Review: "Fur, Fortune and Empire"

[Dave U. Random]

(LA Times) - In "Company of Adventurers," the first of a three-part
history of the Hudson's Bay Co., Peter C. Newman wrote: "Seldom has
an animal exercised such a profound influence on the history of a
country. Men defied oceans and hacked their way across North
America; armies and navies clashed under the polar moon; an Indian
civilization was debauched — all in quest of the pug-nosed rodent
with the lustrous fur."

The hunt for the lowly beaver almost inadvertently "turned into the
quest for a nation," Newman wrote, and while his account focuses on
Canada, Eric Jay Dolin adapts the argument for its neighbor below
the 49th parallel. Though guns, germs and steel certainly played
their parts, Dolin's "Fur, Fortune, and Empire - The Epic Story of
the Fur Trade in America" (Amazon: http://xrl.us/FurFortune )
leaves little doubt that the trade in pelts "was a powerful force
in shaping the course of American history from the early 1600s
through the late 1800s, playing a major role in the settlement and
evolution of the colonies, and in the growth of the United States."

Dolin puts forth a compelling and well-annotated tale of greed,
slaughter and geopolitics as the Dutch, English, French, Spanish,
Swedes, Russians and the American colonists fought for a slice of
the profit...

Continued: http://sn.im/FurFortune