Andrews, Thomas G. Killing for coal: America’s Deadliest Labor War. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 2008. Andrews’ history is an excellent insight into the American West, and his consider of the geological processes that brought coal to Colorado served as an inspiration for this unit.
Beard, Mary. The fires of vesuvius: Pompeii lost and found. Cambridge, Mass: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 2010. An excellent recounting of the archaeological finds at Pompeii, and a succinct analysis of what we can learn about Roman life from these readings.
Doronzo, Domenico M., Mauro A. Di Vito, Ilenia Arienzo, Monica Bini, Benedetta Calusi, Matteo Cerminara, Stefano Corradini, et al. “The 79 CE Eruption of Vesuvius: A Lesson from the Past and the Need of a Multidisciplinary Approach for Developments in Volcanology.” Earth-Science Reviews 231, no. 104072 (August 2022). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earscirev.2022.104072. While this is a denser geological text, it pushes the reader to consider what we might be able to learn from Vesuvius to better protect urban environments from volcano
El-Qady, Gad, and Claudio Margottini. Sustainable conservation of UNESCO and other heritage sites through proactive geosciences. Cham: Springer Geology, 2023. This book serves as a great introduction into the interdisciplinary nature of archaeology and preservation, a recurring theme throughout this unit, as modern day challenges and problems like climate change require that we use our understanding of earth science to preserve world heritage.
Ellison, R. A., and M. A. Woods. Geology of london: Special memoir for 1:50 000 Geological Sheets 256 (North London), 257 (romford), 270 (South London) and 271(Dartford (England and Wales). Halstan & Co., 2004. A more academic approach to London’s geology, but the version found online has excellent resources that are still approachable.
Heiken, Grant, Renato Funiciello, and Donatella de Rita. The seven hills of rome: A geological tour of the eternal city. Princeton, N.J: Princeton University Press, 2007. An excellent and concise text that is well written and accessible. This was essential to building my understanding of the geology of the ancient city.
Hughes, J. Donald. Environmental problems of the greeks and romans: Ecology in the ancient mediterranean. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2014. Hughes makes his analysis relevant to modern readers, connecting the issues of the ancient past to those that we experience today with a deft historical touch.
Hughes, J. Donald. The Mediterranean: An environmental history. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO, 2005. This text has a far broader aim than the one above but it does cover crucial points in the wider history of the region. This is especially useful for teachers who want to push this unit further across history.
Jones, G.B.D. “The Roman Mines at Riotinto.” Journal of Roman Studies 70 (November 1980): 146–65. https://doi.org/10.2307/299560. This text gives a useful overview of Riotinto, although it is clearly written for an audience of fellow scholars.
Savage, Jonathan. Cross-curricular teaching and learning in the secondary school London: Routledge, 2011. This text honed that pedagogical aim of this unit and serves as an introduction to a series of smaller readings on the benefits of cross-disciplinary teaching as well as providing examples of how to implement this approach. The series is divided by content area, so teachers can access the one that is most relevant to their current teaching assignment.
Thommen, Lukas. An environmental history of Ancient Greece and Rome. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2012. Lukas’s book is an excellent survey of human interaction with the environment in the ancient world. This would be an excellent source to develop your own case study for the unit.
Wallace, Lacey M. The origin of Roman London. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2015. Lacey expertly lays out the scholarship surrounding the founding of London, its potential pre-Roman past, and an overview of the city’s history from its founding and past its destruction in Boudica’s revolt.
