Cronon Review

Since its publication in 1983, William Cronon’s Changes in the Land has been lauded by historians. The book, Cronon’s first, received the Francis Parkman Prize for the best new book in American history in 1984. Cronon’s objective in the book is to assess the changes in New England’s ecosystems and the degree to which these changes result from the relationship between Indians and colonists and changes in the dominant modes of production. He argues that the transition to European agriculture, and the unsustainable extraction and commodification that accompanied capitalism led to changes in the reciprocal relationships between humans and the environment.

Cronon begins by explaining two important concepts that lay the groundwork for his book. He details historical theories about the process of ecological succession and elucidates the dynamic equilibrium model with which ecologists currently understand ecosystems. Scientists no longer believe that ecosystems march through successional stages until they arrive at a stable and unchanging climax composition. Rather, scientists understand that ecosystems change constantly, and that an unchanging, climax stage does not exist. Additionally, Cronon stresses that precolonial New England was not an untouched land. Indians had been living on and managing the landscape for thousands of years. He states, “The choice is not between two landscapes, one with and one without a human influence, it is between two human ways of living, two ways of belonging to an ecosystem” (12). The reader must understand these important distinctions before delving deeper into Cronon’s argument, and he does an excellent job of explaining them clearly at the beginning.

Cronon argues that Indians and col...

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...tarting point for anyone interested in environmental history, Indian history, or colonialism, but, as with all works, it should be supplemented with additional sources for a complete and detailed perspective.

Works Cited

Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England. New York: Hill and Wang, 2003.

Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs, and Steel. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.

Flores, Dan. Review: Twenty Years on: Thoughts on "Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England." Agricultural History. Vol. 78, No. 4. 2004.

Krech, Shepard. The Ecological Indian: Myth and History. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1999.

Martin, Calvin. Review: Changes in the Land. The Pacific Historical Review. Vol. 53, No. 4, 1984.

White, Richard. The Middle Ground. New York: Cambridge University Press, 1991.