The Commons in History: Culture, Conflict, and Ecology

Title Page, Series Page, Copyright

The Commons in History History for a Sustainable Future Michael Egan, series editor Derek Wall, The Commons in History: Culture, Conflict, and Ecology Frank Uekötter, The Greenest Nation? A New History of German Environmentalism The MIT Press Cambridge, Massachusetts London, England The Commons in History Culture, Conflict, and Ecology Derek Wall © 2014 Massachusetts Institute of Technology All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form by any electronic or mechanical means (including photocopying, recording, or information storage and retrieval) without permission in writing from the publisher. MIT Press books may be purchased at special quantity discounts for business or sales promotional use. For information, please email special_sales@ mitpress.mit.edu. This book was set in Sabon by the MIT Press. Printed and bound in the United States of America. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Wall, Derek. The commons in history : culture, conflict, and ecology / Derek Wall. pages cm. —(History for a sustainable future) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-262-02721-2 (hardcover : alk. paper) 1. Commons—History. I. Title. HD1286.W34 2014 333.2—dc23 2013032414 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Emily Blyth and Amanda Penfold What we need to question is bricks, concrete, glass, our table manners , our utensils, our tools, the way we spend our time, our rhythms. To question that which seems to have ceased forever to astonish us. We live, true, we breathe, true; we walk, we go downstairs, we sit at a table in order to eat, we lie down on a bed in order to sleep. How? Where? When? Why? Describe your street. Describe another. Compare. —Georges Perec, L’Infra-ordinaire (1989) ...