The distinctive environment of the Southern United States has played a greater part in its history than perhaps some of its residents know. For example, why was cotton king? Why is it now not? How did the early growth of large-scale mechanized agribusiness affect slavery and its antecedents? In this series of eight sequential essays and a set of three significant case studies contributors describe the ecological impact of the Pleistocene ice age, the meltdown of the Holocene and the woodland period, the spread of Mississippian culture, the clearing of the coasts in colonial days, the overwhelming affects of the plantation, the effects of hunting and livestock, the ravages of urbanization, and the efforts to reclaim environmentally damaged portions of the South. The case studies come from the Okefenokee Swamp, Louisiana's chemical corridor, and imperiled and extinct birds. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)