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Nature's Metropolis

Chicago and the Great West

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Nature's Metropolis

By: William Cronon
Narrated by: Jonah Cummings
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Summary

Awarded the 1992 Bancroft Prize and the Chicago Tribune Heartland Award for Best Nonfiction Book of 1991.

In this groundbreaking work, William Cronon gives us an environmental perspective on the history of nineteenth-century America. By exploring the ecological and economic changes that made Chicago America's most dynamic city and the Great West its hinterland, Mr. Cronon opens a new window onto our national past. This is the story of city and country becoming ever more tightly bound in a system so powerful that it reshaped the American landscape and transformed American culture. The world that emerged is our own.

©1992 William Cronon (P)2013 Audible, Inc. Americas State & Local United States Capitalism Socialism Chicago Taxation
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Nature’s Metropolis is a well known classic of environmental history. Cronon’s intricate yet sweeping analysis of the relationship between Chicago and its hinterland is nuanced and powerful. This isn’t just environmental history, it’s also a perceptive study of how commodity extraction creates capital, essentially turning individual things into fungible money.

This audiobook version is well made, with few flaws and mispronunciations. It is well worth your time!

A worthy classic

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