Aristocratic historians, the author tells us, believe history is made by elites. Great men have the great ideas. Great men make things happen. Democratic historians believe that history is made by broad causes and ordinary people. Large forces produce the eras, trends, and conflicts.
People respond and make history.
And generally, that's a good thing. But not always. Plains folk commonly think of themselves as knocked around by large, impersonal forces like weather, markets, consumerism, environmentalism well, it's quite a list. Ever since the Choteaus, the Astors, and the Company of Adventurers started mining this region for beaver pelts, we've been working for people somewhere else most of the time. Nowadays, though, things have shifted.