R. McNeill Alexander's Bones: The Unity of Form and Function (1994) contains magnificent photos of teeth, horns, bones, and skeletons, mostly of animals. The important thing about this volume is the way it dissociates the skeleton from death and associates it with form, function, and life.

The Machine in the Garden (1964) by Leo Marx is an important milestone in the study of nature in American literature. Marx's focus is how the invasion of technology into nature was perceived in literature at the time the events were unfolding.

The Idea of Wilderness (1991) by Max Oelschlaeger is a study of humankind's relationship with nature from early totemism, through Egyptian, Greco-Roman, and Judeo-Christian supernaturalism, and finally to the rise of materialism and modernism.

The Dirty Thirties: Tales of the Nineteen Thirties during Which Occurred a Great Drought and a Lengthy Depression (1991) by William H...