`` The Republic Of Nature `` By Mark Fiege, The Salem...

Pure Perspective From the mightiest of Redwoods to the tiniest bacterium, nature encapsulates mankind. Nature surrounds humanity as a sovereign witness to man’s most astounding triumphs, and the disgusting atrocities perpetrated by man against his fellow man. Regardless of the circumstances, nature remains unbiased in the face of all conflicts and struggles. Nature cannot deceive or mislead like humanity can. It is for this reason why nature has an ideal perspective to view history. As shown through Mark Fiege’s book The Republic of Nature: an Environmental History of the United States, the lense of nature is extremely important to both readers and historians alike due to the fact that unlike almost all other sources, nature is unbiased and honest. This is exemplified through Fiege’s exploration of the history of the the construction of the Lincoln Memorial, the Salem witch trials, and natural law. Prior to diving into the many new insights that can be comprehended while viewing history through a natural lense, it is important to define nature in this context. While man is technically a creation of nature, and therefore nature himself, he shall be excluded from this brief definition of what composes nature. Here, nature will be considered everything living or otherwise on this earth that is not a creation or product of humanity. All other creatures and parts of the environment are to be considered nature. To introduce the powerful effect of the unbiased lense of nature,