Through astute and artful analysis, Jake McGinnis demonstrates that profound disturbances to 19th-century landscapes inspired innovation, resulting in a revised literary form. McGinnis's brilliant readings – of Thoreau, Copway, Fuller, and others – reveal how writers responded to the violences of the emergent Anthropocene, adapting literature so that it might reflect, recognize, and resist the new nation's increasingly degraded lands.

Rochelle L. Johnson, Bernie McCain Chair in the Humanities and Professor of Environmental Studies, College of Idaho, USA

McGinnis's focus on veer ecology makes an invaluable contribution to Thoreau studies, antebellum U.S. literature, and the environmental humanities. This richly informed and perceptive account of the excursion reimagines travel writing as a genre of transformative encounter with other cultures and with an ever-changing environment. By tracing the interplay of writings confronting the patterns of disturbance and adaptation that shaped the beginnings of the Anthropocene, McGinnis helps us better see the patterns that shape our own world.

John J. Kucich, Professor of English Literature, Bridgewater State University, USA