Dust Bowls of Empire: Imperialism, Environmental Politics, and the Injustice of "Green" Capitalism

Date Written:  2018-11-20
Publisher:  Yale University Press
Year Published:  2018
Pages:  256pp   ISBN:  9780300230208
Resource Type:  Book
Cx Number:  CX23540

Analysis of the 1930s Dust Bowl as the result of capitalism and US imperialism. Also looks at what we can learn from it for today's climate crisis.

Abstract: 
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Publisher's Description:

A profound reinterpretation of both the Dust Bowl on the U.S. southern plains and its relevance for today

The 1930s witnessed a harrowing social and ecological disaster, defined by the severe nexus of drought, erosion, and economic depression that ravaged the U.S. southern plains. Known as the Dust Bowl, this crisis has become a major referent of the climate change era, and has long served as a warning of the dire consequences of unchecked environmental despoliation.

Through innovative research and a fresh theoretical lens, Hannah Holleman reexamines the global socioecological and economic forces of settler colonialism and imperialism precipitating this disaster, explaining critical antecedents to the acceleration of ecological degradation in our time. Holleman draws lessons from this period that point a way forward for environmental politics as we confront the growing global crises of climate change, freshwater scarcity, extreme energy, and soil degradation.