Fur, Fortune, and Empire, Eric Jay Dolin
Fur, Fortune, and Empire, Eric Jay Dolin
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Fur, Fortune, and Empire
The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America

Author: Eric Jay Dolin

Narrator: Tom Weiner

Unabridged: 11 hr 58 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 07/12/2010

Synopsis

From the bestselling author of Leviathan comes this sweeping narrative of one of Americas 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 Americas native peoples. Populated by a largerthanlife cast, including Dutch governor Peter Stuyvesant, President Thomas Jefferson, Americas 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 Eric Jay Dolin

Eric Jay Dolin is the author of fourteen books. His most recent is A Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes, which received a number of accolades, including being chosen by the Washington Post as one of 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020, by Kirkus Reviews as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 (in addition to being a Kirkus Prize finalist), by the Library Journal and Booklist as one of the Best Science & Technology Books of 2020, and by the New York Times Book Review as an "Editor's Choice." His other books include 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 also won the 2007 John Lyman Award for U.S. Maritime History; and Black Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates, which was chosen as a "Must-Read" book for 2019 by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and was a finalist for the 2019 Julia Ward Howe Award given by the Boston Author's Club. A graduate of Brown, Yale, and MIT, where he received his PhD in environmental policy, Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his family.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Ash

A marvelous and highly revealing history of the fur trade in America, right from the first permanent European settlements in the 17th century to the end of the 19th century. A story of inspiring doggedness against an incredibly unforgiving environment and of the tragic clash of civilizations. Dolin's......more

Goodreads review by Pbwritr

Another fantastic book! What a lot of things I never knew! I wish schools presented history this way. I think this book really gets to the heart of why and how certain events happened in our country. To say that there were French and Indian wars is not enough. To say the British fought the French an......more

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