"[ An] elegant history." * New Yorker * "As the historian Caroline Winterer shows in her new book How the New World Became Old: The Deep Time Revolution in America, [ geology] can shape how an entire nation sees itself. . . . [ A] knotty, complex history of a previous intellectual transformation."---Jacob Mikanowski, Chronicle Review "A fascinating and extremely well written book that helps understand not only the facts but also the cultural roots and dimensions of the still fascinating mystery of deep time. . . . Winterers book is a jewel, an awesome, jargon free, often witty, perfectly documented and suggestively illustrated synthesis of what remains one of the most powerful enigmas to the human brain."---Jan Baetens, Leonardo "Fascinating. . . . How the New World Became Old intertwines science, politics, culture and ideas to reveal a history of intellectual nationalism that fleshes out and raises up the story of nineteenth-century America."---Michael Taylor, Times Literary Supplement "Fascinating. . . . Winterers book is a jewel, an awesome, jargon free, often witty, perfectly documented and suggestively illustrated synthesis of what remains one of the most powerful enigmas to the human brain."---Jan Baetens, Leonardo Reviews "Powerful. . . . A richly detailed and indispensable exposition of how American geology found its place commensurate with the Old World and became a partner in a truly global science."---Markes E. Johnson, H-Net Reviews "Winterer not only skillfully weaves together the discourses that professionalized the disciplines of archaeology, anthropology, paleontology, and geology; she also demonstrates how these same developments were deployed to effect a reality that would benefit the United States economically, politically, culturally and spiritually. . . . [ A] major accomplishment."---Emmanuel Ramos-Barajas, Hemisphere