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A decade ago, after two years of writing about the conflicts between resort development, the environment, and rural communities on the coast of South Carolina, I thought it would be interesting to study the history of these clashes. On the shelves of the Beaufort County Library I found a book by Zane miller and was delighted to discover that there was such a thing as urban history. exploring the field brought me to the University of Cincinnati, where David Stradling introduced me to environmental history and to the idea that the two fields can be merged together. In the years since, David has been a model mentor and advisor and is now a good friend and colleague. I hope his emphasis on meticulous scholarship, accessible writing, and clear arguments is reflected in these pages. I was lucky enough to get to know Zane miller through the editing of this book. Both he and Larry Bennett provided important critiques and commentary , and Larry helped shepherd the book through the final editorial stages. Zane’s legacy made the University of Cincinnati a wonderful place to study American cities, and John Alexander, Wayne Durrill, martin Francis, and Christopher phillips were model teachers and scholars. maura O’Connor provided support and encouragement throughout my time at UC, and nikki Taylor introduced me to key veins of scholarship and pushed me to emphasize the voices of my activists. Hope earls was a great friend and a needed troubleshooter . I am also grateful for the friendship and support of Bill Bergmann, Feay Coleman, Dan Glenn, David merkowitz, Steve Rockenbach, and the rest of the group in Dissertations Anonymous. Aaron Cowan was a key guide in the early days of the dissertation, as we shared research trips to St. Louis and pittsburgh and explored different ways of understanding postwar American cities. Acknowledgments viii Acknowledgments Scores of librarians and archivists have provided invaluable assistance in my quest to root out evidence of local movements that did not look like environmental activism. The staffs at the Walter p. Reuther Library at Wayne State University, the Special Collections Department at the University of Illinois at Chicago, the Special Collections Department at Washington University, and the Archives of Industrial Society at the University of pittsburgh all stood out for their professionalism and kindness to a young researcher. Of particular assistance were Zelli Frischetti at the State Historical Society of missouri in St. Louis and Thomas Hollowak at the Langsdale Library at the University of Baltimore. Although this book does not have a formal oral history component, I talked to a number of participants and activists who helped me gain important perspective on this story, including Art Cohen, Barry Commoner, Leonard Dubi, percy Green, Sharon Hollander, Joe mcneely, Rose naputano, and mary Lou Wolff. I thank all of them for their generosity and kindness. Financial support for this project was provided by the University of Cincinnati , the Charles phelps Taft Research Center, and the Indian Hill Alumni Association. A postdoctoral fellowship from the Rachel Carson Center for environment and Society at the Ludwig maximilian University of munich allowed me to spend six months completing revisions with an amazing group of scholars, and I am grateful to Christof mauch and Helmuth Tischler for providing me with that opportunity. In just a few years they have created a world-class research center that is a model for interdisciplinary inquiry and a showcase for how the humanities can be relevant to the most pressing contemporary issues. The Carson Center also provided a generous subvention grant to cover image rights and other publication expenses. numerous other scholars offered their commentary and criticism on various versions of the manuscript. Andrew Hurley, Harold platt, Jon Teaford, Christian Warren, and Carl Zimring all provided assistance, and Andrew graciously agreed to serve on my dissertation committee. In munich, Lawrence Culver, Stefania Gallini, Wilko Graf von Hardenberg, Shen Hou, emilian Kavalski, Cheryl Lousley, Gary martin, Anne milne, Ursula münster, edmund Russell, Lisa Sideris, Jacob Tropp, and Donald Worster all provided great support and commentary, both during our weekly seminars and informally over coffee and beer. elizabeth Jones was a wonderful office mate, and Agnes Kneitz helped me hone my thinking about the relationship between environmental justice and environmentalism. At Towson University, Omar Ali, elizabeth Gray, Kimberly Katz, Christian Koot, michael masatsugu, Akim Reinhardt, and Robert Rook were generous with their time, support, and advice. Karen Oslund forced me to sharpen my arguments about why this story was important , and she...

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