This is a nonfiction book about how the abundance of trees in the U.S. intersected with development of our nation. An interesting topic and one that worked very well for large sections of the book and less well in others. I really enjoyed the first half of this book. Rutkow writes about how valued trees were to European settlers. They were used for housing, fencing, furniture, etc. But also for ship building - especially exciting was the abundance of very tall straight trees that could be used for masts. He talks about trees used for food (apple, orange, chestnut, etc.) He moves into talking about lumber mills and paper mills and the progression of mindset from "the trees are there for us to use in whatever way we need", to conservation, to environmentalism. I also was interested in the section about the American Chestnut and the Elm tree that were decimated by introduced fungi.

As you can see, he casts a wide net and covers a lot of topics. I preferred those that really kept trees as the focus. Some of the chapters were too much about politics. And it was also sad, though not a new idea, to delve in to all the ways we've ruined our forests. The long section on paper mills lost my interest.

Overall, I am glad I read this book, but it wasn't quite as good as I wanted it to be. Or maybe I just wanted a different focus than the author chose. Either way, it's a soft recommendation from me. ( )

Excellent - a must read for anyone interested in history, nature, and the role of trees in America's evolution. ( )

I discovered this fascinating book while browsing the shelves of the library so this was not a planned title or one that was on my book radar. I found it to be a fascinating look at American history through its use and misuse of its trees and forests. The book started with the primeval forest and the harvesting of the New England White Pine for the exclusive use of the British Navy and ended with the impact of the Environmental movement and Global Warming. There was a whole chapter on tree diseases and the impact of them on our trees. Specifically discussed was Dutch Elm Disease and the Chestnut Blight and how the attempt to stop the Dutch Elm Disease led to Rachel Carson studying the effects of pesticides. Famous people who loved trees, all the way from Henry David Thoreau to Aldo Leopold were written about as well as those who hated trees, like Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan. It was truly an amazing history and very well written. I highly recommend this book to history lovers as well as those who love our forests and trees. I am glad I read this one and I am going to pass it on to somebody else who will appreciate this unique history. ( )

Interesting, but insufficient. Perhaps all histories are notable as much for what they leave out as for what they put in. Retelling American history by looking to the trees is a worthwhile endeavor, however. It skews our perspective just enough to make us look at what we already know in a fresh way. That said, Rutkow doesn't deviate from the traditional approach of viewing history as the consequence of the acts of Great (or at least infamous) White Men. Most of the actors in the drama here have names that will be familiar to most readers: Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, George Washington,Thomas Jefferson, the Presidents Roosevelt, Gifford Pinchot, Frederick Law Olmstead, Al Gore, Henry Ford, William Levitt, etc. I do have to give the author credit for, particularly where the earlier figures are concerned, telling stories that we probably haven't heard before. This is the advantage of choosing a fresh point of view. One glaring omission in Rutkow's survey of the impact of the trees upon & their relationship to American history is any mention of the lynching tree, powerful both as symbol & site; another is any serious consideration of the relationship of indigenous peoples to the forests (granted, that might be the subject of another book entirely; nevertheless, even if the author's focus is strictly upon post-Columbian North America, he is delinquent in not mentioning, for example, how the colonists' encounter with American Indian modes of battle impacted how their own Revolution was fought and won). The author has also by and large omitted women from his narrative except for a few nods to women here and there, of foot-note quality in their brevity. How, for example, in a tome already diminished by its lack of inclusion of women, blacks, Mexicans, Indians, etc. could he not have told the story of at least one female activist. Julia Butterfly Hill, for example, whose name became synonymous with preservation of Old Growth Coastal Redwoods in the 1990s. This is, in sum, mostly a top-down telling of the story of Americans & the trees. I would have liked some alternative telling as well. ( )

As a forester I have an obvious weakness for trees, so reading American Canopy was a natural choice for me. I enjoyed most of the book, especially when it was about trees. I especially liked the true story of Johnny Appleseed and the role apples played in the colonies; the short-lived citrus industry in southern California; and the loss of elms and chestnuts. However, for some reason Rutkow veered into the history of environmentalism in America and lost his way. There are many better books written about the rise of the environmental movement, and the movement is not always about trees nor is it altruistic. He also reveals his political bias, in that democratic politicians did good, while republican politicians did bad things for the environment.. Its never that simple. I think that Rutkow should have finished his book with the following topics: sudden oak death, urban forestry, why we have too many trees due to lack of fire in the west, and the role that trees can play in our switch to green energy (and why using tree biomass for energy is carbon neutral). ( )