Creatures of Empire: How Domestic Animals Transformed Early America

Humans are so arrogant that they write histories -- and current events-- as if they alone are responsible for what happens. They ignore the incredible contributions that dogs, and later, horses, have made to the sweep of history. Without them, history as we know it, wouldn't have occurred. That is easy enough to prove, but this book considers other animals as well, such as cattle and pigs. I was astonished to discover that so much of the colonists' and later Americans' treatment of Native Americans hinged upon the differing attitudes of each culture to domesticated animals. Also, Native Americans were often displaced because of the settlers' needs for grazing their herds. This book is very interesting and provides an original perspective on the settlement of The New World and its concomitant destruction of the Native peoples that the Europeans found here.

One would not think that domestic animals would have played such a major role in the early development of our young nation but the author documents convincingly on how that actually occurred. A highly informative historical text on the development of early America and how livestock affected early European-Native American relations and our early local political structures.

Remarkable tale of the stunning impact of pigs, cows, and horses on the cultures, people, and environments of the New World.

arrived in fine shape

Things you never knew, especially in this much detail. Long but interesting read. A side of American history they don't teach in school.

I really enjoyed reading this book. I have read a fair amount of history books that outline the things that men (and women) have to done to either advance the cause of man or destroy all hope. But, this book provides an inside look at the domesticated animals that,inadvertently, helped the early English colonists to over-run and compromise the lifestyle of the natives Americans.I respect the research and the writing in this book. The examples given are both plausible and easily understood.

Hard to put down. The author really researched this book. It gives you a whole new slant on the 1600s. The differences between New England and the Chesapeake were brought out in length. We started lieing to the natives long before the mid-1800s.

The author tends to be a bit repetitious, but the subject matter is interesting for anyone interested in the early colonial period, particularly the relationship between white colonists and Native Americans.