Elusive Empires: Constructing Colonialism in the Ohio Valley, 1673–1800

by Eric Hinderaker

This book examines and compares the efforts of France, Britain, and the United States to extend imperial dominion over the Ohio Valley, focusing on the relations between Europeans and Indians to tell the story. In a compelling narrative, it considers the ways in which France and Great Britain each attempted to create viable empires in the region, the conflicts that resulted, and the origins and outcome of the American Revolution in the West. The result is a fascinating story that offers a strikingly new interpretation of the origins, progress, and effects of the American Revolution.

Genres: History, American History, Nonfiction, Native Americans

Paperback

First published January 28, 1997

Reviews

[Zachary Bennett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Eric Hinderaker provides a sweeping synthesis of the Ohio Valley during the long eighteenth century. Historiographically, his most significant intervention is in viewing empires "as cross-cultural constructions that were shaped by the opportunities, constraints, and crises facing the people who participated in them." Until the surge of American settlers, empires failed to exert their models of empire in the Ohio Valley on account of cultural differences with Indians on things such as the nature of prices and ownership. Hinderaker divides the book into three distinct eras. The first is characterized as an "empire of commerce," when Europeans focused on extracting resources through trade with Native People. This version of empire required a lot of accommodation with Native people and not a lot of power for Europeans. The second era beginning the mid 18th-century is an "empire of land" when European resource extraction strategies shift from trade to settler colonialism in an effort to more directly control the Ohio Valley. These projects sprouted on either end of the valley: the French in the Illinois country and the English in western Pennsylvania. Indigenous people sandwiched in between were able to successfully play each side off of the other. Finally, Americans are labeled as an "Empire of Liberty" that destroys previous imperial organizations which enable rapid colonial settlement at the expense of Native peoples. Distinct from the earlier manifestations of empire, the U.S. version introduced rigid racial distinctions that ended the era of hybridity and negotiation that preceded it. Readers will find that Elusive Empires is a good point of comparison to Richard White's earlier book The Middle Ground.