Nature's Metropolis Chicago And The Great West [Paperback]

This book is the story of Chicago's progress in the 19th century, the rough seduction of the hinterland, and how at its zenith the city ruled the commercial life of a vast inland region more completely and ruthlessly and profitably than any czar ruled Russia&A marvelous book.Thoroughly original&Illuminating&Brilliant.No one has ever written a better book about a city&No one has written about Chicago with more power, clarity and intelligence than Cronon.An intoxicating piece of scholarship and enterprise&It is really a work of biography: a look at the life of Chicago.Magnificent&the best work of economic and business history I've ever read.William Cronon challenges many of the conventions of both urban and western history in this pathbreaking book, and does so with unusual intelligence and elegance. More important, he helps lay the groundwork for a vital new field of scholarship: the history of the natural environment and its relationship to human society.A Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize and Winner of the Bancroft Prize. No one has written a better book about a city&