How the New World Became Old - (Princeton Modern Knowledge) by Caroline Winterer (Hardcover)

About the Book

"... tells the extraordinary story of how Americans discovered that the New World was not just old--it was a place rooted in deep time."--Provided by publisher.

Book Synopsis

How the idea of deep time transformed how Americans see their country and themselves

During the nineteenth century, Americans were shocked to learn that the land beneath their feet had once been stalked by terrifying beasts. T. rex and Brontosaurus ruled the continent. North America was home to saber-toothed cats and woolly mammoths, great herds of camels and hippos, and sultry tropical forests now fossilized into massive coal seams. How the New World Became Old tells the extraordinary story of how Americans discovered that the New World was not just old--it was a place rooted in deep time.

In this panoramic book, Caroline Winterer traces the history of an idea that today lies at the heart of the nation's identity as a place of primordial natural beauty. Europeans called America the New World, and literal readings of the Bible suggested that Earth was only six thousand years old. Winterer takes readers from glacier-capped peaks in Yosemite to Alabama slave plantations and canal works in upstate New York, describing how naturalists, explorers, engineers, and ordinary Americans unearthed a past they never suspected, a history more ancient than anyone ever could have imagined.

Drawing on archival evidence ranging from unpublished field notes and letters to early stratigraphic diagrams, How the New World Became Old reveals how the deep time revolution ushered in profound changes in science, literature, art, and religion, and how Americans came to realize that the New World might in fact be the oldest world of all.

Review Quotes

"Powerful. . . . A richly detailed and indispensable exposition of how American geology found its place commensurate with the Old World and became a partner in a truly global science."---Markes E. Johnson, H-Net Reviews

"Fascinating. . . . Winterer's book is a jewel, an awesome, jargon free, often witty, perfectly documented and suggestively illustrated synthesis of what remains one of the most powerful enigmas to the human brain."---Jan Baetens, Leonardo Reviews

"Fascinating. . . . How the New World Became Old intertwines science, politics, culture and ideas to reveal a history of intellectual nationalism that fleshes out and raises up the story of nineteenth-century America."---Michael Taylor, Times Literary Supplement

"A fascinating and extremely well written book that helps understand not only the facts but also the cultural roots and dimensions of the still fascinating mystery of deep time. . . . Winterer's book is a jewel, an awesome, jargon free, often witty, perfectly documented and suggestively illustrated synthesis of what remains one of the most powerful enigmas to the human brain."---Jan Baetens, Leonardo

"As the historian Caroline Winterer shows in her new book How the New World Became Old: The Deep Time Revolution in America, [geology] can shape how an entire nation sees itself. . . . [A] knotty, complex history of a previous intellectual transformation."---Jacob Mikanowski, Chronicle Review

"[An] elegant history."-- "New Yorker"

About the Author

Caroline Winterer is the William Robertson Coe Professor of History and American Studies at Stanford University. Her books include American Enlightenments: Pursuing Happiness in the Age of Reason and (with Kären Wigen) Time in Maps: From the Age of Discovery to Our Digital Era.