- Diana Muir
-
Diana Muir, also known as Diana Muir Appelbaum, is a Newton, Massachusetts writer and historian. Muir is best known for her 2000 book, Reflections in Bullough's Pond, a history of the impact of human activity on the New England ecosystem.
Contents
Personal life
Muir was born and raised in the small town of Old Lyme, Conn. As a student, Muir spent a year as an exchange student in Chile with AFS Intercultural Programs. She attended Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City.[1] Her parents are Elizabeth and Peter Karter. She is married to Paul S. Appelbaum, a psychiatrist and professor at Columbia University with whom she has co-authored articles. They have three adult children.
Reflections in Bullough's Pond
According to the Daily News Tribune, "Muir's book Reflections in Bullough's Pond reads more like a novel than a history book. In the book, Muir shows the historical relationship between New England's economy and the environment. She expands the relationship into a national and global analysis of America's, and the world's, current environmental and political problems: global warming, ozone depletion, and Middle East oil dependence, to name a few. Muir claims America's oil dependent economy has hit a dead end. Muir argues that Americans can, and must, make economic changes to alleviate their environmental and political problems."[2]
Muir draws on many academic disciplines in her work, as the Boston Globe put it, "She's an economist. Then, again, maybe she's really an ecologist. Although some book critics and readers consider her a New England historian. Actually, Newton author Diana Muir is probably all of the above... Although her book was well received by economic historians who like to look at how industries rise and fall, Muir doesn't call herself a lay economist. 'I'm an historian,' she said. 'And it seems to me that any intelligent person has to enjoy nature and care about the environment, and so those interests all came together.' So, she's a shameless environmentalist, too."[3]
Environmentalism
Muir, an environmental historian, is a critic of American choice of "profitability over sustainability."[1] She has been called "Malthusian,"[4] and a "shameless environmentalist."[5] She has written a column for the Massachusetts Sierran, the magazine of the Massachusetts Sierra Club.[6]
Children's books
Muir is the author of two picture books. When Giants in the Land was named one of the Yankee Magazine 100 Classic New England Children's Books, Muir told a reporter that "Kids that age are voracious and want to be read to a lot, and there are many wonderful picture books, but this [list] might make it a little easier for people. Librarians know all those books, but aunts and grandparents going to buy a book for a child don't always know where to go after [they've bought] Make Way for Ducklings.'"[7]
Other work
Genetics and Identity
Muir has published a number of articles on genetics and ethnicity,[8][9] defending the position that ethnicity is a matter of language and customs, not genetic descent.[10]
Thanksgiving and The Glorious Fourth
Muir is the author of histories of the Fourth of July and Thanksgiving. Amitai Etzioni has called Muir's books key works in the social history of holidays.[11]
Media
Muir has appeared on The History Channel, the BBC, National Public Radio, Voice of America and other news programs,[12] and publishes articles in a range of scholarly and popular journals.[13][14]
Books
Reflections in Bullough's Pond; Economy and Ecosystem in New England
Thanksgiving; an American Holiday
The Glorious Fourth; An American Holiday
Books for Children
Cocoa Ice
Giants in the Land
Prizes and Awards
For Reflections in Bullough's Pond (University of New England Press, 2000)
- Massachusetts Book Award, 2001
For Cocoa Ice (Orchard Books 1997)
- Lupine Award, Maine Library Association, Honor Book, 1997
For Giants in the Land (Houghton Mifflin 1993)
- Booklist, Top of the List, best juvenile nonfiction book for Youth
- Jefferson Cup - Virginia Library Association 1994 Honor Book
- Starred reviews in Publishers Weekly, Booklist, and Kirkus Reviews
- School Library Journal Best Book
- The Bulletin (Blue Ribbon winner)
- Yankee Magazine, 40 Classic New England Children’s Books
- An ALA Notable Book
Articles
The Value of the Nation-State, Historically Speaking, September/October 2005
Genetics and the Jewish Identity, with Paul S. Appelbaum, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 11, 2008[8]
The Gene Wars, with Paul S. Appelbaum, Azure, Winter 5767 / 2007, No. 27[9]
A Land without a People for a People without a Land, Middle Eastern Quarterly, Spring 2008, Vol. 15, No. 2[14]
References
- ^ a b Jesse Floyd, The story of the author and of the book. The Newton Tab, July 1, 2000
- ^ Ben Hartman, "Why is New England's landscape different from the rest of the United States?" December 14, 2001 edition of the Daily News Tribune.
- ^ Warsh, David, "Reclaiming the Commons" The Boston Globe, August 20, 2000
- ^ Donahue, Brian, The Great Meadow: Farmers and the Land in Colonial Concord, 2004, p. 264
- ^ 'Reflections' wins the Massachusetts Book Award for the best non-fiction book published in 2000, Kenneth Rapoza, The Boston Globe, December 9, 2001
- ^ Massachusetts Sierran
- ^ " 'giants' Makes Children's book List," by Erica Noonan, Boston Globe, December 3, 2000
- ^ a b Genetics and the Jewish Identity with Paul S. Appelbaum, Jerusalem Post, Feb. 11, 2008
- ^ a b The Gene Wars with Paul S. Appelbaum, Azure, Winter 5767 / 2007, No. 27
- ^ Nature versus nurture, by Robert Miller, News Times, Aug. 2, 2008
- ^ "Flirting and Flag-waving, the revealing story of holidays and rituals." Amitai Etzioni, Chronicle of Higher Education (December 11, 2002)
- ^ SUNY Cortland - News - New England Author to Discuss Ecologically Sustainable Economy on March 18
- ^ Washington Post article
- ^ a b Middle East Quarterly article
External links
- [1] Personal website
Categories:- Living people
- American women writers
- American novelists
- Barnard College alumni
- People from Newton, Massachusetts
- American historians
- Columbia University alumni
- Historians of the United States
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