Review

Abstract

Book Reviews 123 school. It will also be helpful to some future historian who may attempt to write a general account of the war’s impact on institutions of higher education. Anthony J. Kuzniewski, SJ College of the Holy Cross Worcester, Massachusetts David Curtis Skaggs and Larry L. Nelson, eds. The Sixty Years’ War for the Great Lakes, 1754-1814. 2001; repr., East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2010. Pp. 414. Illustrations. Maps. Notes. Index. Paper, $24.95. The re-publication of The Sixty Years’ War for the Great Lakes in a paperback edition is welcome news for historians and their students. First published in 2001, this book was initially priced too high for easy classroom adoption. The paperback edition, which is $24.95, has solved this problem, bringing the work within reach of both graduate and undergraduate classrooms. This is a boon for students of Midwest and Great Lakes history, as the volume still has much to offer. Indeed, in their brief yet superb preface to the paperback edition, editors David Curtis Skaggs and Larry L. Nelson demonstrate that these essays are still viable nearly a decade after their initial publication. The twenty essays contained in The Sixty Years’ War for the Great Lakes explore a diverse range of topics, offering insights into not only the military aspects of the contest for control of the region, but also the political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions of the conflict. Skaggs provides a thorough and eminently useful overview of the sixty years’ war in the book’s first essay, providing the framework for interpreting the series of conflicts from 1754 to 1814 as component pieces of a singular, lengthy struggle. This is a useful categorization, for although the essays cover a broad range of topics, they share this common theme, making them easier to digest as a whole. Topically, Indians occupy a central position in the volume; several essays, including those by Michael McDonnell, Jon Parmenter, and R. David Edmunds, address the role of Native Peoples in the contest for the region, as well as the nature and scope of cross-cultural accommodation and exchange. American interests are also given due consideration, with essays by Eric Hinderaker, Leonard Sadosky, and Robert Cox illustrating the 124 The Michigan Historical Review complexities of American expansion and the paradoxes found within the consolidation of United States authority over the Great Lakes region. But this brief overview only scratches the surface of the book’s appeal. The continued importance and vitality of the French inhabitants also receive serious attention, highlighted by the essays of Susan SleeperSmith and Keith Widder. The volume does not disappoint from a military perspective either—essays by the late W. J. Eccles, Charles Brodine, Matthew Ward, and Jeff Sieken analyze various elements of the French, British, and American military struggle for control of the region. Economic, religious, and cultural considerations are also explored, and readers of The Michigan Historical Review will be particularly interested in Brian Leigh Dunnigan’s cartographical exploration of the growth and expansion of Detroit, which despite its brevity provides a compelling study of the evolution of a frontier community. Bolstered by high-quality scholarship, The Sixty Years’ War for the Great Lakes continues to make an important contribution to the history of the Midwest, and with the release of the paperback edition, it now promises to reach an even wider audience. Daniel P. Barr Robert Morris University Ronald Stagg. The Golden Dream: A History of the St. Lawrence Seaway. Toronto: Dundurn Press, 2010. Pp. 296. Bibliography. Index. Maps. Notes. Photographs. Cloth, $35.00; CAD. The completion of the St. Lawrence Seaway and Power project was the culmination of a century-long dream to link Great Lakes’ industries with the Atlantic Ocean. Located on the U.S.-Canadian border between Montreal and Duluth, Minnesota, the Seaway was the largest inland waterway ever completed, and today the Robert MosesRobert H. Saunders Power Dam sends electricity to many areas of New York, Vermont, Quebec, and Ontario. The project’s five sections, constructed between 1954 and 1959, included locks, channels, and dams, whose construction and eventual operation had to be coordinated among the American and Canadian governments, the provinces of Quebec...