Humanities 454
E-mail:mark.stoll@ttu.edu Web:https://www.markstoll.net/
Office Hours:
Tuesday & Thursday 11:00–12:15 p.m. and by appointment
Through lectures, readings,
and film, the course explores two evolving topics in American history: the
interrelationship and mutual impact of humans with the land and its plant and
animal life; and cultural attitudes and thinking about nature and the environment.
William Cronon, Changes
in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England
John Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra
Erin Stewart Mauldin, Unredeemed Land: An
Environmental History of Civil War and Emancipation in the Cotton South
Rachel Carson, Silent Spring
Andrew M. Busch, City in a Garden: Environmental
Transformations and Racial Justice in Twentieth-Century Austin, Texas
Lauret Savoy, Trace: Memory, History, Race, and the
American Landscape
|
34%
|
Three midterm examinations |
|
26%
|
Final examination |
|
30% |
Six book quizzes |
|
10% |
Analytical book review |
Exams:
Exams will be essay exams. Students will have an opportunity to demonstrate
their knowledge of environmental history as well as to engage issues raised in
lectures, discussions, and readings. The final exam will have the same format
as midterms, with the addition of a cumulative section.
Book quizzes: Short quizzes given on the discussion day for each book will encourage
students to have read the books and be ready to discuss them.
Makeups:
Exams or quizzes missed for any reason may be made up on Makeup Day, the last
Monday of the semester, in the professor’s office any time between 8:30 a.m.
and 5:00 p.m.
Papers:
Students will write an analytical book review on a book of their choice.
Instructions for the analytical book review: For this review, students
will select a book on environmental history from the bibliography of American
environmental history on the professor’s Website (excluding edited collections
of essays or books required for the course). There is a full bibliography here:
http://www.markstoll.net/Bibliographies/US/Environmental.htm.
Students may select another book if the professor approves it. The book
review will be four to six pages long and have three sections:
1.
A short summary (not a table of contents
or outline) of the book’s contents; this should not take more than a
paragraph or two.
2.
An explanation of the book’s thesis, with
a discussion of how the author has supported the thesis. You can often find a
statement of the book’s thesis in its preface, introduction, or conclusion.
Reread these sections after you finish your book. (Ask the professor, if you
have any doubts. Many students miss or confuse the thesis!)
3.
Most important, an analysis of the book, including how successful it
is (or is not!) in supporting its thesis, what the author’s bias (that is,
point of view) is, whether it agrees or disagrees with other class material,
how it might be improved, how well it is written, and whether you agree with
the book’s conclusions. Would you recommend it to others? Give examples to
support each point of your analysis.
Papers
will be printed in 12-point Times New Roman, double spaced, with 1"
margins all around. Do not add space between paragraphs (and if your
word-processing program does so automatically, adjust the “Paragraph”
settings). If you quote directly from the text of your book, cite your source
by adding the page number or numbers in parentheses immediately after the
quotation. For example:
T.S. Eliot wrote, “That is the way the world ends”
(42).
No footnotes or
bibliography are necessary. Grammar
and punctuation must be correct. For writing advice, the University Writing
Center (paid for by your fees!) would be happy to help you polish your writing.
They can help you in person or via the Internet and can be reached through
their Website: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/provost/uwc/undergraduate/index.php.
Attendance: The professor will call roll at the beginning of each class. Students
with a perfect attendance record will receive three bonus points on
their final grades. Students with more than two absences will receive 1½
points off their final grades for each absence over two. The instructor
will accept excuses in cases of true need if appropriately documented.
Plagiarism: Using text written by someone else (even in a close paraphrase) is
academic dishonesty. It is strictly against university and departmental policy.
Papers that have been plagiarized in whole or in part receive a 0 for the
assignment, and a further penalty of 10 points will be deducted from the
student’s final grade average.
A Note on AI: There are two main goals of this course. The first is to familiarize
you with the history of interaction of Americans with the natural world. The
second goal is to train you in reading texts effectively, understanding them
accurately, and writing clearly and thoughtfully. I expect that you will not
use any generative artificial intelligence system (like ChatGPT) in your work
for this course. Any use of AI-generated work at any stage of writing for this
class is a violation of academic integrity. Such systems are often inaccurate,
summarize complex materials badly, and make your work worse and less
interesting. Using them does not serve your development as a thinker, writer,
and scholar.
The
purpose of a writing assignment is not to find out what a computer program
thinks or to fill the world with yet more words about something. The purpose is
to find out what you think, but more than that, it is to prompt you to figure
out for yourself what you think and put those thoughts into words in order to
clarify your thoughts to yourself and express them to others.
Note
also that even a small request from an AI program uses a huge amount of energy
and water. It also leads to possible plagiarism.
Here
is the official policy of this course:
The use of generative AI tools (such as ChatGPT) is strictly prohibited in this
course for any purpose. Information gathered from AI cannot be used even with
appropriate citation. Submission of AI-generated content (i.e., information,
text, or images) as your own work is a violation of academic integrity and may
result in referral to the Office of Student Conduct. Please contact me if you
have questions regarding this course policy.
§ The Department of History
adheres to Texas Tech University’s statement and related policies on issues of
academic integrity
https://www.depts.ttu.edu/tlpdc/PlagiarismStatement.pdf.
§ Any student found to be in
violation of these policies will be subject to disciplinary action at both the
departmental and university levels. At the departmental level, such action may
include one or more of the following:
o a
failing grade (F) for the assignment in question
o a
failing grade (F) for the course
o a
written reprimand
o disqualification
from scholarships and/or funding
Electronics in the Classroom: Because
electronic devices distract both the student and other students around them,
all electronic devices must be turned off during class time. That includes use
of cell phones or laptops. Students using cell phones in class will be asked to
leave and will be counted absent for the day. Laptops may be used only if the
instructor gives permission, but students must use the computer for
class-related activities only, such as note-taking. This means no e-mail,
social media, Internet surfing, video watching, or other non-academic
activities. If, during an exam, a student is seen using any electronic device,
the exam will be collected immediately at that moment and receive a failing
grade.
These statements can be found at this URL: https://www.depts.ttu.edu/tlpdc/RequiredSyllabusStatements.php
Required Bureaucratic
Educational Jargon Section:
Expected Learning Outcomes: Upon successful completion of this
course, the students will be able to (1) demonstrate expanded knowledge of the
human condition and human cultures; (2) demonstrate knowledge of the origins
and evolution of U.S. environmental problems and issues; (3) describe or
identify major events, persons, and themes in American environmental history;
(4) think critically about environmental issues.
Assessment of Expected Learning Outcomes: Student learning will be assessed quizzes
and exams for outcome 1, 2, 3, and 4, and through essay questions and an
analytical book review for outcome 4.
Jan 15 Introduction
Jan
20 Were Indians environmentalists?
Jan
22 Arrival of the Europeans: ecological imperialism
Jan
27 Reading: Cronon, Changes in the Land
Jan
29 Slavery and the Southern environment
Feb
3 New England and agricultural improvement
Feb
5 American Romanticism
Feb
10 Reading: Muir, My First Summer in the Sierra
Feb
12 Transformation of the West: The Spanish, Russians, Mormons, and mining
Feb
17 First Midterm Exam
Feb
19 Transformation of the West: Settlement of the Plains
Feb
24 Industrialization and the rise of the cities
Feb
26 Urban environmental problems
Mar
3 Reading: Mauldin, Unredeemed Land
Mar
5 The Progressive conservation movement: rise of conservation
Mar
10 The Progressive conservation movement: conservation achieved
Mar
12 After the Progressives: The 1920s
Mar
14–22 Spring Break
Mar
24 The New Deal
Book review due
Mar
26 New forces, new fears: radiation
Mar
31 Reading: Carson, Silent Spring
Apr
2 Dams and wilderness
Apr
7 Second Midterm Exam
Apr
9 The 1960s: Johnson and the Great Society and environmental crisis
Apr
14 The 1970s: Nixon and the environmental decade
Apr
16 The 1970s: Carter and the Energy Crisis, Toxic Waste, and Nuclear Power
Apr
21 Reading: Busch, City in a Garden
Apr
23 The 1980s: Reagan and the End of Bipartisan Environmentalism
Apr
28 Environmental Justice; International Solutions to Acid Rain and Ozone
Depletion, but Not Global Warming
Apr
30 A New Environmentalism for the Twentieth Century?
May
4 All Make-Up Exams All Day in HUMA 454
May
5 Reading: Savoy, Trace
FINAL EXAM: Friday, May 8, 7:30 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.
©2026 Mark Stoll. The professor reserves the right to change this
syllabus at his discretion. Changes will be announced in class and posted on
the class Webpages. All lectures given in this class are the intellectual
property of the instructor. Any attempt to reproduce or transmit lectures or
lecture notes for profit, either directly or through a third party, is an
infringement of the instructor’s copyright interest.