Read more
Explores the development of natural history since the Renaissance and contextualizes current discussions of biodiversity.
List of contents
Introduction: worlds of history Nicholas Jardine and Emma Spary; Part I. Early Modern Ventures: 1. Visions of ancient natural history Brian W. Ogilvie; 2. Gessner's history of nature Sachiko Kusukawa; 3. Natural history in the apothecary's shop Valentina Pugliano; 4. Horticultural networking and sociable citation Leah Knight; 5. European exchanges and communities Florike Egmond; 6. Making monsters Natalie Lawrence; 7. Indigenous naturalists Iris Montero Sobrevilla; 8. Insects, philosophy and the microscope Eric Jorink; Part II. Enlightened Orders: 9. The materials of natural history Paula Findlen and Anna Toledano; 10. Experimental natural history Mary Terrall; 11. Spatial arrangement and systematic order Robert Felfe; 12. Linnaean paper tools Staffan Müller-Wille; 13. Image and nature Kärin Nickelsen; 14. Botanical conquistadors Daniela Bleichmar; 15. Bird sellers and animal merchants Christopher Plumb; 16. Vegetable empire Miles Ogborn; Part III. Publics and Empires: 17. Containers and collections Anne Secord; 18. Natural history and the scientific voyage Katharine Anderson; 19. Humboldt's exploration at a distance Sandra Rebok; 20. Publics and practices Lynn K. Nyhart; 21. Museum nature Samuel J. M. M. Alberti; 22. Peopling natural history Sadiah Qureshi; 23. The oils of empire Sujit Sivasundaram; Part IV. Connecting and Conserving: 24. Global geology and the tectonics of empire James A. Secord; 25. Zoological gardens Mitchell G. Ash; 26. Provincializing global botany Jung Lee; 27. Descriptive and prescriptive taxonomies Jim Endersby; 28. Imperiled crops and endangered flowers Helen Anne Curry; 29. Networks of natural history in Latin America Regina Horta Duarte; 30. The unnatural history of postwar human biology Joanna Radin; 31. Fieldwork out of place Etienne Benson; 32. Wild visions Morgan Richards; Epilogue: natural history and its histories in the twenty-first century Helen Anne Curry and James A. Secord.
About the author
Helen Anne Curry is the Peter Lipton Senior Lecturer in History of Modern Science and Technology at the University of Cambridge.Nicholas Jardine is emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of the Sciences at the University of Cambridge.James A. Secord is Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge.E. C. Spary is Reader in the History of Modern European Knowledge at the Faculty of History, University of Cambridge.
