Thoreau's Country

Journey through a Transformed Landscape

David R. Foster

    Preface

    Prologue: One Man's Journal

    Three Landscapes in New England History

    The Cultural Landscape of New England

    Views of the Nineteenth-Century Countryside

    Daily Life

    The Farmer as Hero

    Meadows and Mowers

    Stone Walls and Other Fences

    A Natural History of Woodlands

    Woodlands and Sproutlands

    Forest Land Use and Woodland Practices

    Firewood and Other Fuels

    Wildfire: A Human and Natural Force

    The Coming of the New Forest

    Social Change and Farm Abandonment in New England

    The Succession of Forest Trees

    Losses and Change

    Animals: From Bobolinks to Bears

    The Passenger Pigeon

    The American Chestnut

    Stepping Back and Looking Ahead

    Reading Forest and Landscape History

    Landscape Change

    Insights into the Ecology and Conservation of the Land

    Bibliographic Essay

    Bibliography

    Index

  • Cover: Thoreau's Country
  • A photo of the author

David R. Foster is Director of the Harvard Forest in Petersham, Massachusetts, and teaches ecology at Harvard University.