Annotated Bibliography Mazel, David, ed. A Century of Early Ecocriticism. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2001.

This anthology helps to put into perspective the discipline that has come to be known as ecocriticism, which this book defines as the study of literature as if the environment mattered. This book traces the development of ecocritcism as a modern scholarly discipline from William Rueckert (1978) to the present, and also shows that elements of current ecocriticism were emerging as early as the late eighteenth century. It includes critical articles on many of the more important American nature writers from 1864 through 1964. Botkin, Daniel B. Discordant Harmonies: A New Ecology for the Twenty-First Century. New York: Oxford UP, 1990. An examination of current thought in ecology and its associated literature, referenced in the Association for the Study of Literature and the Environment (http://www.asle.umn.edu/) bibliography of most important texts. Botkin summarizes the purpose of nature writing with a few essential questions: What is natures character if not disturbed by humans; what does it mean for nature to be in a state of harmony, and how are human themes related to any harmony of nature; if humans are a part of nature, what is their proper role within it? He sketches some possible answers to these fundamental questions, and includes concrete examples of how things can go wrong, even with the best of intentions, as well as how things can be guided toward going right. Leopold, Aldo. A Sand County Almanac. New York: Oxford UP, 1949. The Almanac is a landmark work in ecological literature. Aldo Leopold was a scientific forester, trained at Yales school of forestry. He moved through a series of very successful posts in the forest service, but started to doubt the methods he had been taught as too crude to effectively manage natural areas without disturbing or destroying them. This, his most important work, details his purchase and rehabilitation of a burned-out farm, and the philosophical ruminations that go along with the process. Leopold outlines a land-use ethic that entails far more consideration for the importance of non-human nature than was reflected in land-use policies of his day, or our own.
Adamson, Joni. American Indian Literature, Environmental Justice, and Ecocriticism: The Middle Place. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 2001. Bennett, Michael, and David W. Teague. eds. The Nature of Cities: Ecocriticism and Urban Environments. Tucson: U of Arizona P, 1999. Bleakley, Alan. The Animalizing Imagination: Totemism, Textuality and Ecocriticism. NY: St. Martin's, 2000. Branch, Michael P., et al. eds. Reading the Earth: New Directions in the Study of Literature and Environment. Moscow: U of Idaho P, 1998. Carroll, Joseph. Literary Darwinism: Evolution, Human Nature, and Literature. NY: Routledge, 2004. Dreese, Donelle N. Ecocriticism: Creating Self and Place in Environmental and American Indian Literatures. NY: Peter Lang, 2002. Gifford, Terry. Reconnecting with John Muir: Essays in Post-Pastoral Practice. Athens: U of Georgia P, 2006. Glotfelty, Cheryll, and Harold Fromm. eds. The Ecocriticism Reader: Landmarks in Literary Ecology. Athens: U of Georgia P, 1996.