America after nature : democracy culture environment In Democratic Vistas a text that responds to the United Statess devastating experiences of the Civil War Walt Whitman reminds his readers that the nation should continue to find its political ideals and cultural purposes in the Laws of Nature and of Natures God. His concept of nature was anchored in the ideas of eighteenth century natural rights philosophy but also in Ralph Waldo Emersons definition of nature in the common sense as a totality of essences unaltered by human labor and industry. Whitmans contention that nature provides the concepts and ideas at the core of Americas political cultural and social structure and the nowadays suggestion that natures massive restructuring will not remain without consequences for modern culture(s) offer the conceptual and historical frame for the essays collected in this volume. They all investigate the social political ethical and aesthetic questions and controversies that are raised in the study of America in a so called postnatural world. From publishers website