difficult to trace. The Dictionary of British and Irish Botanists and Horticulturalists represents a time-saving reference source for those who wish to discover more about the lives and achievements of the horticulturalists listed. The dictionary's utility comes not only from indicating the major publications of the named authors, but also the location of their herbaria and manuscripts.; The previous 1977 edition of the Dictionary has for many years been a much used source of information for botanists, botanic artists and archivists. In this revised edition the scope has been expanded to include among its 13,000 entries flower painters in addition to botanical artists over 1400 entries and, for the first time, garden designers.; Finally the Dictionary should have international appeal since so many botanists and gardeners worked on collective plants overseas, in particular in North America and the British Commonwealth.; Each entry gives, wherever possible, details of dates and places of birth and death, educational qualifications, professional posts, honours and awards, publications, location of plant collections, manuscripts, drawings and portraits. Its main function, however, is to provide further biographical references to books and periodicals. Comprehensive classified indices facilitate access by professions and activities, countries, and plant interests.