Patrick Kupper Book order

The environmental history of contemporary Austria is intricately linked to the nation's identity and development since the Habsburg Monarchy's collapse. This volume presents case studies that explore how natural resources and landscapes have shaped economic and political landscapes, particularly during the National Socialist era and the postwar recovery influenced by the Marshall Plan. It also examines the impact of the tourism industry and the emergence of a politically active environmental movement, showcasing the insights environmental history offers into Austria's recent past.

The history of the Swiss National Park, from its creation in the years before the Great War to the present, is told for the first time in this book. Unlike Yellowstone Park, which embodied close cooperation between state-supported conservation and public recreation, the Swiss park put in place an extraordinarily strong conservation program derived from a close alliance between the state and scientific research. This deliberate reinterpretation of the American idea of the national park was innovative and radical, but its consequences were not limited to Switzerland. The Swiss park became the prime example of a "scientific national park," thereby influencing the course of national parks worldwide. Patrick Kupper is Senior Lecturer for environmental history and history of science and technology at ETH Zurich. He authored Atomenergie und gespaltene Gesellschaft: Die Geschichte des gescheiterten Projektes Kernkraftwerk Kaiseraugst (2003), co-authored Transforming the Future: ETH Zurich and the Construction of Modern Switzerland 1855-2005 (2010) and Geschichte des Nationalparks Hohe Tauern (2013), and co-edited the volume Civilizing Nature: National Parks in Global Historical Perspective (2012).