This thorough, clearly organized text focuses on four major environmental categories: forests and land, wildlife and wildlife habitat, water and drinking water quality, and air. Each category is treated historically from the time of exploration and discovery in the seventeenth century to the present. There are also discussions on environmental public policy issues currently in our national debate. The text is integrated throughout with fascinating primary source documents -- eyewitness accounts, government reports and documents, speeches, and congressional testimony -- which illuminate the material.