One of the leading thinkers in environmentalism looks at the age-old historical associations of women with nature, beginning with Eve and continuing through to environmental activists of today, women's commitment to environmental conservation, and the problematic assumptions of women as caregivers and men as dominating nature.
Earthcare: Women and the Environment is an important book because it provides historical context as well as calling for an environment ehtic that promotes the well-bing of both human and nonhuman life."
-"Environment
"A leading ecofeminist thinker....She challenges humankind to rethink the way the Western world has conceptualized its relationship with nature."
-"Environmental Law
"This well-selected one-volume compilation of the work of a leading woman scholar in environmental ethics and history will prove useful to the general reader and to classes in environmental history and ethics and women's studies."
-"Pacific Historical Review
"A collection of essays covering all of Merchant's work to date, "Earthcare offers an impressive range of analyses which represent the best of ecofeminist argument: historically situated, complexly argued, and sesitive to questions of cultural, racial, and class difference....Besidesa fine example of the illuminating nature of the best environmental history, the book would be especially appropriate for classes in history of science, American Studies, and ecofeminism."
-"Environmental History
""Earthcare provides the reader with a thoughtful accounting of how various cultural and scientific depictions of women/nature over time contain positive, negative, and problematic implications for women's (and men's) attempts to forge a stronger partnership with the nonhuman world...."Earthcare represents an engaging and highly readable--yet theoretically challenging--ecofeminist work that will be of value to anyone with interests in the field of women's studies, ecophilosophy, or political economy. Suitable for use in either undergraduateor graduate courses, Merchant's book offers students a more interdisciplinary and organic framework for understanding the gendered complexities of our ecological crisis."
-"Humanity and Society