These 11 essays trace the 300-year struggle that the peoples of San Antonio have waged with their environment. With the underlying question of whether people define San Antonio’s environment or vice versa, experts examine the history and impact of issues that challenge San Antonio today - most notably urban sprawl, water rights, and unchecked economic development. Deeply entwined with these environmental issues are questions of the city’s social ecology, which the essays also chronicle, ranging from the history of the city’s parks to that of its sewer systems and everything in between.