The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples

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Open Road + Grove/Atlantic, Jan 7, 2015 - History - 434 pages
A comprehensive history of the continent, “full of engaging and attention-catching information about North America’s geology, climate, and paleontology” (The Washington Post Book World).
 
Here, “the rock star of modern science” tells the unforgettable story of the geological and biological evolution of the North American continent, from the time of the asteroid strike that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago to the present day (Jared Diamond, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Guns, Germs, and Steel).
 
Flannery describes the development of North America’s deciduous forests and other flora, and tracks the migrations of various animals to and from Europe, Asia, and South America, showing how plant and animal species have either adapted or become extinct. The story spans the massive changes wrought by the ice ages and the coming of the Native Americans. It continues right up to the present, covering the deforestation of the Northeast, the decimation of the buffalo, and other consequences of frontier settlement and the industrial development of the United States.
 
This is science writing at its very best—both an engrossing narrative and a scholarly trove of information that “will forever change your perspective on the North American continent” (The New York Review of Books).

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About the author (2015)

Tim Flannery is the director of the South Australian Museum. He was previously the principal research scientist at the Australian Museum in Sydney and has also been a visiting professor of Australian studies at Harvard University. He is the author of eight books, including The Future Eaters, his award-winning history of Australian ecology.

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