{"product_id":"grasping-soil-emily-brownell-9781917813020","title":"Grasping Soil: A Syllabus and Essays for The Environmental Humanities","description":"\u003cp\u003eSoil has a nearly ubiquitous presence in our lives, regardless of whether we spend much time noticing it. Soil holds worlds within itself and also builds other worlds; it devours and remakes things; it sustains life and gives cover to the dead. Grasping Soil is a collectively-authored syllabus and series of essays, all examining, with different inflections, the fundamental question: what comes into view when we 'grasp' soil as a vessel of human history and point of view for inquiry?\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003ePart I is an interdisciplinary syllabus that traces the contours of a growing body of work in the humanities that uses soil as a bridge between human and more-than-human histories. The syllabus offers a template of readings, discussion questions and assignments with an accompanying website for easy access to the supporting materials. The essays that follow in Part 2 explore particular moments and locations in which communities have modified, depleted or remade soil to suit a particular need. In examining these engagements with soil, each essay provides a particular view on the social, political or economic conditions that they reflect and create. The essays range from mountain top mining in Appalachia to the construction of a load-bearing monolith in Nazi-era Berlin, and the layered, residual histories of agricultural projects in Tanzania. As these essays make clear, soil is a lively presence not an inert recipient of human desires and actions. It is a living and not always governable community with ever-changing stories to tell.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Emily Brownell\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 1917813023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781917813020\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e White Horse Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/02\/2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 222\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.93lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.21h x 6.14w x 0.60d","brand":"Emily Brownell","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48454402015487,"sku":"9781917813020","price":50.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_0eca7cd5-729e-4338-8554-bbcbe17b64e7.jpg?v=1777306008","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/grasping-soil-emily-brownell-9781917813020","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}