This Delta, This Land: An Environmental History of the Yazoo-Mississippi Floodplain (Paperback)

~ (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A wonderful piece of work in concept, research, and writing." -- James Fickle, Professor of History, The University of Memphis

"Saikku's is a refreshingly northern European take on an interesting and important aspect of North American environmental history." -- Jack Temple Kirby, author of Poquosin: A Study of Rural Landscape and Society

"This Delta, This Land is Faulknerian in scale—rich in sense of place, broad in implications." -- Donald Worster, Hall Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Review

"Saikku's is a refreshingly northern European take on an interesting and important aspect of North American environmental history. He is comfortable with geology, paleontology, botany, and zoology, and he has mastered not only historians' methodologies and 'theories' but those of scientists as well. He is deserving of respect."--Jack Temple Kirby, author of Poquosin: A Study of Rural Landscape and Society

"This Delta, This Land is Faulknerian in scale—rich in sense of place, broad in implications. This is what environmental history needs right now—a work that puts ecology and economy back into the center of the picture, without neglecting the cultural meanings of nature. It is redolent of a place that looms large in American history, literature, and folklore. An outstanding contribution."--Donald Worster, Hall Distinguished Professor, University of Kansas

"Often publications in American environmental history, written by born-and-bred Americans with various axes to grind, are too broad in subject matter and too parochial in interpretation. This book, a history of a specific region, the Yazoo-Mississippi Delta, by a scientifically sophisticated, deeply informed European scholar who only wants to know what happened, is a happy exception."--Alfred W. Crosby, Professor Emeritus, University of Texas at Austin

"This book is highly recommended for an academic audience or an interested general reader."--Environment and History

"A wonderful piece of work in concept, research, and writing."--James Fickle, Professor of History, University of Memphis

“An essential addition to the core collection of anyone seriously interested in understanding our Delta. Make room on your bookshelf next to Lanterns on the Levee, Most Southern Place on Earth, Development Arrested, and Forgotten Time."--Life in the Delta Magazine

"Saikku's sweeping study will appeal even to those steeped in Delta history. He weaves together an impressive body of secondary works, travel accounts, and primary sources."--Journal of Southern History

"The strength of this book is its weighty compendium of scientific information about the floodplain’s natural setting . . . an impressive variety of sources . . . Saikku’s detailed look at timbering on the Delta’s Panther-Burn Plantation is a superb case study of boom-bust industrialization."--Environmental History

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Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: University of Georgia Press (February 21, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0820326739
• ISBN-13: 978-0820326733
• Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 5.9 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,102,802 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A striking achievement relating culture and heritage to the physical land., July 21, 2009

By	Kurt Grussendorf (Pensacola, Florida) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

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It is ironic that it takes a Finnish author to really pry off the lid of Southern enviornmental concerns. The fact that Finland is so involved with the timber culture and adapting architecture to the land makes it a bit more understandable as I have never seen a more complete inventory of soil and timber done for the Mississippi Delta. The haunting voice of Faulkner and the roar of the Delta bear and cougar is drown out by the sawmill and the tractor engine. Most important should be a reassessment of the monoculture of growing just one timber species or crop rather than diversification. Large parts of the forested land of the South are sterile deserts that sustain only one species-- be it pine or cotton, or soy beans that render the land vulnerable to species extinction and parasites that have no natural predators to control their spread. Thus, the demise of the Ivory Billed woodpecker, the bear, and the Delta panther and the rise of the boll weevil and row on row on pine trees that sustain very little ecological variety and are subjected to toxic chemical fertilizers and insecticides. I am not a radical enviromentalist, but I do see the sterility of the monoculture in forestry and agriculture. There is a positive note, some effort is being made to preserve old growth hardwoods and even the remaining bear population--but the Delta is forever changed.