Gallery Editors' Note

摘要

The Gallery essay for this issue of Environmental History is by David Biggs, who undertakes two distinct readings of a 1969 photograph of Vietnam taken from Earth orbit by CORONA, the first US spy satellite. In his first reading, Biggs analyzes the image for clues to the environmental history of the Vietnam War including evidence of bombing and defoliation runs by B52s during the conflict. In his second "extended reading" of the same photograph, Biggs explains how he used digital data from more contemporary periods and computer software including historical geographic information systems, or hGIS, to track how Vietnam's natural environment has changed since the war ended. The result for Gallery readers is a better understanding of both the environment's role in the war in Southeast Asia and the importance of computer technology as an emerging environmental history methodology.