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Land use, environment and social change. The shaping of Island county, Washington
316
REVIEWS
attitudes expressed in literary sources and towards the study of behaviour, of concrete interactions in all their intricate detail. A focus on attitudes so revealed tends to homogenize both interactions and participants. In fact, however, they were sharply variable and it is largely through the analysis of variations in behaviour within different contexts that we will be able to appreciate what specific Indians and particular Europeans thought about each other. RUSSELL R. MENARD
University of Minnesota WHITE, Land Use, Environment County, Washington (Seattle and London:
RICHARD
xi+234.
and Social Change. The Shaping of Island
University
of Washington
Press, 1980. Pp.
$12.95)
Richard White refers to his study of Camano and Widby Islands in Western Washington as environmental history. Geographers might be more apt to say that he has portrayed the history of a landscape, for the influence of Carl Sauer and the Berkeley School’s approach to landscape reconstruction is clearly apparent in his book. But White goes beyond this approach by devoting more attention to the complexities of different forms of social organization, their ideologies and technologies, and their impact upon the environment. In his introductory chapter, the author examines the natural environment of the islands, whisking us through 25,000 years of history from their glacial origins to the arrival of the Salish Indians in about A.D. 1300. Next he examines how the Salish modified the islands’ ecosystem over five hundred years in their quest for favoured varieties of crops and game. Yet, to the Europeans who arrived in the mid-nineteenth century the islands appeared to be virgin land. This was merely the first in a series of misconceptions by the settlers about the nature of the islands’ environment. By the 1850s they had seized the islands against little opposition from an Indian population decimated by diseases brought by the Europeans. Force and guile merely completed the destruction of a social system which disease had rendered helpless. This change in occupancy ushered in changes in the ecosystem. The settlers introduced European crops and animals into an environment which they thought was highly fertile. By the end of the century due to a series of miscalculations, coupled with outside pressures, the islands were no longer profitable agriculturally. Not only had the Salish ecosystem been disrupted but it had been replaced by one which was unstable. The northern European vision of the rational farm had come up against the harsh reality of the islands’ physical geography. As early as the 1860s logging was a major part of the economy. Again White shows in fascinating detail the intimate links between a social system, its technology, and an ecological system. He demonstrates that economic competition and American Law actually encouraged deforestation, So long as bull teams were used in logging change was slow in coming, but once a new technology in the form of the donkey engine was introduced at the turn of the century, the commercial forests were soon exhausted. The new technology left a forest of alder and spruce that was unprofitable to log; the former forests of cedar and fir were not reseeded because of the American belief that the progression from forest to farms was both natural and good. This thinking, which had dominated American settlement in general, manifested itself clearly in the 1930s when the back to the land movement ushered in a wave of settlement on to the cutover lands. Boosters, land companies, and settlers alike failed to realize that this land was unsuitable for farming. But again, a harsh reality prevailed: by the Second World War the land’s poverty was apparent to all and it was abandoned. During the 193Os, when the islands were connected to the mainland by a bridge, boosters began to promote the islands as a tourist paradise. Scenery became a commodity to be sold to the residents of nearby cities, and for the first time conservation of the “natural” environment became a policy. But again this use created an unstable
REVIEWS
317
ecosystem, first by conflicting with the interests of those farmers who remained in the still fertile meadow areas, and second, by pressures on the area caused by its very success as a tourist attraction. This, as White points out, is the ultimate and continuing irony of the settlers’ misuse of the islands: even their attempt to let the islands appear “natural” reflects contemporary American attitudes towards nature and ultimately renders the ecosystem unstable. This skilful interweaving of a social and an ecological system stands as a model for cultural geographers. The University of British Columbia
JAMES S. DUNCAN
Other studies FRANK CROWLEY, Colonial Australia 287.5-1900 (West Melbourne : Thomas Nelson Australia. A Documentary History of Australia, vol. 3, 1980. Pp. xxis645. A$25*00)
This volume is the third in a series of five that collectively present a documentary history of Australia from 1788 to 1970. A sixth volume covering the period from 1970 is in preparation. The expressed aim is to provide a synoptic view of Australian history by highlighting the main aspects of each period through a concern with economics, society and culture as well as with government and politics. Each volume is made up of approximately 500 documents organized under 350 or so topic headings presented in chronological order. Each entry is prefaced by an explanatory note which places the individual offerings within a broader framework and each volume is supported by a comprehensive index. The period from 1875 to 1900 is a fascinating one in Australian history. Self-governing colonies were able to place their own individual imprint on economic growth, the main outlines of agricultural land use were determined for much of the continent, cities grew apace and industrial activities became more clearly defined in terms of type and location. The themes of conflict and unity were also important with, for example, divisive debates over sectarian issues, Chinese immigration and employer-employee relations, contrasting with the unifying effects of improved communications and the growing sense of national identity that led to the federation debates of the 1890s. Crowley captures all of these themes and many more: there are accounts of the last major land explorations and the death of the last Tasmanian aboriginal in the early years of the period; the emergence of a feeling of nationhood through such avenues as sport and participation in the Boer War; and finally the announcement, on 30th December 1900, of the ministers to serve in the first federal government. The documents chosen achieve a neat balance between the literary, the statistical, the descriptive, the analytical and even the frivolous. The book makes for interesting reading in that most of the excerpts are lively, and their relevance to the themes pursued is supported by the explanatory notes. These notes in themselves are fine examples of compressed historiography and could form the basis for an excellent concise history of the period without any reference to the documents at all. The book presents a vivid summary of the period and will become a useful reference volume for students and teachers of history, as undoubtedly will the other volumes in the series. Undoubtedly too, the volume will be used by historical geographers. Although some of the themes may not be of direct geographic interest, many certainly are and Crowley’s selection includes much more material on, for example, urban and industrial growth and the daily lives of ordinary people than did Manning Clark in his collection, Select Documents in Australian History 1851-1900, published in 1955. In one respect however, Clark’s volume is preferred. Crowley, in adhering to a strictly chronological presentation, is able to show what changes occurred through time, but at the expense of a systematic treatment of the themes that he wishes to highlight. Consequently, although the reader is left with some appreciation of the changes that took
REVIEWS
attitudes expressed in literary sources and towards the study of behaviour, of concrete interactions in all their intricate detail. A focus on attitudes so revealed tends to homogenize both interactions and participants. In fact, however, they were sharply variable and it is largely through the analysis of variations in behaviour within different contexts that we will be able to appreciate what specific Indians and particular Europeans thought about each other. RUSSELL R. MENARD
University of Minnesota WHITE, Land Use, Environment County, Washington (Seattle and London:
RICHARD
xi+234.
and Social Change. The Shaping of Island
University
of Washington
Press, 1980. Pp.
$12.95)
Richard White refers to his study of Camano and Widby Islands in Western Washington as environmental history. Geographers might be more apt to say that he has portrayed the history of a landscape, for the influence of Carl Sauer and the Berkeley School’s approach to landscape reconstruction is clearly apparent in his book. But White goes beyond this approach by devoting more attention to the complexities of different forms of social organization, their ideologies and technologies, and their impact upon the environment. In his introductory chapter, the author examines the natural environment of the islands, whisking us through 25,000 years of history from their glacial origins to the arrival of the Salish Indians in about A.D. 1300. Next he examines how the Salish modified the islands’ ecosystem over five hundred years in their quest for favoured varieties of crops and game. Yet, to the Europeans who arrived in the mid-nineteenth century the islands appeared to be virgin land. This was merely the first in a series of misconceptions by the settlers about the nature of the islands’ environment. By the 1850s they had seized the islands against little opposition from an Indian population decimated by diseases brought by the Europeans. Force and guile merely completed the destruction of a social system which disease had rendered helpless. This change in occupancy ushered in changes in the ecosystem. The settlers introduced European crops and animals into an environment which they thought was highly fertile. By the end of the century due to a series of miscalculations, coupled with outside pressures, the islands were no longer profitable agriculturally. Not only had the Salish ecosystem been disrupted but it had been replaced by one which was unstable. The northern European vision of the rational farm had come up against the harsh reality of the islands’ physical geography. As early as the 1860s logging was a major part of the economy. Again White shows in fascinating detail the intimate links between a social system, its technology, and an ecological system. He demonstrates that economic competition and American Law actually encouraged deforestation, So long as bull teams were used in logging change was slow in coming, but once a new technology in the form of the donkey engine was introduced at the turn of the century, the commercial forests were soon exhausted. The new technology left a forest of alder and spruce that was unprofitable to log; the former forests of cedar and fir were not reseeded because of the American belief that the progression from forest to farms was both natural and good. This thinking, which had dominated American settlement in general, manifested itself clearly in the 1930s when the back to the land movement ushered in a wave of settlement on to the cutover lands. Boosters, land companies, and settlers alike failed to realize that this land was unsuitable for farming. But again, a harsh reality prevailed: by the Second World War the land’s poverty was apparent to all and it was abandoned. During the 193Os, when the islands were connected to the mainland by a bridge, boosters began to promote the islands as a tourist paradise. Scenery became a commodity to be sold to the residents of nearby cities, and for the first time conservation of the “natural” environment became a policy. But again this use created an unstable
REVIEWS
317
ecosystem, first by conflicting with the interests of those farmers who remained in the still fertile meadow areas, and second, by pressures on the area caused by its very success as a tourist attraction. This, as White points out, is the ultimate and continuing irony of the settlers’ misuse of the islands: even their attempt to let the islands appear “natural” reflects contemporary American attitudes towards nature and ultimately renders the ecosystem unstable. This skilful interweaving of a social and an ecological system stands as a model for cultural geographers. The University of British Columbia
JAMES S. DUNCAN
Other studies FRANK CROWLEY, Colonial Australia 287.5-1900 (West Melbourne : Thomas Nelson Australia. A Documentary History of Australia, vol. 3, 1980. Pp. xxis645. A$25*00)
This volume is the third in a series of five that collectively present a documentary history of Australia from 1788 to 1970. A sixth volume covering the period from 1970 is in preparation. The expressed aim is to provide a synoptic view of Australian history by highlighting the main aspects of each period through a concern with economics, society and culture as well as with government and politics. Each volume is made up of approximately 500 documents organized under 350 or so topic headings presented in chronological order. Each entry is prefaced by an explanatory note which places the individual offerings within a broader framework and each volume is supported by a comprehensive index. The period from 1875 to 1900 is a fascinating one in Australian history. Self-governing colonies were able to place their own individual imprint on economic growth, the main outlines of agricultural land use were determined for much of the continent, cities grew apace and industrial activities became more clearly defined in terms of type and location. The themes of conflict and unity were also important with, for example, divisive debates over sectarian issues, Chinese immigration and employer-employee relations, contrasting with the unifying effects of improved communications and the growing sense of national identity that led to the federation debates of the 1890s. Crowley captures all of these themes and many more: there are accounts of the last major land explorations and the death of the last Tasmanian aboriginal in the early years of the period; the emergence of a feeling of nationhood through such avenues as sport and participation in the Boer War; and finally the announcement, on 30th December 1900, of the ministers to serve in the first federal government. The documents chosen achieve a neat balance between the literary, the statistical, the descriptive, the analytical and even the frivolous. The book makes for interesting reading in that most of the excerpts are lively, and their relevance to the themes pursued is supported by the explanatory notes. These notes in themselves are fine examples of compressed historiography and could form the basis for an excellent concise history of the period without any reference to the documents at all. The book presents a vivid summary of the period and will become a useful reference volume for students and teachers of history, as undoubtedly will the other volumes in the series. Undoubtedly too, the volume will be used by historical geographers. Although some of the themes may not be of direct geographic interest, many certainly are and Crowley’s selection includes much more material on, for example, urban and industrial growth and the daily lives of ordinary people than did Manning Clark in his collection, Select Documents in Australian History 1851-1900, published in 1955. In one respect however, Clark’s volume is preferred. Crowley, in adhering to a strictly chronological presentation, is able to show what changes occurred through time, but at the expense of a systematic treatment of the themes that he wishes to highlight. Consequently, although the reader is left with some appreciation of the changes that took