The Control of Nature (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)
At a glance:
- Author: John McPhee
- First Published: 1989
- Type of Work: Social and natural history
- Time of Work: The twentieth century
- Setting: Louisiana, Iceland, Hawaii, and California
- Genres: Nonfiction, Social issues, History
- Subjects: North America or North Americans, United States or Americans, California, West, U.S., Rivers or waterways, Pacific Northwest, Pacific Ocean, Volcanoes, Land settlement, Geology or geologists, Iceland or Icelanders, Military art or science
- Locales: California, Louisiana, Hawaii, Iceland
John McPhee’s books include three others—Basin and Range (1981), In Suspect Terrain (1983), and Rising from the Plains (1986)—about geological science and the people who make it. All three show his abilities as a creator of human portraits and as a translator of science into lay terms. The Control of Nature shows these same strengths. It is personalized geology emphasizing a human time scale. Its title comes from an inscription McPhee once saw on the University of Wyoming engineering building (“STRIVE ON-THE CONTROL OF NATURE is WON, NOT GIVEN”)....
[The entire page is 2823 words long]
