GUSN-256323
xvii, 442 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps ; 25 cm., For all of fur's contentious position in American culture today, historian Eric Jay Dolin shows its centrality in our nation's ever-surprising history. He argues that the trade in animal skins turned colonial America into a tumultuous frontier where global powers battled for control. From the seventeenth century right on up to the Gilded Age, the developed world's appetite for fur made the new continent, with its wealth of fur-bearing wildlife, a seemingly inexhaustible resource. The result was a major boost in the evolution of the colonies into a powerful new player on the world stage. Dolin sheds insight on the ways the fur trade created international tensions--in New England, the Great Lakes, and in the expanding West. Fur traders were often the first white men to map major rivers, forests, and mountains, then soon pushed Native Americans off their lands as John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company attempted to monopolize the West.--From publisher description.
Fur trade History.
Frontier and pioneer life
Europeans History.
Imperialism History.
Colonies
History.
Ethnic relations.
Discovery and exploration European.
Economic conditions.
Exploration.
Dolin, Eric Jay.
Pt. 1. Furs settle the New World -- "As fine a river as can be found" -- The precious beaver -- New Amsterdam rising -- "The Bible and the beaver" -- pt. 2. Clash of empires -- Competition, conflict, and chicanery -- "Many hounds are the hare's death" -- Adieu to the French -- Americans oust the British -- pt. 3. America heads West -- "A perfect golden round of profits" -- Up the Missouri -- Astoria -- Mountain men -- Taos trappers and Astor's empire -- Fall of the beaver -- The last robe -- Epilogue: End of an era.
New York : W.W. Norton & Co.
xvii, 442 p., [16] p. of plates : ill., maps ; 25 cm.
For all of fur's contentious position in American culture today, historian Eric Jay Dolin shows its centrality in our nation's ever-surprising history. He argues that the trade in animal skins turned colonial America into a tumultuous frontier where global powers battled for control. From the seventeenth century right on up to the Gilded Age, the developed world's appetite for fur made the new continent, with its wealth of fur-bearing wildlife, a seemingly inexhaustible resource. The result was a major boost in the evolution of the colonies into a powerful new player on the world stage. Dolin sheds insight on the ways the fur trade created international tensions--in New England, the Great Lakes, and in the expanding West. Fur traders were often the first white men to map major rivers, forests, and mountains, then soon pushed Native Americans off their lands as John Jacob Astor's American Fur Company attempted to monopolize the West.--From publisher description.
Includes bibliographical references (p. [409]-411) and index.
c. 1: Hardback. c. 2: Paperback.
9780393067101
0393067106
9780393340020 (pbk.)
0393340023 (pbk.)
Stacks E46.D65 2010 c. 1
Coll. E46.D65 2010 c. 2
North America
West (U.S.)
North America.
Europe
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