The Global Interior
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''The Global Interior: Mineral Frontiers and American Power'' is a 2018 book by Megan Black, Associate Professor of History at
MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
. The book documents the history of the
U.S. Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
and its role in
American imperialism American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...
.


Contents

''The Global Interior'' examines the Department of the Interior from its role in settling the American west to its operation of the
Landsat The Landsat program is the longest-running enterprise for acquisition of satellite imagery of Earth. It is a joint NASA / USGS program. On 23 July 1972, the Earth Resources Technology Satellite was launched. This was eventually renamed to Lan ...
satellite for mineral surveying from space. Black argues that the Department has been key to the expansion and exercise of American power, widening the scope of what is considered “interior” to the nation state through the guise of scientific and resource management. In the process, Black demonstrates that the Department has played a key role in reconceptualizing the Earth as a mineral repository and thus as a potential mining site. Moreover, Black draws key connections between American environmental history and foreign relations, highlighting the ways in which facilitating the exploitation of resources abroad enabled greater conservation of domestic resources. The Department was founded in 1849 and Black highlights its role from its inception until the 1980s in numerous episodes of American expansionism from settler colonialism and
Manifest Destiny Manifest destiny was a cultural belief in the 19th century in the United States, 19th-century United States that American settlers were destined to expand across North America. There were three basic tenets to the concept: * The special vir ...
through to the
Cold War The Cold War is a term commonly used to refer to a period of geopolitical tension between the United States and the Soviet Union and their respective allies, the Western Bloc and the Eastern Bloc. The term '' cold war'' is used because the ...
and international development, the
Space Race The Space Race was a 20th-century competition between two Cold War rivals, the United States and the Soviet Union, to achieve superior spaceflight capability. It had its origins in the ballistic missile-based nuclear arms race between the tw ...
, and the
War on Terror The war on terror, officially the Global War on Terrorism (GWOT), is an ongoing international Counterterrorism, counterterrorism military campaign initiated by the United States following the September 11 attacks. The main targets of the campa ...
. Black argues that the Department was “created ''of'' and ''for'' American expansionism,” and also that it “was a key mechanism for ensuring ''and'' obscuring the projection of American power in the world.” Initially serving to confine Native Americans to reservations and develop western resources, the Department easily turned its attention to resource development in overseas territories such as the
Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...
after the “closing” of the American frontier. This also served the purpose of recasting strategic American military occupations as technical or economic exploration and development. Ultimately, this suggests that minerals were not only a prominent reason for American expansionism, but also a means to achieving it. During
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
the Department further expanded its reach in mineral procurement under the auspices of the Allied war effort, establishing influence and supply chains that would continue to grow in peacetime. Black argues that this global reach was a key to resolving the tension between developing mineral resources and domestic conservation. Importantly, much of the work of the Department has been focused on securing minerals for private American interests rather than for the state itself. However, this approach has often been resisted by other states, particularly in the post-colonial period, and Black demonstrates that the Department has since increased its focus on charting and exploiting undersea and outer space resources. Moreover, Black shows how the Department successfully mobilized ideas of the global environment and natural resources being borderless to argue that resource expertise likewise should not be limited by national borders, facilitating the further expansion of American influence. Black also examines how the Department returned full circle to
Native American reservations An Indian reservation is an area of land held and governed by a federally recognized Native American tribal nation whose government is accountable to the United States Bureau of Indian Affairs and not to the state government in which it ...
, especially since the 1970s, where it has sought development of fossil fuel and uranium resources in particular, efforts that have met persistent resistance from Native Americans. Finally, the author looks at mineral exploitation in the context of the War on Terror, especially in
Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...
. The book highlights the developmental work of the Department in its global endeavors, such as developing water sanitation and irrigation in the
Global South The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...
and conservation programs for wildlife, forests, rivers, and soil. However, the underlying argument is that such programs were ultimately used in the pursuit of mineral wealth, and in particular securing that wealth for American interests. ''The Global Interior'' focuses attention on a number of key players in the history of the Department, including
Frank Herbert Franklin Patrick Herbert Jr. (October 8, 1920February 11, 1986) was an American science fiction author best known for the 1965 novel '' Dune'' and its five sequels. Though he became famous for his novels, he also wrote short stories and worked a ...
, who worked closely with the Department in the 1950s before publishing the novel ''Dune'' in 1965, a science fiction story chronicling a declining intergalactic society fixated on resource extraction.


Awards

''The Global Interior'' has received numerous awards. It won the 2019 George Perkins Marsh Prize from the American Society for Environmental History as the best book in
Environmental history Environmental history is the study of human interaction with the natural world over time, emphasising the active role nature plays in influencing human affairs and vice versa. Environmental history first emerged in the United States out of th ...
; the 2019 Stuart L. Bernath Prize from the
Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations The Society for Historians of American Foreign Relations (SHAFR) was founded in order to “promote excellence in research and teaching of American foreign relations history and to facilitate professional collaboration among scholars and students ...
as the best first book in US foreign relations; the 2019 W. Turrentine Jackson Book Prize from the
Western History Association The Western History Association (WHA), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in 1961 at Santa Fe, New Mexico by Ray Allen Billington et al. Included in the field of study are the American West and western Canada. The Western History ...
as the best first book in Western U.S. history; and the 2019
British Association for American Studies The British Association for American Studies is a learned society in the field of American studies. It was founded in 1955. It produces the ''Journal of American Studies'', ''American Studies in Britain'', ''US Studies Online'', BAAS Paperbacks, an ...
Book Prize for the best book in American Studies.


See also

*
United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...
*
American Imperialism American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ...
*
Conservation in the United States Conservation in the United States can be traced back to the 19th century with the formation of the first National Park. Conservation generally refers to the act of consciously and efficiently using land and/or its natural resources. This can be i ...


References


External links

* ''The Global Interior'' a
Harvard University PressAuthor's website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Global Interior, The American non-fiction books English-language books Environmental non-fiction books 2018 non-fiction books American history books History books about the United States Harvard University Press books Environmental history of the United States