The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 (Studies in Environment and History)
Isenberg (history, Princeton) employs interdisciplinary methodology to explain the ecosocial factors that led to the destruction of 30 million bison during a 50-year period. Tracing the movement of Native American tribes from sedentary cultures to hunting societies that depended upon the horse to hunt bison on the Great Plains, the author discusses the impact of Euroamerican economics on the Native peoples. Fur trading of the 18th century altered Plains culture, as did the 19th-century demand for bison hides. These encounters between Native Americans and Euroamericans were the central cause of the near extinction of the bison. Isenberg also considers other factors such as drought, disease, and the introduction of domestic livestock. This case study of extinction and the preservation of a species will have a wide appeal and correlate with such books as Shepard Krech's The Ecological Indian: Myth and History (LJ 8/99). Recommended for all libraries.-Patricia Ann Owens, Wabash Valley Coll., Mt. Carmel, ILCopyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.