ABSTRACT
Carolyn Merchant provided an invaluable contribution with her work on The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology and the Scientific Revolution. The exposure of discernible historical processes in Euro-Western contexts that led to the depreciation of nature was original, insightful, and provocative. This chapter considers TDN as a valuable book for its unprecedented historical investigation, and for its impact on the development of ecofeminist research. Merchant’s unique research themes, feminist analyses, and historical critiques propelled many others to pursue and deepen topics found in TDN. Before describing the new trajectories TDN established, it is important to situate it among other related publications. The book was initially published in 1980, and like all unique contributions to the world of ideas, there are always precursors as well as companion texts and ideas. As an historian, Merchant was wading through contemporary ecological and gender quagmires that originated in the past, and that could also explain something of the present.
