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| The Destruction of the Bison: An Environmental History, 1750-1920 (Studies in Environment and History) | 
| Author: Andrew C. Isenberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $78.00
Buy Used: $13.77
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Avg. Customer Rating:  8 reviews
Sales Rank: 1537669
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 218
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9 x 6.2 x 0.9
ISBN: 0521771722
Dewey Decimal Number: 333.9596430978
EAN: 9780521771726
ASIN: 0521771722
Publication Date: March 28, 2000
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Condition: As pictured. Very light shelf wear to dust jacket, otherwise pristine. Unmarked pages, well bound. Packaged with care.
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| Customer Reviews:
| Showing reviews 1-5 of 8 | | NEXT » |
 Great natural history of the Bison/Native American History September 21, 2008
Great natural history of the American bison and their connection to Plains region native tribes. Important resource.
 Serving the Interests of the Dominant Culture; A critical perspective July 21, 2006
7 out of 14 found this review helpful
As all the other reviews are positive, I will add a much needed critical perspective.
The central argument of this book is that:
"The combination of Indian predation and environmental change decimated the bison" (Isenberg, p.3).
As such, this book contradicts massive amounts of primary historical sources that show, un-arguably, that the destruction and near extinction of the Bison herds was a direct result of Anglo predation in a direct attempt to destroy the resource base of the Plains Tribes in order to force them onto reservations.
As the other reviewers have pointed out, it is true that the Plains Tribes were not nomadic hunters for all of their history. It is true that the Tribes adopted nomadic hunting as a primary subsistence strategy only after being forced to do so by Anglo aggression and encroachment.
But from that truth, Isenberg moves on to a series of unproven theories based on questionable ecological assumptions that are rooted in the "new ecology" - an ecological theory that describes nature as a disordered, chaotic and individualistic struggle for survival (For info on the "new ecology" see my review of "Discordant Harmonies: A new ecology for the 21st century).
For example, Isenberg bases one of his arguments on the un-proven theory that early Tribal Peoples, thousands of years ago, hunted to extinction many species of large land mammals.
But the story of the Bison is not a pre-historic story. It is a story of modern history and Isenberg presents no historical proof that the Tribes were responsible for the near extinction of the Bison.
Rather, he makes subjective philosophical arguments against "romanticizing" wilderness and Native American cultures.
From there Iverson uses these arguments as a backdrop to a series of environmental statistical analyses.
Basically, Iverson lays out an exponential statistical model where by he argues that, given the estimated number of Bison deaths necessary to sustain the Plains Tribes, eventually the Bison would have been rendered extinct by the Tribes at some point in the future.
The problem is that this can never be proven because it never happened!
What happened, and it is documented in massive amounts of printed primary historical sources, was that the Bison were deliberately slaughtered by greedy Anglo hunters for their skins and tongues.
The United States Army was in on it as well, as is documented by many sources showing that the Bison herds were decimated in a deliberate attempt to make it impossible for the Tribes to remain living free on the Plains.
Isenberg's book is one that must be extremely comforting to those forces that continue to destroy what wild animals and lands we have left here in North America.
A new view on the bison's demise October 17, 2003
6 out of 7 found this review helpful
Andrew Isenberg, professor of History at Princeton University, has produced a brilliant monograph documenting the relationship between the Plains Indians, whites and the bison that once thrived on the Great Plains.
Isenberg carefully presents the ecology of the Great Plaines, demonstrating how tenuous the environment is to begin with: drought and fires can easily destroy the short grass that the bison depend on, causing sudden fluctuations in the herds. Given the already sensitive nature of the bison population, Isenberg then discusses the effect of human hunting.
Many readers, accostomed to thinking of the Plains Indians as ancient cultures, practicing a lifestyle as old as time, will be surprised to learn that the tribes of the great plains were largly recent developments. The introduction of the horse in the late 17th century dramatically altered the lifesyles of the plains tribes. Now that horses could be used to follow the bison herds year round, many groups abandoned agriculture and became full time bison hunters.
Isenberg documents the rise of trade networks, and the material wealth that Indians were able to accumulate in the beaver and bison pelt trade. Isenberg argues that Indians increasingly exploited the bison in a non-substainable fashion, thus dramatically weakening the bison population by the mid 19th century. Thus white hunting, which escalated in the 1870s to fill the demand for bison leather machine belts, was merely a coup de grace for the already decimated herds.
Isenberg's thesis rather explodes the old myth that Indians were always ecologically sensitive people who cared meticulously for their rescources. Yet in the end, his message is one of environmental responsibility, as he narrates a tragic case study of unsubstainable environmental exploitation. The book is well crafted and highly readable, and recommended for all interested in the American West.
Important contribution to the field of environmental history March 15, 2002
7 out of 9 found this review helpful
Andrew Isenberg's "The Destruction of the Bison" shows that the interaction between ecology, culture and economy contributes the the destruction of bison. Unlike most historians who contributes the environmental degradation to Euro-Americans, Isenberg shows that Native Americans also play a role in modifying the ecology. He is able to show how introduction of horses, made Native Americans became more mobile and therefore were able to hunt the bison while riding their horses.Initially, the Natives hunted for subsistence but later were drawn into the market-oriented economic system and were trading the bison's skin for other European products. Gradually, bison became nearly decimated. This is an incredible book in this survey of the history of the North American bison population and is very well-written. He organizes this book well and is very readable. Even if readers who do not have prior knowledge of bison or is unfamiliar with the field of environmental history, this book will not pose any difficulty for understanding the complex relationship between human and the environment around them.
The Big Picture August 19, 2001
4 out of 5 found this review helpful
So often, we tend to think of the near-extinction of the Bison as having been solely caused by overhunting by the fur trade. This book shows the intensely interwoven cause and effect relationships that led to massive changes, not only for the Bison, but for the Native Americans as well. The scope of this book is so much larger than just the destruction of the Bison - it addresses the full range of effects that Westward Expansion had on the plains. To gain a better understanding of the ecological dynamics at play between the Bison, the indigenous tribes, the settlers and the environment - this book is a must.
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