Empires, Nations & Families: A History of the North American West, 1800–1860 by Anne F. Hyde

Abstract

 OHQ vol. 114, no. 1 6 ends) and World War II (where Chapter 7 begins). In contrast, Fiege has four chapters covering the early to mid 1800s. I expect most readers will be inclined to forgive his omission. At nearly 600 pages, it seems unreasonable to expect additional chapters. Moreover, I would not want to see any of the existing chapters reduced substantially or excised. Ideally, I would love to see Fiege in the future make this a two-volume work that corresponds with the classic two-volume U.S. history survey. A few new chapters on the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries would be sufficient.I would certainly assign it when teaching U.S. history survey classes, and I think many others also would profit by doing so. Gratefully,Fiege wrote for a broad audience. He is among that rare breed who can spin a tale that is accessible and satisfying to both undergraduates and academic specialists.More than that,The Republic of Nature not only helps shape the field of environmental history but will appeal to scholars in other fields as well. It is a bridge-building book that shows how social and environmental histories can be successfully integrated. Achieving an exceedingly rare feat, Fiege has crafted a layered, nuanced, jargon-free,compelling narrative that everyone should enjoy reading. As well as making a fine and affordable supplementtoU .S.historysurveys,thebookmakes an excellent supplement to texts for American environmental history courses. In fact, that is the context in which Fiege launched his book project. It cannot serve as a stand-alone textbook for such a course, however, because of its limited focus. It also does not cover topics in Canadian or Mexican history or take many forays into transatlantic history,so it is unsuitable for NorthAmerican or world history courses.I can,however,recommend it for personal reading pleasure.Only occasionally does a scholarly book come along that can be read as much for pleasure as for edification. Fiege’s voice is conversational and introspective, pedagogical but never pedantic. Chapter openings invariably grab and hold readers’ attention. Chapter conclusions provide poignant closure, as well as deft foreshadows to the next episode.Fiege’s narration is more than craft; it is art. Would that we all could write like that. Paul W. Hirt Arizona State University Empires, Nations & Families: A History of the North American West, 1800–1860 by Anne F. Hyde University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln, 2011. Illustrations, maps, notes, bibliography, index. 648 pages. $45.00 cloth. Historian Anne Hyde sums up Empires, Nations & Families toward the end of her hefty study: “the position and the ideology that entitled the removal of Indian people differed fundamentally with the views held by generationsof westerners,Nativeandemigrant, who had lived there before. Until the 1850s, coexistence was the assumed goal even if it developed uneasily and unequally” (p. 484). Hyde’smonographisanexpansiveexamination of an early period of familial coexistence,from the late 1700s to its collapse with the rise of American nationalism by the 1850s, in four loosely contained western locations: St. Louis, the Pacific Coast,Michilimackinac on the Great Lakes, and Santa Fe. Divided into three sections, Empires first covers the kinship webs of the trade economy that fostered relationships between indigenous peoples and French, American, and Spanish migrants for whom citizenship was less important than the more intimate connections that shaped the region’s economy. The second section addresses the mid-century transformation of Indian country in the West as the United States vied with indigenous peoples, such as the Choctaw, and with Mexico, England , American and British Mormons, and  OHQ vol. 114, no. 1 filibusters for control. The final section tackles the transformation of “nations to nation” — the consolidation of American power over a space previously governed by many entities. The book concludes in 1860, with the current borders of the American West determined if not entirely secured and the United States on the verge of the Civil War. Hyde argues that before the onset of American nationalism, a world of water-based trade “decentered traditional political power, locating knowledge outside of traditional military and diplomatic circles and firmly in the hands of local people, both Native and...