The matter of history : how things create the past / Timothy J. LeCain, Montana State University.

The matter of history : how things create the past / Timothy J. LeCain, Montana State University.

9781107592704 (paperback)
1107592704 (paperback)
9781107134171 (hardcover)
110713417X (hardcover)

Cambridge, United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press, 2017.

English

xix, 346 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm.

GF13 .L43 2017

304.2

New insights into the microbiome, epigenetics, and cognition are radically challenging our very idea of what it means to be "human," while an explosion of neo-materialist thinking in the humanities has fostered a renewed appreciation of the formative powers of a dynamic material environment. The Matter of History brings these scientific and humanistic ideas together to develop a bold new post-anthropocentric understanding of the past, one that reveals how powerful organisms and things help to create humans in all their dimensions, biological, social, and cultural. Timothy J. LeCain combines cutting-edge theory and detailed empirical analysis to explain the extraordinary late-nineteenth century convergence between the United States and Japan at the pivotal moment when both were emerging as global superpowers. Illustrating the power of a deeply material social and cultural history, The Matter of History argues that three powerful things--cattle, silkworms, and copper--helped to drive these previously diverse nations towards a global "great convergence."

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Studies in environment and history.

On-Campus Resources > Books
All Resources