J. Donald Hughes, Pan's Travail, (Baltimore, 1994), 277 pp.
             Oddly enough, there is little biographical information available on J. Donald Hughes. His special interest in the Mediterranean and sacred groves is evidenced by the numerous books and articles he has published on the subject. He is multilingual, fluent in German, Greek, and Spanish with basic skills in French and Russian as well. He received his doctorate in History from Boston University and then taught at several different colleges. He is currently a History professor at the University of Denver, and the author of eight other books and articles about environmental history.
             The first four chapters (out of eleven total) are dedicated to providing the reader with background information. Hughes gives an overview of environmental history and ecology as a whole, preparing the reader to narrow the focus of these concepts to a single area: the Mediterranean Basin. He also describes this region and discusses why it is such a unique ecosystem. Not only are climate, land, and sea addressed, but a charming section on the different winds of each section of the region is also included. Pre-history is touched upon, and Hughes examines Egyptian and Mesopotamian societies and their relationships with nature. By showing how each city dealt differently with the flooding of their respective rivers, Hughes illustrates two opposing views towards nature. Literary evidence shows how Greek and Roman religion viewed the world as a sacred place. This contrasts with the view eventually offered by such philosophers as Aristotle which placed nature in hierarchical order, with "plants exist[ing] for the sake of animals, animals for the sake of man, and...inferior men [as] natural slaves of the superior" (60). These four chapters effectively give the reader enough information about the basis of Greek and Roman society to understand the following arguments regarding the...