Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America

Eric Jay Dolin

ISBN 10: 1441760636 ISBN 13: 9781441760630

Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks, 2010

Synopsis

From the bestselling author of Leviathan comes this sweeping narrative of one of America's most historically rich industries. Beginning his epic history in the early 1600s, Eric Jay Dolin traces the dramatic rise and fall of the American fur trade industry, from the first Dutch encounters with the Indians to the rise of the conservation movement in the late nineteenth century. Dolin shows how the fur trade, driven by the demands of fashion, sparked controversy, fostered economic competition, and fueled wars among the European powers as North America became a battleground for colonization and imperial aspirations. The trade in beaver, buffalo, sea otter, and other animal skins spurred the exploration and the settlement of the vast American continent, while it alternately enriched and gravely damaged the lives of America's native peoples. Populated by a larger-than-life cast, including Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant, President Thomas Jefferson, America's first millionaire John Jacob Astor, and mountain man Kit Carson, Fur, Fortune, and Empire is the most comprehensive and compelling history of the American fur trade ever written.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

From the bestselling author of Leviathan comes a sweeping narrative of one of America's most historically rich industries. Beginning in the early 1600s, Dolin traces the dramatic rise and fall of the American fur trade, from the first Dutch encounters with the Indians to the conservation movement in the late nineteenth century. He shows how the fur trade sparked controversy, fostered economic competition, and fueled wars among European powers as North America became a battleground for colonization and imperial aspirations. The trade in beaver, buffalo, sea otter, and other furs spurred the exploration and the settlement of the vast American continent, while it alternately enriched and gravely damaged the lives of America's native peoples. Fur, Fortune, and Empire is the most comprehensive and compelling history of the American fur trade ever written.

About the Author:

ERIC JAY DOLIN is the author of Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, which was chosen as one of the best nonfiction books of 2007 by the Los Angeles Times and the Boston Globe, and it also won the 2007 John Lyman Award for U. S. Maritime History. A graduate of Brown, Yale, and MIT, where he received his Ph.D. in environmental policy, he lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his wife and two children.

About this edition

• Publisher: Blackstone Audiobooks
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1441760636
• ISBN 13: 9781441760630
• Binding: MP3 CD