Description
Book SynopsisPart materialist manifesto, part empirical case study, and part methodological guide, The Matter of History develops a radical new post-anthropocentric understanding of the past that explains how powerful organisms and things pushed diverse nations and cultures towards a global 'Great Convergence'.
Trade Review'In this original, important, and beautifully written book, LeCain develops a neo-materialist theory of history to illuminate the environmental histories of seemingly disparate subjects: copper mines, silkworms, and longhorn cattle. Using insights from evolutionary theory, animal studies, and the anthropocene, LeCain shows how the cultural and the material are deeply interwoven in every aspect of resource extraction.' Nancy Langston, Michigan Technological University
'By putting things front and center, LeCain challenges us to rethink our most basic assumptions about how we write history in the twenty-first century. He offers us both a lucid guide to a wide range of materialist theories and a set of fascinating examples.' Linda Nash, University of Washington
'The Matter of History constitutes the first successful attempt to create an historical narrative truly grounded in a non-anthropocentric ethos, both in terms of its theoretical premises and of its methodological choices … a valuable example of an historical research able to interpret past events in order to read the present time.' Claudio de Majo, Global Environment
'[A] profound and provocative book … thoughtful critique of antimaterialist history with an equally thoughtful summary of recent scholarship … [LeCain] argues convincingly that giving animals, plants, and minerals credit for shaping the world will allow us to write a more accurate and interesting history.' Steven Lubar, Technology and Culture
'[The Matter of History] easily counts among the ten most fascinating books that I have read over the last decade.' Stefan Berger, Journal of Social History and the History of Social Movements
'A fresh, provocative, and profound book … [The Matter of History] pushes environmental-history methodology to a new level of engagement with all actors of the material world.' Anne Norton Greene, Journal of Interdisciplinary History
'The Matter of History constitutes the first successful attempt to create an historical narrative truly grounded in a non-anthropocentric ethos, both in terms of its theoretical premises and of its methodological choices.' Caludio de Majo, Global Environment
Table of Contents1. Fellow travelers: the non-human things that make us human; 2. We never left Eden: the religious and secular marginalization of matter; 3. Natural born humans: a neo-materialist theory and method of history; 4. The longhorn: the animal intelligence behind American open range ranching; 5. The silkworm: the innovative insects behind Japanese modernization; 6. The copper atom: conductivity and the great convergence of Japan and the West; 7. The matter of humans: beyond the Anthropocene and towards a new humanism.
