War and Nature : Fighting Humans and Insects with Chemicals from World War I to Silent Spring (Studies in Environment and History)

War and Nature combines discussion of technology, nature, and warfare to explain the impact of war on nature and vice versa. While cultural and scholarly traditions have led us to think of war and control of nature as separate, this 2001 book uses the history of chemical warfare and pest control as a case study to show that war and control of nature coevolved. Ideologically, institutionally, and technologically, the paths of chemical warfare and pest control intersected repeatedly in the twentieth century. These intersections help us understand the development of total war and the rise of the modern environmental movement.