Response to Cronon

Cronon’s book, Changes in the Land, examined the ecological changes brought about in New England by the settlement of European colonists.  Cronon explained how the techniques utilized by the Indians and the colonists in relation to agricultural practices and other land uses impacted and forever changed the ecosystems of New England.  While mostly critical of the colonists’ mentality and their subsequent practices for these changes, he also laid the blame at the feet of the Indians.

Regarding a comparison of Cronon’s rhetoric to that of Prescott and Bloch in relation to land usage, from my perspective there seemed to be little similarity.  While Prescott did describe the natural features of Mexico in the time of the Aztecs and Cortes, his work seemed more concerned with how the land facilitated the conquest of Mexico than the impact on the environment.  Moreover, Prescott had never been to Mexico, whereas Cronon had spent considerable time studying the ecosystem of New England.  Prescott being a contemporary of Thoreau spoke of the natural environment in much the same way.  As for Bloch, he also spoke to the landscape of Europe during the post-Roman and feudal periods.  In addition, he recognized the natural landscape as it related to the lords and vassals, even discussing the presence of wolves and bears in cultivated fields and the need for hunting.  However, Bloch’s goal was to examine the relationship and development of the social aspects of the feudal system and while this involved descriptions of humans and their environment, the impact on the natural resources of Europe was not his main concern.

According to John Demos in his Forward, Cronon’s work “is the definition of a foundational work” (p. xi), implying that this book was at the beginning of the environmental history movement.  To me it certainly seemed to span the bridge between cultural and natural history in a way that I had not experienced before.  As with many of the books we have read in this class, Cronon’s book struck a familiar tone.  I found it especially interesting that in our modern world, we are currently in an environmental turning point.  In my everyday life, I am dealing with issues like managed hunts, stormwater management, invasive plants, animal and insect pests, and meadow and forest management.  It was interesting to read about these problems from a historical perspective.  While the goals of people have changed dramatically, the problems associated with humans and their interaction with nature have changed little.