Post Seven: Colony and Empire

The big thing that struck me while reading Colony and Empire, was that it stated its main theme - that the West was primarily influenced by capitalistic forces - many times to the point of redundancy. This thematic drum dept beating throughout the book, but especially during the Preface and the first chapter. I believe that economic forces supplied by Eastern and foreign capital were at work to shape industry and the settlement patterns of the West in the latter half of the 19th century. However in Colony and Empire William Robbins seems to overstate the obvious. He also went to lengths to critique other Historian's works especially in the first chapter. While acknowledging those who debunk the Western exceptionalist myth, he puts those on notice who either omit or do not emphasize enough the capitalistic influences in the American West as if this was the supreme issue for Western History to embrace.

Robbins writing style was also more difficult to read especially when compared to last week's reading by Elliot West. Robbins' use of esoteric and conceptual language contrasts to a more simple and direct style of writing found in Elliot West and other writers we've encountered such as Steven Lubet and Patricia Nelson Limerick. I did encounter several incomplete sentences including the one that opened Chapter Four. I'm not a writing expert but I did find the read more difficult than others we've encountered in this course. Perhaps its because the other writers we've encountered were so exceptional that William Robbins stands out more against their writing styles.

William Robbins does depart from this stiff writing style and his use of esoteric language further into his book. During his stories on James Jerome Hill of the Great Northern Railroad and the logging and timber industry in Everett Washington his writing becomes more engaging and easier to read. Within the context of the economic and capitalistic influences in the American West, Robbins puts forth many examples. He asserts that capital investment from Western Europe primarily from Britain fuels the mining industry in the American West. (p 87) He also demonstrates that global prices on raw materials from the West contribute to a boom and bust local economy that often devastates communities. Robbins agrees with Patricia Limerick with respect to the federal government taking land from the Indians as an "act of a victorious aggressor dictating settlements to a subjugated people". (p65) With respect to Mexicans and Mexican Americans, he does make the argument that it was the erection of capital infrastructure that eroded tradition culture on both sides of the U.S. Border citing the mining industry in Sonora and the emerging commercial farm system in the lower Rio Grande Valley. (p36) Many of these assertions and others are backed up by other works referenced in the footnotes. However it would have been more persuasive if he walked us through some of the local historical narratives such as the revolutionary reactions to capitalistic influences in the commercial farms of the lower Rio Grande. He does this in the later chapters of the book using local history narratives of the mining and timber industries of the Northern West for example.