The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples by Tim Flannery

The Eternal Frontier: An Ecological History of North America and Its Peoples Reviews

• 
  Brian Griffith

  Flannery has become like a Carl Sagan for the world of environmental science. In this book he takes in the whole cosmos of the North American ecosystem, from dinosaur days, to the Native patterns of resource management, to the great Western ecocide frontier, until our present hour of furiously evolving co-dependence. While detailing the self-destructive exterminations of targeted species, with their blow-back to the whole chain of life, he notes a great change of heart that's taking hold in the popular mind. For example, by the early 20th century, the New York Zoological Society’s president, Henry Fairfield Osborn, could receive a respectful hearing for his seemingly anti-patriotic words: “Nowhere is Nature being destroyed so rapidly as in the United States … an earthly paradise is being turned into an earthly Hades; and it is not savages nor primitive men who are doing this, but men and women who boast of their civilization.”
• 
  Hundeschlitten

  I am conflicted about this book: the first 2/3, when Flannery discusses the ecological history of North America up until 1492, gets 5 stars in my book, while all the politically charged clap-trap in the final third would get 2 stars (and even there I am probably being generous).
  
  Flannery introduced a couple of interesting notions that I'd never really thought about:North America's inverted wedge exaggerates global temperature shifts, impacting the ecological history of this otherwise fertile continent for at least the last 65 million years; and the driving force behind human exploration for at least 13,000 years has been to sate our virtually unlimited lust as a carnivorous primate to kill other creatures. Flannery got me to think a bit more deeply about the middle American landscape, and that has made me love it all the more deeply.
  
  It is when Flannery starts talking about human societies that he loses me. Besides his selective use of facts to push all the obvious buttons about the evils of American capitalism that the well-kept show ponies in academia (like himself) love to push, Flannery's biological determinism may be trendy, but it is intellectually weak. Flannery's own oratory refutes his larger point in a single sentence: the most powerful force in literate societies is language, because "words-especially written words-bind us in a way nothing else can." Thus our ideas can override our biology. Hey dude, you just refuted your own argument. Game, set, match. Next subject.
  
  But I still give this 4 stars, because the first part of the book actually got me to look at the world in a new way. Which is no small thing.
• 
  Andrew

  I always like it when a text pertaining to history goes way, way beyond expectations in its scope – I loved ESPN's OJ Simpson: Made in America largely because the Big Thing doesn't happen until past the halfway point in the series. To understand the Simpson trial as a whole, you first have to know a lot about OJ Simpson himself, the Buffalo Bills, and the role of the black athlete in an era before the Georgetown Hoyas trimmed their jerseys with kente cloth. Likewise, to understand human history in North America, you have to understand quite a lot about the continent's geological, climatological, botanical, and zoological past.
  
  Now, I should point out that most of the stuff about post-1492 America was hardly new or surprising, as both an American and an environmentalist (whatever that means), but the way in which Flannery illustrates the geographic factors that shape the continent and its peoples are fascinating – even if I knew a fair bit already, he's a master storyteller.
• 
  Thomas

  It was tough reading the first half of the book, which was primarily a treatise on the various dinosaurs and megafauna that roamed over the N.A. land way back in time. The the humans show up, about 14,000 years ago. I really enjoyed reading about the ice age and imagined what it must have been like to have to deal with mastadons and mammoths, and gigantic lions. Things sort of deteriorate, as the Northeast is deforested, and then our forefathers turned to decimating the buffalo and the passenger pidgeons. The ecology of industrialization and the politics of farming made for more interesting lessons. All well written and engaging, and made me hungry to explore more about the history of the western US around California.
• 
  Rob Bauer

  This is an extended review of this quality book on the history of the North American continent.
  
  Strolling through the museum, you arrive at the newest exhibit, “America: 50 Million Years Ago.” Visitors finds themselves looking at unfamiliar creatures, things they would expect to find in a science-fiction or horror movie. The most feared carnivore is a flightless bird almost six feet tall with an ax-like beak that can swallow most American mammals whole. There are soft-shelled turtles with snouts like a pig, horses the size of a fox, and a shrew grown to the size of a cow. The early relatives of camels are hard to pick out, because they are the size of hare. At times, it looks as though the designers of this exhibit took known animals and rearranged their features like a kind of twisted Mr. Potato Head game.
  
  Descriptions of these unusual creatures are only one of the attractions of Tim Flannery’s book, The Eternal Frontier. An Australian, Flannery (not to be confused with the former San Diego Padres utility infielder) typically writes about ecology in his native land, but in The Eternal Frontier he ventures across the Pacific to look at the long-term history of the North American continent. In the process, he has written an engaging book full of insights into North America’s continental history that go beyond descriptions of long-extinct flora and fauna to discuss climate, ecology, population migrations, and eventually, humans.
  
  Flannery begins with a discussion of a North America divided into two parts, with a shallow intervening sea known as the Bearpaw. This description of ancient North America, 75 million years ago (MYA), quickly leads into the most devastating known event in world history, the collision of an asteroid with the earth about 65 MYA. With minor exceptions, this meteorite impact (in the present-day Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico) simultaneously ended the age of the dinosaurs in the northern hemisphere (because of the trajectory of the meteorite, the southern hemisphere largely escaped significant damage) and wiped away virtually all life from the North America landscape. Before shunting the dinosaurs aside, however, Flannery does note that their disappearance cleared the way for a heretofore little-noted group of creatures, the mammals. As long as dinosaurs ruled the earth, mammals were unable to evolve into anything larger than a house cat, despite about 100 million years of trying, but that was about to change.
  
  From this point, Flannery follows several main themes throughout The Eternal Frontier. One is the use of geologic evidence, or its lack, to infer important conclusions about the history of North America. For example, before the meteor impact, physical connections existed between all the continents, demonstrated by the fact that they shared many species of dinosaur and flowering plants. Another of the themes Flannery brings forward is how and why some species are successful when entering new habitats because many species did from time to time when changing climate created new land connections between continents. Again drawing evidence from the fossil record, he shows that when North America and Europe connected via Greenland about 46 MYA, the migration was definitely from North America to Europe. The reason? Species from the larger continent usually prevail in such situations because continents with a greater number of species have greater competition between species, and thus more pressure to evolve adaptations that aid in species survival. Another result is that when a bridge opened between Asia and North America about 6 MYA, Asian species crossed and many established themselves in their new home, meaning that roughly half of North American species were not American in origin, but migrants from Asia. Another of the factors contributing to successful species migrations is that those who have adapted to marginal or difficult environments stand the best chance of success.
  
  The final overarching theme of The Eternal Frontier is Flannery’s conception of the continent as a “climatic trumpet.” He demonstrates that due to the shape of North America, wide toward the North Pole and narrow at its southern terminus, with the Rocky and Appalachian Mountains creating a corridor through which most weather systems pass, it creates an amplifying effect continentally on global climate changes. This means that when an event effecting world climate takes place, such as the cooling episode brought on by Australia separating from Antarctica 33 MYA, North America magnifies the result, producing new conditions that result in extinction for some species and new opportunities for others. In general, the big-picture significance is that when the climate warms, life flourishes in North America, including pronounced species diversification; when things cool, the reverse occurs, and many species die out.
  
  Eventually, Flannery discusses the impact of humans on North American history. He sounds off on the cause of the Clovis extinctions, seeing strong evidence in support of humans being the primary cause. Flannery recognizes that this event, regardless of cause, is rather unique in North American history, but leaves no doubt about his feelings on the matter, coming up with the self-titled “black hole theory”: “If our current chronology is accurate and humans were indeed the cause of the extinctions of America’s megafauna, it had taken just 300 years to dispatch into oblivion, through the black hole that lay between Clovis nose and Clovis chin, a continent full of giants.” (204) Also, and perhaps not surprisingly for a book titled The Eternal Frontier, Flannery proves an enthusiastic supporter of Frederick Jackson Turner’s Frontier Hypothesis of American history. Flannery also sees the frontier attitude as important in another way. Recognizing the costs of the reckless use of natural resources in support of the capitalist economic system pursued throughout the American frontier, he points out that this attitude towards the frontier is alive and well today, with an “audacity and imbecility of which leaves one gasping for breath.” (302) The result is that “in the process, men blind to nature would blast marvels from the face of the Earth, destroying forever the best of America’s wildlife.” (312)
  
  There are many strengths to The Eternal Frontier. For one, Flannery’s style is easy to read, yet he still manages to explain evolutionary concepts clearly for the non-specialist. His description of how ecology, climate, and life interact is music to the ears of readers who appreciate a long-term view of history and ecology. The descriptions of the physical traits of long-extinct species, and how those traits connect with evolution and the surrounding environment, is both interesting and informative, if sometimes a bit short on detail due to the fragmentary evidence left by the fossil record. Some of the stories are entertaining, such as when 1870s archaeologists traveled up the Platte River under military escort to protect them from Sioux warriors, their party complete with Pawnee scouts and, for a time, Buffalo Bill Cody himself. Others are instructive, such as when Flannery recalls a dramatic warming episode of 50 MYA where, due to large concentrations of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, oceanic circulation changed and global temperatures rose substantially. Our current industrial society may want to take note.
  
  Despite the many strengths of this work, it could have been better on a few fronts. The most glaring issue is the endorsement of Turner’s hypothesis despite the large body of evidence pointing toward other explanations of American development. In addition, the description of the impacts of invasive species transported by humans lacked depth considering its current ecological importance in all regions of the continent. A description of the impact of zebra mussels or the destruction of San Francisco Bay’s native ecology would have been appropriate as a representative example. The final evaluation is that the first three quarters of the book are a delight to read, but in the final section discussing American history the reader should proceed with caution.
  
• 
  Paul Norwood

  An interesting overview of the continent. I found that the information was most interesting in the beginning, and became less and less compelling towards the end as the author's opinions became more and more entangled with the facts. This, of course, is unavoidable. Another unavoidable thing is that the book is starting to show its age, and this trend will only continue. I read this book in anticipation of reading "Europe" by the same author, and I am hoping to find some updates in there.
  
  Also, I first decided to read Tim Flannery's books because I read a well-written review by him in the New York Review of Books. This book is not as well-written as the review, but decent for a full-length tome of general nonfiction.
  
  His final ideas on rewilding are not something I espouse to the extend that he does, but I think they were at the forefront of something that is a tiny bit more mainstream now.
  
  Finally, perhaps because he is Australian and writing slightly in the past, the author's way to approach Native Americans is a bit cavalier. Overall it's a book worth reading, but not remarkable.
• 
  John Valett

  To fully understand the ecological crisis we are experiencing today, it is utterly important to understand what our world looked like in its “unspoiled” existence. Only then will we have a baseline of how much we have lost and what needs to be done to stop our steep descent. This book captures all of it, since the time of the dinosaurs and is critical to understanding the challenges we are up against today.
• 
  Joseph Gendron

  A monumental work of North American geography, the author describes million of years of evolution and change of flora, fauna and landscapes with a focus on the last 65 million years. He also describes the migration, evolution and change of the people inhabiting North America, the last of the continents to be inhabited by humans, beginning from around 13,000 years ago. Perspective: 13,000 years is 0.02% of 65 million years and 65 m.y. is 1.5% the age of the earth.
• 
  Bruce

  Most of the book is a solid but dry description of the floral/faunal history of N. America from about 65 mill. yrs. ago to the present. There is a lot of interesting information but the narration is poor; too much of this material reads something like "animal X migrated over pathway y to get to N. America z million years ago." The final 50 pages or so is a typical misplaced screed against the standard foe (hint: males of European ancestry) who have destroyed every aspect of N. America's ecology etc. Words from a single page: "rape", "extirpate", "stupid and unforgivable", "mindless development", "catastrophe", "culprits". I know the perpetrators were/are the devil incarnate, as I've read many times - I don't need to see this stuff any more. (Spraying vitriol is not the way to improve things.)
• 
  David Kessler

  Enjoyed the book very much. The ecology of N. America after the asteroid struck it 65 million yrs ago. What animals survived the blast and which animals emigrated on land bridges? The story of what plants and animals have and had lived in North America over this long expanse of time is based upon solid science: recent geology and 80 yrs of paeleantologists digging and digging in North America.
• 
  Michael Heath-Caldwell

  Tim Flannery's book "The Eternal Frontier" published 2001 shows how epochs fly as what was once the last super-power left standing suddenly finds itself with a lot of competition. So how would the book be revised for today, 18 years later?
  
  Flannery concentrates on the American sub-continents over the ages from the asteroid impact onwards, with the land subject to regular climates changes characterised by repeat Ice-Ages. This results in major changes in sea level creating land brideges allowing waves of animal species to spread accross.
  
  The fauna is characterised by Mega-Fauna, including Mammoths, but on the arrival of humans this Mega-fauna becomes extinct.
  
  Humans cause Mega-fauna extinctions such as Moas in NZ due to the Maori eating all the eggs. It was easy to shoo away the Moas from the nests with fire and noise. The same process would have applied to the Mammoth, with the hunters shooing away the adults mammoths and slaughtering the young ones.
  
  Flannery ponders the regularity of Ice-Ages as we watch the ticking time bomb of the Gulf Stream's waning tempurature differential from warm to cold, with the added dynamics of fresh water run-off, Polar heat waves and momentum creating graphs that intersect somewhere.
  
  The warning for us may be the healthy Mammoths, standing upright, in supposedly large numbers, in the middle of their lunch break on the savannah and thensnap frozen and embedded deep in the permafrost.
  
• 
  Cindy Dyson Eitelman

  Pretty darn sweeping account of North America--and a little of South America--from before birth to today with a bit of speculation about tomorrow. Cool stuff awaits.
  
  He goes into so much detail about so many things that I felt lost at times, and in some chapters he jumped from species to species so rapidly I felt really lost. Not that I expected this from him, but iti would be really interesting to read a book that went into great depth about all that is known of some of the prehistoric mammals--the horses, the sabre-toothed cat, the wooly mammoth, the short-faced bear....
  
  Also in his discussion of plants was just a jumping off place for a hundred explorations of individual plants and whole ecosystems. In fact, that may be what was lacking to make the story complete. To describe an ecosystem in a way you know it and feel it...wow. That would have made this an awfully big book and I would never have tried to read it. So never mind.
  
  It's best as it is. Sweeping, grand, and marvelous. It's a cool place we live in. Hope we can go on living here.
• 
  Anna Funk

  Good lawd this was hard to get through! Like more than a year of slogging, picking up, putting down, reading two pages a night before falling asleep. I think this content would've worked well in a textbook form-- smaller chunks, pictures, figures... but instead it's just text text text. The first 1/2 (or 2/3... or 4/5?) was particularly difficult, with lots of mentions of lots of of alien-sounding prehistoric animals that are nearly impossible to keep straight.
  
  It's saving grace was the last few chapters. Once you hit bison and other familiar, modern species, plus historic humans that allow for more narrative story-telling, things really pick up.
  
  This book is for real nerds only. If you only have a casual interest in the subject, skip to the end.
• 
  Chris Leuchtenburg

  Most of this book describes the animals in North America during the millions of years prior to the arrival of Europeans. It is a panorama of elephants, horses, hippos, enormous ground sloths, lions and unfamiliar reptiles. For me, there was much too much information to consume, and it was a lot of work to get the stunning overall picture.
  
  Unfortunately, the last 100 pages covering the last 500 years veers away from the natural world towards political and social events, much of which is unbalanced and better covered elsewhere. If I were advising a friend, I would recommend the book, but skip the last 100 pages.
• 
  Marta

  I had mixed feelings about this book. The title states that it's an ecological history of North America but right away the author states that it will focus on the U.S. since there is not enough information and research about Canada and Mexico. Don't include North America in the title if that's the case.
  
  Overall this is a very interesting read. Shines brightest when talking about animals, geology, fossil history, etc. Suffers when discussing humanoid history.
• 
  Sarah

  I really enjoyed the writing in this book. It started off a bit slow, delving deep into prehistory but it culminated in a well developed and interesting read that is relevant to conservation today. It was based in science but also speculative about possible theories behind ecological patterns. The author didn't indulge in patriotic reverence for any culture and was very honest about historical facts. It flowed well and was enjoyable and informative.
• 
  Laura McLain

  Excellent, sweeping look at North America from the Chicxulub asteroid to Hell pigs to the Clovis people to the Dust Bowl. Over 65 million years, there has been frequent species immigration and emigration across Beringia, Greenland, and (later) from South America. If you liked SAPIENS by Yuval Noah Harari, you’ll like this. I hope Tim Flannery updates a new edition.
• 
  Rodrigo Burgarelli

  Narrativa muito bem escrita sobre a história biológica e geográfica da América do Norte, desde a época dos dinossauros até os tempos pré-colombianos. Me ensinou bastante sobre as principais características ecológicas do continente e sobre a evolução das espécies de maneira aplicada. Meu sonho de vida é ler um livro igual sobre a América do Sul.
• 
  Marcus

  Quite profound romp through millions of years of North America's ecological history. Astounding changes, destruction and rebounds; poignant permanent losses of species are well written, and a grim if ever hopeful outlook for a conclusion.
• 
  Bruno Pauwels

  Het huidige Amerika lijkt in niets op wat het 'oorspronkelijk' was (zelfs niet als we maar teruggaan tot de tijd van de indianen).
  
  Welke tijdslijn gebruiken we, wanneer we nu bepalen welke planten of dieren exoten zijn?
• 
  Merrie

  I am hesitant to give this a 5 since I am not sure if the latest research disproves some of the theories in this book since 2 decades old, but really liked the writing and the deep dive into the history of flora and (mega)fauna of the continent.
• 
  Alex

  Supremely engaging, but such an overwhelming flood of information that I found my brain expelling factoids from prior chapters as quickly as it absorbed the new.
• 
  Ateeq Ahmad

  Beautifully written work as can be expected from this author.
• 
  Wanda Cooley

  This is an exciting and engaging book on a subject I knew little about. Gives a new perspective of the history and development of the U.S. and its people. Recommended.