Technology and Nature in American History
MIT OpenCourseWare offers this history course examining how industrial practices and technology reshaped ideas and landscapes of nature in nineteenth and twentieth century America. Topics include changing land-use patterns, the growth of cities and farms, the redesign of water systems, and the construction of roads, dams, bridges, and irrigation systems. The course traces the creation of national parks and shifting ideas about wilderness, moving from small farms to suburbia and from Walden Pond to Yosemite. Students read primary and secondary sources on how technological and natural forces have interacted historically, asking whether there remains a place for nature in an industrial world. The course is adapted from a version originally designed by Professor Deborah Fitzgerald, whose Fall 2004 iteration is also archived. Materials include syllabus, readings, and assignments; MIT OCW course materials are free to access with no certificate offered.