{"product_id":"fur-fortune-and-empire-the-epic-history-of-the-fur-trade-in-america-9780393340020","title":"Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America","description":"As Henry Hudson sailed up the broad river that would one day bear his name, he grew concerned that his Dutch patrons would be disappointed in his failure to find the fabled route to the Orient. What became immediately apparent, however, from the Indians clad in deer skins and \"good furs\" was that Hudson had discovered something just as tantalizing.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e The news of Hudson's 1609 voyage to America ignited a fierce competition to lay claim to this uncharted continent, teeming with untapped natural resources. The result was the creation of an American fur trade, which fostered economic rivalries and fueled wars among the European powers, and later between the United States and Great Britain, as North America became a battleground for colonization and imperial aspirations.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e In \u003cem\u003eFur, Fortune, and Empire\u003c\/em\u003e, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin chronicles the rise and fall of the fur trade of old, when the rallying cry was \"get the furs while they last.\" Beavers, sea otters, and buffalos were slaughtered, used for their precious pelts that were tailored into extravagant hats, coats, and sleigh blankets. To read \u003cem\u003eFur, Fortune, and Empire\u003c\/em\u003e then is to understand how North America was explored, exploited, and settled, while its native Indians were alternately enriched and exploited by the trade. As Dolin demonstrates, fur, both an economic elixir and an agent of destruction, became inextricably linked to many key events in American history, including the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, as well as to the relentless pull of Manifest Destiny and the opening of the West.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e This work provides an international cast beyond the scope of any Hollywood epic, including Thomas Morton, the rabble-rouser who infuriated the Pilgrims by trading guns with the Indians; British explorer Captain James Cook, whose discovery in the Pacific Northwest helped launch America's China trade; Thomas Jefferson who dreamed of expanding the fur trade beyond the Mississippi; America's first multimillionaire John Jacob Astor, who built a fortune on a foundation of fur; and intrepid mountain men such as Kit Carson and Jedediah Smith, who sliced their way through an awe inspiring and unforgiving landscape, leaving behind a mythic legacy still resonates today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Concluding with the virtual extinction of the buffalo in the late 1800s, \u003cem\u003eFur, Fortune, and Empire\u003c\/em\u003e is an epic history that brings to vivid life three hundred years of the American experience, conclusively demonstrating that the fur trade played a seminal role in creating the nation we are today.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAbout the Author\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eDolin, Eric Jay:\u003c\/i\u003e\u003c\/b\u003e - \u003cstrong\u003eEric Jay Dolin\u003c\/strong\u003e is the author of fourteen books. His most recent is \u003cem\u003eA Furious Sky: The Five-Hundred-Year History of America's Hurricanes\u003c\/em\u003e, which received a number of accolades, including being chosen by the \u003cem\u003eWashington Post\u003c\/em\u003e as one of 50 Notable Works of Nonfiction in 2020, by \u003cem\u003eKirkus Reviews\u003c\/em\u003e as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2020 (in addition to being a \u003cem\u003eKirkus\u003c\/em\u003e Prize finalist), by the \u003cem\u003eLibrary Journal\u003c\/em\u003e and \u003cem\u003eBooklist\u003c\/em\u003e as one of the Best Science \u0026amp; Technology Books of 2020, and by the \u003cem\u003eNew York Times Book Review\u003c\/em\u003e as an Editor's Choice. Other books include \u003cem\u003eLeviathan: The History of Whaling in America\u003c\/em\u003e, which was chosen as one of the Best Nonfiction Books of 2007 by the \u003cem\u003eLos Angeles Times\u003c\/em\u003e and the \u003cem\u003eBoston Globe\u003c\/em\u003e, and also won the 2007 John Lyman Award for U.S. Maritime History; and \u003cem\u003eBlack Flags, Blue Waters: The Epic History of America's Most Notorious Pirates\u003c\/em\u003e, which was chosen as a Must-Read book for 2019 by the Massachusetts Center for the Book, and was a finalist for the 2019 Julia Ward Howe Award given by the Boston Author's Club. A graduate of Brown, Yale, and MIT, where he received his Ph.D. in environmental policy, Dolin lives in Marblehead, Massachusetts, with his family.","brand":"W. W. Norton \u0026 Company","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":50641666375954,"sku":"9780393340020","price":13.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0831\/4771\/8930\/files\/img_d20a6087-c771-4697-bc32-3e6a55f28dd1.jpg?v=1733028930","url":"https:\/\/surprise-castle.myshopify.com\/products\/fur-fortune-and-empire-the-epic-history-of-the-fur-trade-in-america-9780393340020","provider":"Surprise Castle","version":"1.0","type":"link"}