
Fur, Fortune, and Empire
The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America
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نقد و بررسی

Dolin's book tells the story of America from Pilgrim times to the end of the nineteenth century by means of the fur trade, a driving economic force in discovery, exploration, and settlement. Tom Weiner's narration is crisp and professional, his voice strong, if not especially engaging. It's a bit too much like an announcer's, but he's expressive and sensitive to the text. However, he consistently reads a beat too fast. His pace might work for a novel, but there's a lot to absorb in this detailed, fast-moving history. Listeners may find that they need to keep going back. The program would have been more enjoyable if he'd slowed down a bit to let the details sink in. W.M. (c) AudioFile 2010, Portland, Maine

Starred review from May 24, 2010
Who'd think you could write a history of the U.S. centered on three centuries of the trade in furs? Dolin has done so in this spirited tale, although you won't find presidents, treaties, and wars. Instead, the main characters are the Indians, Dutch, French, British, Russians, and Americans who sought wealth and a living in the pelts of fur-bearing animals—beavers especially, but also sea otters, fur seals, and buffalo. Beneath this absorbing story lies the relentless drive (a "lethal wave" in Dolin's words) across the continent. In Dolin's telling, westward expansion wasn't fueled by "manifest destiny" or the thirst for empire but by the chase after animals. People as varied as Peter Stuyvesant, John Jacob Astor, Kit Carson, and the roughhewn "mountain men" play their parts over lands as dispersed as New England and Oregon. By the time animals are driven to near-extinction in the late 19th century, the U.S. is filled in. Neither would have happened without the other. Dolin, author of the acclaimed Leviathan: The History of Whaling in America, offers another good history well told. 16 pages of color and 16 pages of b&w illus.; map.
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