Secure from Rash Assault: Sustaining the Victorian Environment - Tapa dura

"The persuasiveness of Winter's argument raises the question of whether a similar approach could be applied to twentieth-century Britain.... But whether or not such an approach is feasible, Winter's fine work will redefine the debate on the impact of industrialism on the British rural environment for may years to come."--Jeremy Burchardt, "Agricultural History

Nineteenth-century Britain led the world in technological innovation and urbanization, and unprecedented population growth contributed as well to the "rash assault," to quote Wordworth, on Victorian countrysides. Yet James Winter finds that the British environment was generally spared widespread ecological damage. Drawing from a variety of sources and disciplines, Winter focuses on human intervention as it not only destroyed but also preserved the physical environment. Industrial blight could be contained, he says, because of Britain's capacity to import resources from elsewhere, the conservative effect of the estate system, and certain intrinsic limitations of steam engines. The rash assault was further blunted by traditional agricultural practices, preservation of forests, and a growing recreation industry that favoured beloved landscapes. Winter's illumination of Victorian attitudes toward the exploitation of natural resources offers a preamble to ongoing discussions of human intervention in the environment.