American Chestnut

The Life, Death, and Rebirth of a Perfect Tree
1. Auflage 2009
ISBN: 978-0-520-25994-2
Verlag: University of California Press

Buch, Englisch, 304 Seiten, Trade Paperback, Format (B × H): 230 mm x 153 mm, Gewicht: 414 g

The American chestnut was one of America's most common, valued, and beloved trees—a "perfect tree" that ruled the forests from Georgia to Maine. But in the early twentieth century, an exotic plague swept through the chestnut forests with the force of a wildfire. Within forty years, the blight had killed close to four billion trees and left the species teetering on the brink of extinction. It was one of the worst ecological blows to North America since the Ice Age—and one most experts considered beyond repair. In American Chestnut, Susan Freinkel tells the dramatic story of the stubborn optimists who refused to let this cultural icon go. In a compelling weave of history, science, and personal observation, she relates their quest to save the tree through methods that ranged from classical plant breeding to cutting-edge gene technology. But the heart of her story is the cast of unconventional characters who have fought for the tree for a century, undeterred by setbacks or skeptics, and fueled by their dreams of restored forests and their powerful affinity for a fellow species.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Freinkel, Susan

Fachgebiete

• Geowissenschaften Umweltwissenschaften Umweltschutz, Umwelterhaltung
• Naturwissenschaften Biowissenschaften Botanik
• Naturwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Ackerbaukunde, Pflanzenbau Forstbotanik, Baumbiologie
• Naturwissenschaften Agrarwissenschaften Ackerbaukunde, Pflanzenbau Forstwirtschaft, Forstwissenschaft

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Map of American chestnut distribution in 1938
Introduction

PART ONE
1. Where There Are Chestnuts
2. A New Scourge
3. Let Us Not Talk about Impossibilities
4. A Whole World Dying

PART TWO
5. Rolling the Dice
6. Evil Tendencies Cancel
7. Let Us Plant
8. Chestnut 2.0
9. Faith in a Seed

Conclusion / The Comeback
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index

Über Autor(innen)

Susan Freinkel is a freelance science journalist whose feature writing has appeared in Discover, Health, Smithsonian, and the Reader’s Digest, among many national magazines.