A Savage Empire: Trappers, Traders, Tribes, and the Wars That Made America
"Offers a unique take on our country's origins by exploring the bloody history of fur trading, an industry that affected not only fashion but the face of a nation....Thoroughly researched and lucidly composed."—Publishers Weekly“InA Savage EmpireAlan Axelrod does for the beaver what Mark Kurlansky accomplished in Cod and Salt. This is first-rate narrative history.”—Thomas J. Craughwell, author ofStealing Lincoln's Body"InASavage Empire, Alan Axelrod brings to life a time when empires were built on control over beaver pelts. Before Europeans imposed a new economic system on America, they digested the trapping, tanning and trading system of the Native Americans. Axelrod adeptly outlines the wars in which the French, British and Spanish battled each other and swindled Indian tribes out of the furs on their backs."—Alex Storozynski, Fraunces Tavern Book Award winning author ofThe Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution"Magnificent….Filled with feats of superhuman endurance and heroism, as well as stories of horror and unimaginable cruelty.”—Joseph Cummins, author ofFirst Encounters"Alan Axelrod takes a dramatic story - the carving of a new nation out of a formidable wilderness, and the motivations for doing so - and tells it with all the richness and historical accuracy that it deserves. A Savage Empire is at once well researched, thorough, and well written. It's the kind of page-turning history that should be written about this utterly unique period in time, America's colonial frontier experience."—James L. Nelson, author ofWith Fire and Sword"Axelrod weaves it all into a whopping good story, an epic saga of exploration, cutthroat trade wars, international intrigues, Indian confederations and the hard life in the North American wilderness, a place perilous for everyone, not least the humble and industrious beaver." —The Washington Independent Review of Books