Sowards (history and Pacific Northwest studies, U. of Idaho) summarizes and synthesizes the environmental history literature for the west coast of the United States. In an effort to make political and economic contexts more manageable, he has limited himself to discussion of US territory as of 1848, but with the inclusion of watershed criteria has extended the study out beyond the Cascade Mountains to take into account most or all of the modern states of California, Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. His account of the interplay of ecology, political economy, and culture is chronological and stretches from the arrival of the first humans; through colonial trade, industrialization, and urbanization; and on to current environmental movements and public policy. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)