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In 1800 there were 30 million bison in America; only a thousand were left a
century later—an ecological disaster caused by the white settlers’ greed,
as everybody knows. Andrew Isenberg’s The Destruction of the Bison
reveals a more complicated story. The introduction of the horse made hunting
easier for Indians than their earlier method of hunting on foot. Drought and the
herds’ retreat across the plains before oncoming pioneers and their
livestock were two among many other factors. Isenberg tells a fascinating
tale, not least that of the bison’s last-minute preservation. Published by
Cambridge University Press, £24.95, ISBN 0521771722.…