Rating: 
Summary: Ecological history
Review: Cronin has done with this work that is so often missing in todays historical books. He has been able to tell a tale from both perspectives of the story correctly. Cronin covers the coming of the Whites to New England and the ramifications to the Indians. His narrative explains how the misunderstanding between the two races eventually led to fall of the Indians. Cronin's brilliance is that he is able to show how the indians changed their way of life voluntarily which helped excelerate their downfall. Cronin also uses the metaphor of the environment to explain the differences in thinking between the two races. This book is not a fast read, but it is certainly worth the effort.
Rating: 
Summary: Should be Interesting to Non-New Englanders
Review: Even though I live in San Diego, I found this book to be well worth the read. Dense but short, "Changes in the Land" gives a close reading to the ecological impact of British colonization in New England. As Cronon states in his conclusion, this transformation has ramifications far outside New England, since the environmental degradation that accompanied early colonization forced settlers farther and farther afield.Twenty years after it was published, the scholarship is still, what I would consider "cutting edge". Cronon cuts across disciplines and primary sources to produce a nuanced model of the interrelationship of humans and the environment. Cronon's work is just as interesting for his (to me, anyway) novel technique of writing a history where the personalities of humans take a back seat to the consequnces of their decisions. The effect is at once radical and main stream. Radical, in that Cronon strips away traditional justifications for human decisions that reinforce the implicit assumptions that cause those same decisions. Main stream, in that he manages to stay away from the hyperbole and argument that plague revisions of history. I've also read Cronon's "Nature's Metropolis", which is his book about the development of the city of Chicago. I would recommend that book, as well as this one, to anyone interested in the subjects that Cronon covers. His scholarship is top notch.
Rating:
Summary: Should be Interesting to Non-New Englanders
Review: Even though I live in San Diego, I found this book to be well worth the read. Dense but short, "Changes in the Land" gives a close reading to the ecological impact of British colonization in New England. As Cronon states in his conclusion, this transformation has ramifications far outside New England, since the environmental degradation that accompanied early colonization forced settlers farther and farther afield. Twenty years after it was published, the scholarship is still, what I would consider "cutting edge". Cronon cuts across disciplines and primary sources to produce a nuanced model of the interrelationship of humans and the environment. Cronon's work is just as interesting for his (to me, anyway) novel technique of writing a history where the personalities of humans take a back seat to the consequnces of their decisions. The effect is at once radical and main stream. Radical, in that Cronon strips away traditional justifications for human decisions that reinforce the implicit assumptions that cause those same decisions. Main stream, in that he manages to stay away from the hyperbole and argument that plague revisions of history. I've also read Cronon's "Nature's Metropolis", which is his book about the development of the city of Chicago. I would recommend that book, as well as this one, to anyone interested in the subjects that Cronon covers. His scholarship is top notch.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating history of New England ecology
Review: I found this book very compelling, and would highly reccomend it for anyone interested in ecology, land ownership, or New England. Below is a recap of the most important points I took away from Cronon's book: The main point William Cronon explains in Changes in the Land is why the landscape of New England differs in 1800 at the start of the industrial revolution from 1600 prior to the arrival of the first Europeans, clearing up some misconceptions about this change along the way. He first emphasizes that the common conception of New England as a dense primeval forest is not wholly correct. Understanding of early New England ecology is based on journals and reports of the Europeans who first visited and settled there, whose viewpoints were not those of scientists but rather of farmers, trappers, and merchants. Because of this, descriptions of New England were based on what Europe was not, and tells as much about conditions of England of that time as they do of new England. Europe was disease-ridden, crowded, cold (with firewood being a luxury), but civilized. New England was thus described as a healthy, rat-free, dense forest just waiting for the touch of God via man's hand to tame it. While these points were true, New England was also a diverse area with landscapes varying from the dense forests of northern New England, the open glades of southern New England, the seashore to the salt marshes. The Indians recognized this diversity of their land, and in order to utilize the wide variety of natural resources available, a mobile lifestyle had to be adopted. A nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyle does not lead to accumulation of goods because one's possession must be carried on one's back. In turn, status within a tribe was not garnered through collection of goods, but through kin relation and prowess of the hunt. The lack of emphasis on ownership extended to the land. While a tribe could have or give rights to a particular use of an area of land for the duration of its use (for example for one harvest), land ownership was not as all-consuming and permanent as the European definition of it. Europeans ventured to a new land, but kept their old ideas of ownership and commodity alive. To them, the Indians lack of settlement and "improvement" on the land represented a laziness of the Indians. Thus, the only land that truly belonged to the Indians was the land women planted crops. This excluded the much larger Indian ranges of land where hunting, trapping, and gathering was done, so that "English colonists could use Indian hunting and gathering for expropriating Indian land" (56). As land available for Indian usage disappeared, the Indians had to adopt a more sedentary life that interacted with European demands and economies. Because resources were abundant, and labor was scarce (the opposite situation of Europe), policies were adopted that maximized labor with no regard for resources, leading to wastefulness of the forest for lumber, fuel, and clearing of the land. An example of this was 'driving a piece' "in which lumberers cut notches in a row of small trees and then felled a larger tree on top of them, thus cushioning its fall so as to protect it from shattering" (111). The early settler's wastefulness even horrified fellow Westerners in Europe, causing an observer to write of Americans, "their eyes are fixed upon the present gain, and they are blind to the future" (122). Besides the decline of trees and the animals that habituated in them, the effects of deforestation were felt strongly in the climate. The forest provided a buffer against extreme conditions. Without it, summers were hotter, winters were colder, and the ground froze deeper. The water-holding capacity of the land was reduced, causing greater run-offs and flooding, and finally resulting in dry soil and erratic streams that were dry for much of the year. Despite the changing negative conditions, the mind-set of resources equaling commodity caused colonists to "understand what they were doing in almost wholly positive terms, not as 'deforestation,' but as 'the progress of cultivation'" (126), which is still the mindset that exists in many today.
Rating:
Summary: An exceptional book - I've referenced it again and again....
Review: I have never read a book that explains the complex interactions between Native Americans, Europeans and their environments quite so well. It is the common sense conclusion that results when you consider the written records of the day, the pollen records available, and the ecology of the New England landscape today. The first time I read it, I found myself saying 'of course' over and over again. Of all the books I've read on the ecological history of this country, this is the ONE I recommend most.
Rating:
Summary: Not only for ecologist's
Review: I read this book for an economic anthropology course in college and with no ecological background I thouroughly enjoyed it. For anyone interested in a general history of the early colonization of New England it is very interesting. You will learn things about New England before the colonists came that will change your views about the Indians relationship with their land forever.
Rating: 
Summary: Extensive
Review: In the book, "Changes In The Land", by William Cronon; the author studied the ecology of New England from 1600-1800. This book was composed of a structure based mainly upon his research; which made his novel confusing because it was incredibly factual, and it had a thematic structure. His bibliography was extensive; but it contained much vulnerability since he appeared dreadfully biased towards some of the sources that he repeatedly used. Finally, his book seemed to be original in its field. "Changes In The Land" is a historical novel that reveals the ecology, anthropology, ethnography, history and theology of New England during colonization. William Cronon intended to give the reader a sense of how the new world was before and after the Europeans began to settle. He begins the book by decapitating how the New World was at the beginning of colonization: the fur trade, hunting and farming tactics, forestation and changes in animal and plant populations. He was very good at sticking to the same topic throughout his book since he spoke mainly about the ecology of the New World - and he kept the slave trade, military, political and philosophical history to a bare minimum. William Cronon's novel was based mainly on his research; it was incredibly factual, and it incorporated a sufficient amount of information to clearly understand the ecology of New England during this time period. Cronon used a variety of different methods to obtain his research: he walked the lands that he wrote about, looked at essays, diaries, records, speeches, constitutions and enactments. On the other hand, because his novel was almost mainly based on others work - it made his research more vulnerable to bewilderment. For an example, from page 117-120, he was talking about forestry, and in this instance, he had trouble staying on the same topic. All of the sources that he found on this topic were not interrelated because in a matter of three pages - he spoke about soil, wealth, law, boundaries, wood supply and uses of wood. This was one factor that made his novel difficult to comprehend; the fact that he only had a small amount of information on a topic, he would jump from one topic to another in order to try and complete a section of the book. Whereas, he should have just made his argument, and moved on to the next subject.
Another problem with Cronon's structure was that, because the sources of information repeatedly changed from one author to the next, the time period was distorted throughout the book. Since Cronon decided to separate each chapter of the novel based on ecological themes- the dates are not in chronological order. For an example, in chapter two `landscape and patchwork', he wrote about when colonists first began to settle in the New World, but there was a major problem with his findings, given that the information does not flow from one author to another based on dates. Cronon wrote about one author in 1543 (pg. 20) and then another in 1630 (pg. 22) and then back to 1524 (pg. 25). The sequence that he chose made it very difficult to make a story out of the `ecology' of the New World. The information was very jumbled due to the fact that there was no time line, which made the book difficult to follow. Cronon had well over a fifty page bibliography for his 241- page book. His bibliography was extensive and has a strong potential to lay a foundation for many other historical researchers to continue from where it left off. But, a problem with the bibliography was that the repetitive disclosures of possible inaccuracies might guide the reader to take Cronon's book less seriously, because they might assume that the information is invalid. First of all, Cronon did admit that he sided with one author over another "Dean R. Snow, is closest to my position" (194) or "I side with..." (194) He also admits that some authors might have exaggerated "Bennet's figures for corn's contribution to the Indian diet are probably exaggerated" (179). He also interprets what he `thinks' the author might have meant, "I have chosen to read his `cedar' as `white cedar' because doing so creates no real distortions in my characterization of the tree's habitat, but he may well have meant something else" (175)
A question for Cronon would be: Why did he incorporate these findings into his book when he was unsure of their reliability? For this reason, I have come to believe that Cronon did take a biased approach in regards to what information he added to his book. Overall, Cronon's biggest fault was that he came to conclusions way too soon. Cronon needed to accumulate sufficient evidence to make sure that his sources were valid, with modest amounts of bias. An author from the American Historical review stated, "He overshot his evidence in his unproven assertion that `few Indians....actually starved in pre-colonial times." "...Much less frequently than did early colonists" (Axtell, 40). Again this is an example of Cronon coming to a conclusion too soon before he attained sufficient evidence. One impressive element that this book had was the fact that the bibliography was designed to spur further research on the subject. After searching on the archives on www.amazon.com and carefully looking at his bibliography, it is almost clear to me that his work was original in its field. All of the books at Amazon.com that are close to his subject are all dated after he wrote his book, which was 1984. The bibliography also proved that Cronon had to search many different fields of study in order to come up with the information and incorporate it all together. Overall, this book did capture the ecology of New England during the period of colonization. The structure was confusing because it did not follow a chronological order and it was often jumbled with information. His bibliography was good in the sense that it would provide the reader with a source for doing extended research; but in another sense it showed a lot of the biases and problems that makes his work more erroneous. He needs to limit the biases towards some of the resources that were used, since he repeatedly used the same authors throughout the book, and he did not have many (if any) secondary sources to back up this information. For the most part, his work was original and since it was published, others have written books that are quite similar.
Rating:
Summary: From Forests and Freedom to "Fields and Fences"
Review: Make no mistake about it. An interdisciplinary interpretation of history is here to stay. Thanks to farsighted historians like Dr. William Cronon and his ethno-ecological study of New England, circa 1600 to1800, entitled Changes in the Land, an enlightening perception of colonial times in New England is depicted by a well-documented mix of anthropology, ecology, sociology, biology, and environmental history. The actual text of the book comprises 171 pages with no less than 35 pages of notes, and an innovative bibliographical essay encourages further study. Cronon clearly states his thesis and purpose for the book in the preface, "the shift from Indian to European dominance in New England entailed important changes" (vii). Cronon not only evaluates the reorganization of people but also stresses the effects of changes on the New England plant and animal populations. With political and military history kept to a minimum, an intriguing analysis compares the ecological histories of the New England Indians to the European settlers and reveals the resulting environmental alterations incurred. There were basic ethno-ecological differences between how both cultures viewed the earth. The New England Indians perceived the natural world with reciprocal sustenance (63) for 10,000 years (33), but the colonists envisioned commodities and wealth in what the earth could provide (75). Within the short period of two hundred years, the environment of New England could not sustain the few Indians who survived the diseases of the Europeans, because the land, plants, animals, and even the climate had changed (169).
These changes seemed very subtle at first. In order to trade for metal utensils, the Indians killed more and more beaver (83). In this way the Indians started to view nature, or their environment, as a commodity instead of a gift to be shared (92). Cronon does not assume that the Indians had no effect upon their native environment (viii) nor that the colonists came to a pristine wilderness (11). What Cronon does enumerate is how the two sets of ecological relationships, Indian and colonist, came to live upon the same land (15). Early in the affiliation, the European settlers came to disrespect the Indians, because although the Indians lived in a land overflowing with natural "wealth," the Indians looked like the poor back in Europe (54). Marshall Sahlins is quoted by Cronon, "there are in fact two ways to be rich, [. . .] Wants may be 'easily satisfied' either by producing much or desiring little" (79-80). The indigenous residents of New England desired little, while the European colonists seemed economically motivated to produce much from the land and introduced the Old World concepts of value and scarcity, using cost as the only constraint to consider (81) (168).
Unfortunately, neither the land nor the Indians could withstand the monumental alterations to come: an Indian "money" system in the form of wampum (97), epidemics which wiped out entire villages (85-90), the severe reduction in native animal populations (98-101), domesticated animals that grazed wildly on indigenous plants and even ocean clams (128-150), deforestation (109-126), the surface of the earth responding more drastically to climatic changes (122-123), flooding (124), the "drying up of streams and springs" (125), land ownership and pastoralism replacing shared land conservation (137-141), soil depletion (147-152), and the introduction of weeds and migrant pests (153-155). The New England landscape went from forests and freedom to "fields and fences" (156). This book vividly correlates the significant and divergent relationship between the New England Indians, the colonial settlers, and the environment they could no longer share. Changes in the Land by William Cronon, winner of the 1984 Francis Parkman Prize, serves as a fine academic example in cross-curricular historical documentation.
Rating:
Summary: New England, a tamed, emasculated country
Review: This is a ecological history of New England from 1633 to 1855. What began as heavily forested land abundant with wildlife, was slowly and inexorably domesticated and exploited. By the 1840s, Henry David Thoreau comments that New England is now a tamed, emasculated country. What would he think of New England today?
Rating:
Summary: Evocative descriptions of the early New England landscape
Review: This is a seminal history of the transition period between Native Americans and the colonists in New England and how it effected the land. It makes it easy to picture what walking through the woods and fields would be like in the 16th through 18th centuries. Even if this sounds boring -- it's not! It is sure to please anyone who loves the natural world and especially those who live in New England.
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