Bison and People on the North American Great Plains: A Deep Environmental History (Connecting the Greater West Series)

The near disappearance of the American bison in the nineteenth century is commonly understood to be the result of over-hunting, capitalist greed, and all but genocidal military policy. This interpretation remains seductive because of its simplicity; there are villains and victims in this familiar cautionary tale of the American frontier. But as this volume of groundbreaking scholarship shows, the story of the bison’s demise is actually quite nuanced. __Bison and People on the North American Great Plains__ brings together voices from several disciplines to offer new insights on the relationship between humans and animals that approached extinction. The essays here transcend the border between the United States and Canada to provide a continental context. Contributors include historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, and Native American perspectives. This book explores the deep past and examines the latest knowledge on bison anatomy and physiology, how bison responded to climate change (especially drought), and early bison hunters and pre-contact trade. It also focuses on the era of European contact, in particular the arrival of the horse, and some of the first known instances of over-hunting. By the nineteenth century bison reached a “tipping point” as a result of new tanning practices, an early attempt at protective legislation, and ventures to introducing cattle as a replacement stock. The book concludes with a Lakota perspective featuring new ethnohistorical research. __Bison and People on the North American Great Plains__ is a major contribution to environmental history, western history, and the growing field of transnational history. Le rabat de la jaquette indique : "The near disappearance of the American bison in the nineteenth century is commonly understood to be the result of over-hunting, capitalist greed, and all but genocidal military policy. This interpretation remains seductive because of its simplicity; there are villains and victims in this familiar cautionary tale of the American frontier. But as this volume of groundbreaking scholarship shows, the story of the bison's demise is actually quite nuanced. Bison and People on the North American Great Plains brings together voices from several disciplines to offer new insights on the relationship between humans and animals that approached extinction. The essays here transcend the border between the United States and Canada to provide a continental context. Contributors include historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, and Native American perspectives. This book explores the deep past and examines the latest knowledge on bison anatomy and physiology, how bison responded to climate change (especially drought), and early bison hunters and pre-contact trade. It also focuses on the era of European contact, in particular the arrival of the horse, and some of the first known instances of over-hunting. By the nineteenth century bison reached a "tipping point" as a result of new tanning practices, an early attempt at protective legislation, and ventures to introducing cattle as a replacement stock. The book concludes with a Lakota perspective featuring new ethnohistorical research." "The near disappearance of the American bison in the nineteenth century is commonly understood to be the result of over-hunting, capitalist greed, and all but genocidal military policy. This interpretation remains seductive because of its simplicity; there are villains and victims in this familiar cautionary tale of the American frontier. But as this volume of groundbreaking scholarship shows, the story of the bison's demise is actually quite nuanced. Bison and People on the North American Great Plains brings together voices from several disciplines to offer new insights on the relationship between humans and animals that approached extinction. The essays here transcend the border between the United States and Canada to provide a continental context. Contributors include historians, archaeologists, anthropologists, paleontologists, and Native American perspectives. This book explores the deep past and examines the latest knowledge on bison anatomy and physiology, how bison responded to climate change (especially drought), and early bison hunters and pre-contact trade. It also focuses on the era of European contact, in particular the arrival of the horse, and some of the first known instances of over-hunting. By the nineteenth century bison reached a "tipping point" as a result of new tanning practices, an early attempt at protective legislation, and ventures to introducing cattle as a replacement stock. The book concludes with a Lakota perspective featuring new ethnohistorical research"--Publisher's website Overview: The decline and fall of the bison empire / Geoff Cunfer -- Reviewing an iconic story: environmental history and the demise of the bison / Dan Flores -- People and bison in the ancient past -- A bison's view of landscape and the paleoenvironment / Alwynne B. Beaudoin -- A hunter's quest for fat bison / Jack W. Brink -- An overview of prehistoric communal bison hunting on the Great Plains / Ernest G. Walker -- Acceleration: European contact and the horse revolution -- A fur trade historian's view of seasonal bison movement on the Northern Plains / Ted Binnema -- A horse-man's view of a grassland revolution / Elliott West -- A métis view of the summer market hunt on the Northern Plains / George Colpitts -- Tipping point: nineteenth-century cataclysm -- A tanner's view of the bison hunt: global tanning and industrial leather / Jennifer Hansen -- A legislator's view of bison collapse: the 1877 Northwest Territories bison protection ordinance / Bill Waiser -- A rancher's view of the post-bison West: filling the vacuum / Matt Todd -- A Lakota view of pté oyáte (buffalo nation) / David C. Posthumus -- Contributors