New Jersey's Environments

New Jersey's Environments

Author: Neil M. Maher

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2006-01-19

Total Pages: 221

ISBN-13: 0813539226

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Americans often think of New Jersey as an environmental nightmare. As seen from its infamous turnpike, which is how many travelers experience the Garden State, it is difficult not to be troubled by the wealth of industrial plants, belching smokestacks, and hills upon hills of landfills. Yet those living and working in New Jersey often experience a very different environment. Despite its dense population and urban growth, two-thirds of the state remains covered in farmland and forest, and New Jersey has a larger percentage of land dedicated to state parks and forestland than the average for all states. It is this ecological paradox that makes New Jersey important for understanding the relationship between Americans and their natural world. In New Jersey’s Environments, historians, policy-makers, and earth scientists use a case study approach to uncover the causes and consequences of decisions regarding land use, resources, and conservation. Nine essays consider topics ranging from solid waste and wildlife management to the effects of sprawl on natural disaster preparedness. The state is astonishingly diverse and faces more than the usual competing interests from environmentalists, citizens, and businesses. This book documents the innovations and compromises created on behalf of and in response to growing environmental concerns in New Jersey, all of which set examples on the local level for nationwide and worldwide efforts that share the goal of protecting the natural world.


A Geography of New Jersey

A Geography of New Jersey

Author: Charles A. Stansfield

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 340

ISBN-13: 9780813525792

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"The book is chock full of nuggets of information on all aspects of New Jersey from the beginning of the colonial period to the mid-1990s."-Harbans Singh, Montclair State University "This is an up-to-date, comprehensive and well-written text that will appeal to both the student and the general reader. I shall make it required reading for my course on the geography of the state."-Peter O. Wacker, professor of geography, Rutgers University "More than an ecological primer, this book provides essential social and economic information. Over one hundred figures and forty-five tables capture details to support the straightforward prose, and an annotated bibliography leads the reader on."-New Jersey Monthly "While the second edition is similar to the first, only with more up-to-date statistics, improved maps and figures, and organization, the material covered is factually interesting. Following an introduction . . . there are several chapters on the physical geography. . . . These are followed by interesting chapters on managing physical environments, human ecology and early European settlements, including excellent sections on historical geography. . . . The number and informational content of the maps is far superior in the second edition. The book is of value for use in either a high school or university regional geography class. Stansfield must be commended for his writing style that holds the interest and for his knowledgeable selection of materials to be included."-The Pennsylvania Geographer New Jersey is "the city in the garden." It is a bundle of paradoxes-a highly industrialized state famous for its seashore and mountain resorts; fairly conservative politically, it nonetheless pioneered state land use, zoning, and environmental protection legislation. The only state to be characterized by the U.S. Census as entirely metropolitan, New Jersey has the highest population density in the nation. It is a highly suburbanized state that remains important agriculturally-both very large and very small farms continue to multiply. New Jersey is also a state where widespread suburbanization of residents, shopping, and jobs has affected the most remote corners. At the same time, massive immigration is revitalizing urban centers and dramatically changing the demographics of the state. New Jersey represents both a microcosm of the United States and a leading indicator of future trends in the nation. This updated edition of this classic text features nearly 100 maps and illustrations. Charles A. Stansfield Jr. instructs readers on all aspects of New Jersey geography and provides a detailed analysis of the state's topography, management of physical environments, human ecology, early European settlement, cultural landscapes, population characteristics, race and ethnicity, transportation, agriculture, industrial development, recreation and tourism, and regions. Charles A. Stansfield Jr. is a professor of geography at Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey.


New Jersey

New Jersey

Author: Maxine N. Lurie

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2012-11-07

Total Pages: 335

ISBN-13: 0813554101

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New Jersey: A History of the Garden State presents a fresh, comprehensive overview of New Jersey’s history from the prehistoric era to the present. The findings of archaeologists, political, social, and economic historians provide a new look at how the Garden State has evolved. The state has a rich Native American heritage and complex colonial history. It played a pivotal role in the American Revolution, early industrialization, and technological developments in transportation, including turnpikes, canals, and railroads. The nineteenth century saw major debates over slavery. While no Civil War battles were fought in New Jersey, most residents supported it while questioning the policies of the federal government. Next, the contributors turn to industry, urbanization, and the growth of shore communities. A destination for immigrants, New Jersey continued to be one of the most diverse states in the nation. Many of these changes created a host of social problems that reformers tried to minimize during the Progressive Era. Settlement houses were established, educational institutions grew, and utopian communities were founded. Most notably, women gained the right to vote in 1920. In the decades leading up to World War II, New Jersey benefited from back-to-work projects, but the rise of the local Ku Klux Klan and the German American Bund were sad episodes during this period. The story then moves to the rise of suburbs, the concomitant decline of the state’s cities, growing population density, and changing patterns of wealth. Deep-seated racial inequities led to urban unrest as well as political change, including such landmark legislation as the Mount Laurel decision. Today, immigration continues to shape the state, as does the tension between the needs of the suburbs, cities, and modest amounts of remaining farmland. Well-known personalities, such as Jonathan Edwards, George Washington, Woodrow Wilson, Dorothea Dix, Thomas Edison, Frank Hague, and Albert Einstein appear in the narrative. Contributors also mine new and existing sources to incorporate fully scholarship on women, minorities, and immigrants. All chapters are set in the context of the history of the United States as a whole, illustrating how New Jersey is often a bellwether for the nation..


A New Jersey Anthology

A New Jersey Anthology

Author: Maxine N. Lurie

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2010

Total Pages: 501

ISBN-13: 081354744X

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A New Jersey classic comes to life once more, and it's better than ever . . . "This excellent collection of essays covers the sweep of New Jersey history from the colonial, proprietary era to the recent politics of Mount Laurel. It brings together some of the finest writing on the state, and raises questions relevant to major themes in American history more generally. Maxine N. Lurie has provided an excellent introductory essay to contextualize each piece in the collection, and each essay also comes with suggestions for further reading on the topic." -Paul G. E. Clemens, history department, Rutgers University Praise for the prior edition . . . "An absolutely superb collection in every aspect, this covers all of the chronological and topical bases with remarkable comprehensiveness. Contributions are not only appropriate to the purpose of the book; they have the additional merit of being very significant pieces of scholarship on their own, not only in the history of New Jersey but in American history in general. . . . Lurie's illuminating headnotes for each article, which include not only shrewd interpretive insights but also bibliographical references, set this book significantly apart." -Douglas Greenberg, Dean of Arts and Sciences, Rutgers University MAXINE N. LURIE is a professor of history at Seton Hall University. She is the author of a number of articles and book chapters on early American and New Jersey history, the editor of the first edition of this anthology, and the coeditor of the Encyclopedia of New Jersey and Mapping New Jersey (all Rutgers University Press).


Encyclopedia of New Jersey

Encyclopedia of New Jersey

Author: Maxine N. Lurie

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 984

ISBN-13: 0813533252

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Everything you've ever wanted to know about the Garden State can now be found in one place. This encyclopaedia contains a wealth of information from New Jersey's prehistory to the present covering architecture, arts, biographies, commerce, arts, municipalities and much more.


The American Revolution in New Jersey

The American Revolution in New Jersey

Author: James J. Gigantino

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2015-04-01

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 0813571936

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Winner of the 2016 New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Authors Award for the Edited Works Category Battles were fought in many colonies during the American Revolution, but New Jersey was home to more sustained and intense fighting over a longer period of time. The nine essays in The American Revolution in New Jersey, depict the many challenges New Jersey residents faced at the intersection of the front lines and the home front. Unlike other colonies, New Jersey had significant economic power in part because of its location between the major ports of New York and Philadelphia. New people and new ideas arriving in the colony fostered tensions between Loyalists and Patriots that were at the core of the Revolution. Enlightenment thinking shaped the minds of New Jersey’s settlers as they began to question the meaning of freedom in the colony. Yeoman farmers demanded ownership of the land they worked on and members of the growing Quaker denomination decried the evils of slavery and spearheaded the abolitionist movement in the state. When larger portions of New Jersey were occupied by British forces early in the war, the unity of the state was crippled, pitting neighbor against neighbor for seven years. The essays in this collection identify and explore the interconnections between the events on the battlefield and the daily lives of ordinary colonists during the Revolution. Using a wide historical lens, the contributors to The American Revolution in New Jersey capture the decades before and after the conflict as they interpret the causes of the war and the consequences of New Jersey’s reaction to the Revolution.


Envisioning New Jersey

Envisioning New Jersey

Author: Maxine N. Lurie

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2016-09-16

Total Pages: 344

ISBN-13: 0813569680

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Winner of the 2017 New Jersey Studies Academic Alliance Author Award, Reference Category See New Jersey history as you read about it! Envisioning New Jersey brings together 650 spectacular images that illuminate the course of the state’s history, from prehistoric times to the present. Readers may think they know New Jersey’s history—the state’s increasing diversity, industrialization, and suburbanization—but the visual record presented here dramatically deepens and enriches that knowledge. Maxine N. Lurie and Richard F. Veit, two leading authorities on New Jersey history, present a smorgasbord of informative pictures, ranging from paintings and photographs to documents and maps. Portraits of George Washington and Molly Pitcher from the Revolution, battle flags from the War of 1812 and the Civil War, women air raid wardens patrolling the streets of Newark during World War II, the Vietnam War Memorial—all show New Jerseyans fighting for liberty. There are also pictures of Thomas Mundy Peterson, the first African American to vote after passage of the Fifteenth Amendment; Paul Robeson marching for civil rights; university students protesting in the 1960s; and Martin Luther King speaking at Monmouth University. The authors highlight the ethnic and religious variety of New Jersey inhabitants with images that range from Native American arrowheads and fishing implements, to Dutch and German buildings, early African American churches and leaders, and modern Catholic and Hindu houses of worship. Here, too, are the great New Jersey innovators from Thomas Edison to the Bell Labs scientists who worked on transistors. Compiled by the authors of New Jersey: A History of the Garden State, this volume is intended as an illustrated companion to that earlier volume. Envisioning New Jersey also stands on its own because essays synthesizing each era accompany the illustrations. A fascinating gold mine of images from the state’s past, Envisioning New Jersey is the first illustrated book on the Garden State that covers its complete history, capturing the amazing transformation of New Jersey over time. View sample pages (http://issuu.com/rutgersuniversitypress/docs/lurie_veit_envisioning_sample) Thanks to the New Jersey Historical Commission, the New Jersey Council for the Humanities, and generous individual donors for making this project possible.


New Jersey in the American Revolution

New Jersey in the American Revolution

Author: Barbara J. Mitnick

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2007-03-12

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 081354095X

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This remarkably comprehensive anthology brings new life to the rich and turbulent late 18th-century period in New Jersey. Originally conceived for the state's 225th Anniversary of the Revolution Celebration Commission.