Faith Britton
HIST-1301
July 9th, 2023
Book Critique: Changes in the Land
After reading the preface of Changes in the Land, Cronon makes a central assertion that
European colonization had a large influence on the New England environment. Cronon writes in
the preface, “Much of this book is devoted to evaluating the changing circumstances of such
things as pine trees, pigs, beavers, soils, fields of corn, forest watersheds, and other elements of
the New England landscape. My thesis is simple: the shift from Indian to European dominance in
New England entailed important changes…” (Cronon Preface XV). Cronon mentions the region’s
plant and animal communities as one of the many things that will be discussed in his book.
Cronon writes about a man, Henry David Thoreau, who wrote in his journal “...the ways in
which his Concord home had been altered by more that two centuries of Europeans settlement.”
(Cronon 3). In his journal Thoreau compared the current New England landscape to the writings
of William Wood’s book New England’s Prospect, in which Wood recounted his 1633 voyage to
New England. In Thoreau’s journal he wrote that “When I consider that the nobler animals have
been exterminated here, - the cougar, panther, lynx, wolverine, wolf, bear, moose, deer, the
beaver, the turkey, etc., - I cannot but feel as if I lived in a tamed, and, as it were, emasculated
country.” (Cronon 4). In chapter 7 Cronon writes about the colonist’s battle with native predators,
like wolves. Native wolves were attacking livestock and the colony suffered from it, they
countered the wolf threat in different ways. The most common was to offer a bounty for the head
of a wolf. This had drawbacks though as some hunters would kill wolves far from the towns to
receive the bounty. Thoreau mentions other stark differences in the current state of New England
versus the New England that Wood wrote about in his book.
Cronon also writes on how, “New England forests had been much more extensive and
their trees larger in 1633.” (Cronon 4). This was because England was in a fuel crisis in the time of
the English settlers arriving to New England. Cronon writes the words of an Englishman, Francis
Higginson, who spoke on how important the trees were to the new settlers. Higginson said,
“Through it be here somewhat cold in the winter, yet here we have plenty of fire to warm us, and
that a great deal cheaper than they sell billets in London: nay, all Europe is not able to afford so
great fires as New England. A poor servant here that is to possess but 50 acres of land, may afford
to give more wood for timber and fire as good as the world yields, then many noble men in
England can afford to do.” (Cronon 25). Many colonists began chopping at the abundance of trees
to the point that, “At a number of sites, trees were entirely absent.” (Cronon 26).
Throughout the book Cronon gives many examples of ways that New England has been
changed by European settlers, which I believe successfully proves his assertions from the preface
of the book. Cronon speaks on the overhunting of native wildlife and the other harvesting of trees
which leads to visual differences that are written about in Henry David Thoreau’s journal. Cronon
also discusses the impact of excessive hunting and the fur trade, which led to the decline and
extinction of some animal species. In conclusion, based on the evidence and arguments Cronon
presents in Changes in the Land, I would argue that Cronon successfully proves the assertion of
the significant influence European colonizers had on the New England environment.
Works Cited
Cronon, William. Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England.
Hill and Wang, 2003.