To Love the Wind and the Rain - by Dianne Glave & Mark Stoll (Paperback)

About the Book

An examination of the relationship between African Americans and the environment in U.S. history, "To Love the Wind and the Rain" contains essays covering topics such as slavery, religion, the turpentine industry, gardening, outdoor recreation, women and politics.

Book Synopsis

"To Love the Wind and the Rain" is a groundbreaking and vivid analysis of the relationship between African Americans and the environment in U.S. history. It focuses on three major themes: African Americans in the rural environment, African Americans in the urban and suburban environments, and African Americans and the notion of environmental justice. Meticulously researched, the essays cover subjects including slavery, hunting, gardening, religion, the turpentine industry, outdoor recreation, women, and politics. "To Love the Wind and the Rain" will serve as an excellent foundation for future studies in African American environmental history.

Review Quotes

'To Love the Wind and the Rain' is an invaluable book for its insights into environmental and social history, the African-American experience, and how the question of the environment can be understood by examining the lives of women and people of color. It stretches the boundaries of environmental history and places at the center of that field those who have for too long been ignored by environmental and social historians.-- "Robert Gottlieb, Occidental College"

"To Love the Wind and the Rainis a must read for all citizens of the earth. This interdisciplinary and critical work is timely, informative, and offers very credible arguments and insights into the various ways in which different ethnic and racial groups have interacted with and lived their environmental beliefs and philosophies. Easy to read, To Love the Wind and the Rain shows, on the one hand, how African Americans' struggle against oppression within the larger society created greater respect for the earth, and on the other hand, how their environmental experiences continue to be a part of the larger fight for social justice for people of color throughout the world."--- "Valerie Grim, Indiana University Bloomington"

Filling a major lacuna in the historic literature, Dianne Glave and Mark Stoll capture the depth and breadth of African American encounters with nature. Covering topics from agricultural slavery, to liberation theology, to race riots originating in exclusion from recreational space, this accessible volume is the perfect reader for a course on environment and culture.-- "Susan Bratton, Baylor University"

Will help set the course for emerging African American environmental historical scholarship. This collection of essays will enhance not only the existing but also future environmental historiography by including the added and much needed perspectives of race and gender.-- "Journal of American Ethnic History"

About the Author

Dianne D. Glave teaches history at Morehouse College.