NAPLES, Fla., Jan. 20, 2003 (PRIMEZONE) -- "The Taming of the Wilderness" by Leon Hesser (now available through 1stBooks Library) describes the process of transforming the flora and fauna of 19th-century Indiana from hunting grounds of Native Americans to commercial agriculture and its supporting industry. The book is in three parts:
1800-1825: Living with the Wilderness; subsistence living under primitive conditions;
1825-1850: Bridling the Wilderness; canals and steamboats facilitate trade; and
1850-1875: A Wilderness Vanquished; railroads dramatically change farming and the environment.
A dominant theme portrays the fate of Native Americans who were pushed out of their sacred lands by coercion and brute force so the settlers could remake the landscape to their own liking.
Leon Hesser animates the story with personal experiences of genuine pioneer families. The book reads like a novel. It gives the reader a feeling of having been there and experienced the drudgery as well as the joys of taming the wilderness.
Hesser earned a Ph.D. in agricultural economics at Purdue University. He then spearheaded programs to increase food production in twenty nations in Asia, Africa, Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. In each he strove to improve production technologies and groped with the environmental issues and social implications of change.
A score of the author's direct ancestors were pioneers who participated in the transformation of Indiana's landscape in the nineteenth century from a dense pristine wilderness to commercial agriculture.
Hesser blends his rich experience in international agricultural and economic development with the well-documented personal experiences of his ancestors and their colleagues to bring life to the fascinating story: "The Taming of the Wilderness."
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