Synopses & Reviews
In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.
Review
"An intoxicating piece of scholarship and enterprise. . . . It is really a work of biography: a look at the of Chicago." Ward Just Chicago Tribune
Review
"No one has ever written a better book about a city. . . . No one has written about Chicago with more power, clarity and intelligence than Cronon." New York Times Book Review
Review
"This book is the story of Chicago's progress in the 19th century, the rough seduction of the hinterland, and how at its zenith the city ruled the commercial life of a vast inland region more completely and ruthlessly and profitably than any czar ruled Russia. . . . A marvelous book." Boston Globe
Review
"Thoroughly original. . . . Likely to become a small classic. . . . Illuminating. . . . Brilliant." David Shribman Wall Street Journal
Review
"Thoroughly original. . . . Illuminating. . . . Brilliant." Donald L. Miller
Synopsis
The classic chronicle of life and self-reliance in the great Northern Forest, reissued for its many fans
Synopsis
Awarded the 1992 Bancroft Prize and the Heartland Award for Best Nonfiction Book of 1991.
Synopsis
"Magnificent... the best work of economic and business history I've ever read."--Paul Krugman
About the Author
William Cronon is Frederick Jackson Turner Professor of History, Geography, and Environmental Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison.