A comparative history of the development of ideas about nature in the Anglo settler countries.

Part I. Making the Land Familiar: 1. Natural history and the construction of nature; 2. Remaking worlds: European models in New Lands; Part II. Beyond Conquest: 3. Reaching limits, 1850-1900; 4. National nature, part I; 5. Changing science, 1880-1930; Part III. Finding Firm Ground: 6. Reaching limits, 1920-40; 7. National nature, part II; 8. An ecological perspective, 1920-50; Part IV. New Knowledge, New Action: 9. The diffusion of ecology, 1948-67; 10. The new world of nature.