Essay about Cronon Review - 1262 Words

Since its publication in 1983, William Cronon’s Changes in the Land has been lauded by historians. The book, Cronon’s first, received the Francis Parkman Prize for the best new book in American history in 1984. Cronon’s objective in the book is to assess the changes in New England’s ecosystems and the degree to which these changes result from the relationship between Indians and colonists and changes in the dominant modes of production. He argues that the transition to European agriculture, and the unsustainable extraction and commodification that accompanied capitalism led to changes in the reciprocal relationships between humans and the environment. Cronon begins by explaining two important concepts that lay the groundwork for his†¦show more content†¦New England’s Indians moved to places where food was abundant, and agriculture supplemented their hunting and gathering activities. Indians cleared fields by burning and then used the s ame field for eight to ten years until the soil lost its fertility (48). Indian agriculture did exhaust the land, but the rotating nature of this agriculture and low population densities minimized the damage. Indian use of other resources also rotated on a seasonal basis so that no resource was overexploited. The Indians did not use the environment in the European way, and, from the colonists’ perspective, the Indians’ shifting land use did not entitle them to ownership of the land (56). The Indians’ concept of ownership revolved around use of the land and the things on it, rather than long-term possession of a particular plot (65). Property rights shifted with the current ecological use (63). The English conceived of the land as a â€Å"private commodity rather than public commons,† (74) and believed that ownership gave them the sole right to exploit it for personal gain. The commodification of land and other resources by the English challenged the resiliency of the local ecosystems. The Indians also contributed to this process as they became integrated into the colonial economy. The importation of European diseases decimated IndianShow MoreRelatedNature s Metropolis, Chicago And The Great West1095 Words   |  5 PagesNick Melvin Book Review 3 3/29/2017 Nature’s Metropolis, Chicago and The Great West Cronon, William. Nature s Metropolis, Chicago and the Great West. New York, NY: WW Norton Company, 1991. William Cronon is an acclaimed author, historian, and professor of history, environmental studies, and geography at the University of Wisconsin. Cronon’s book, Nature’s Metropolis, Chicago and the Great West, was written for an academic audience. Cronon analyzes the settlement of the west concentrating onRead MoreCall of the wild2057 Words   |  9 Pagessavages were united with a wild nature and knew no so-called moral. The adepts of primitivism movement shared a belief â€Å"that the best antidote to the ills of an overly refined and civilized modern world was a return to simpler, more primitive living† (Cronon 76). Let us refer to another poem by Snyder, There Are Those Who Love To Get Dirty, which contains a controversial claim: â€Å"There are those who love to get dirty and fix things. They drink coffee at dawn, beer after work. And those who stay clean.Read MoreThe Early Phases and Globalization of Coffee Essay1224 Words   |  5 Pages Works Cited Cronon, William. Chapter 3 Pricing the Future: Grain. Natures Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West. New York: W.W. Norton, 1991. N. pag. Print. Daviron, Benoà ®t, and Stefano Ponte. The Coffee Paradox: Global Markets, Commodity Trade, and the Elusive Promise of Development. London: Zed in Association with the CTA, 2005. Print. The Struggle for Control of a Commodity Chain: Instant Coffee from Latin America John M. 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Think of the proposal as an introduction to your thesis—not a chapter, not an extensive literature review, not an opportunity to rehearse the major conflicts in your field. You are â€Å"bridging the gap† between existing work and your work. Remember that the proposal is not a contract that determines what your thesis will demonstrate. You will likely modifyRead MoreAre Cities Dying? Essay10831 Words   |  44 PagesCosts of Moving Goods Cyrus McCormick invented the mechanical reaper in Virginia in 1831, but he moved to Chicago to set up his factory in 1847, to save ti-ansport costs by lessening the distance between his production facility and his customers (Cronon, 1989). The great merchants of the Midwest (Potter Palmer, Marshall Field, Montgomery Ward) followed McCormick because Chicago offered access to eastern goods and western consumers through its network of waterways and rails and because ChicagoRead MoreImmoduletext4305 Words   |  18 Pagesnew challenges to the ways they operate, deliver services and compete with each other in the financial sector. Driven by these challenges, banks and financial institutions have implemented delivering their services using this channel (ChanLu, 2004; Cronon, 1997). Internet banking refers to the use of the Internet as a delivery channel for banking services, which include all traditional services such as balance enquiry, printing statement, fund transfer to other accounts, bill payment, and so on, andRead MoreBibliographic Essay on African American History6221 Words   |  25 Pagessome were prosperous indeed. How they acquired, maintained, or disbursed their wealth in real and personal property--human beings--is of interest. Both Adrienne D. Davis, â€Å"The Private Law of Race and Sex: An Antebellum Perspective,† Stanford Law Review 51 (January 1999); and, Gary B. Mills, Coincoin: An Eighteenth- Century Liberated Woman, Journal of Southern History 42 (May 1976): 203-22, are useful in this regard. Other studies of propertied free blacks, such as Michael P. Johnson and