In an attempt to see what the public’s general response to The Ecological Indian was when Krech’s book first came out, as we were talking about today, I came across this article from 1999 which outlines some less familiar explanations for the sharp decline of buffalo on the plains. Instead of focusing on the white man’s decimation of buffalo populations, the article points out that this was probably just the icing on the cake; that the primary factors in their decline included not only what Krech brought up with Indians being involved in the buffalo trading market, but also climate change, competition for food resources, and disease. This is an interesting article to look at in terms of deflating the myth that the Europeans came in and singlehandedly destroyed the buffalo population.
The link:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9501EFD6123DF935A25752C1A96F958260&sec=&spon=
Posts
3 comments:
Interesting article, Rachel! Below is a link to a thoughtful review of Andrew Isenberg's book (The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920), which is mentioned in the NY Times piece. The reviewer, Emily Greenwald, makes the point that "As environmental history, the book is extremely satisfying. As Native American history, however, it gives rise to a couple of concerns." She then talks about some of the same concerns Krech raises -- suggesting that Isenberg "generalizes about cultural and economic patterns on the Plains." Recurring themes...
http://www.jstor.org/view/00221953/sp060002/06x0761g/0?frame=noframe&userID=84ecfbac@cornell.edu/01c0a834750050959d8&dpi=3&config=jstor
Sorry, the link to the review is long and doesn't seem to post. Here it is again in four lines (that should be a single line):
http://www.jstor.org/view/00221953/
sp060002/06x0761g/0?frame=
noframe&userID=84ecfbac@cornell.edu/
01c0a834750050959d8&dpi=3&config=jstor
good comments all around. Isenberg has a 1997 synopsis article of the book that is a suggested reading for this class and is available on our course reserve:
"The Returns of the Bison: Nostalgia, Profit, and Preservation."
Andrew C. Isenberg. Environmental History 2, no. 2 (1997): 179-96.
Post a Comment