In his book Fashioning the Canadian Landscape, J.I. Little examines how Canada, much like the United States, came to be identified with its natural landscape. Little argues that in contrast to America, Canada's image was strongly influenced by the picturesque convention favoured by British travel writers.

The Government of Natural Resources explores scientific and technical activity in Quebec from Confederation until the eve of the Second World War. Scientific and technical personnel are an often quiet presence within the state, but they play an integral role. At the turn of the twentieth century, the provincial government created geology, forestry, fishery, and agronomy services. These new services drew from recently established university technical programs to amass a corps of skilled employees to support their mission: exploiting resources and occupying territory. Stéphane Castonguay traces the history of mining, logging, hunting, fishing, and agriculture in Quebec to reveal how territorial and environmental transformations thus became a tool of government. By helping to define and shape such interventions, scientific activity contributed to state formation and expanded administrative capacity. The lessons that this thoughtful reconceptualization of resource development offers reach well beyond provincial borders.

This comprehensive treatment of the environmental history of northern North America offers a compelling account of the complex encounters of people, technology, culture, and ecology that shaped modern-day Canada and Alaska. From the arrival of the earliest humans to the very latest scientific controversies, the environmental history of Canada and Arctic North America is dramatic, diverse, and crucial for the very survival of the human race. Packed with key facts and analysis, this expert guide explores the complex interplay between human societies and the environment from the Aleutian Islands to the Grand Banks and from the Great Lakes to the Arctic Islands How has the challenging environment of America's most northerly regions—with some areas still dominated by native peoples—helped shape politics and trade? What have been the consequences of European contact with this region and its indigenous inhabitants? How did natives and newcomers cope with, and change this vast and forbidding territory? Can a perspective on the past help us in grappling with the conflict between oil exploration and wilderness preservation on the North Slope of Alaska? Part of ABC-CLIO's Nature and Human Societies series, this unique work charts the region's environmental history from prehistory to modern times and is essential reading for students and experts alike.