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Vol. XXX, No. 2 141 The discussion covers eleven chapters based primarily upon historic periods. While economics appears to be the theme, the roles of local society and individuals are stressed. Most importantly, the comparison and contrast of the cities during each period allow the reader to come to a better understanding of the options available and the significance of the paths chosen. As a result, the book becomes more than a history of four cities as the reader is led to an understanding ofthe urban process in the region during the late 19th century. This book is many things, but readers must bring their own geographic perspectives with them. The maps are basic, the photographs familiar, and the spatial discussions and comparisons few and far between . There are bits and pieces of historical geography, but that is not this volume's forte. The book's geographic contribution emanates from its premise. By comparing and contrasting two pairs of cities, the author inadvertently demonstrates why historical geography flourishes, in spite ofthe continued growth of geographical history. Don't despair, however; this is a good book. It is worth reading, and it will make important contributions to an understanding of this crucial part of the region's history. Richard Pillsbury, Department of Geography, Georgia State University, Atlanta , GA 30303. The American Backwoods Frontier: An Ethnic and Ecological Interpretation . Terry G. Jordan and Matti Kaups. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1989. xiii, 360 pp., photographs, illustrations, maps, tables, bibliography, index. $36.00 (ISBN 0-8018-3686-7) The American Rackwoods Frontier is organized into ten chapters: two place the problem in the context of culture history and theory, and the other chapters discuss Finnish culture, backwoods society, farming, log construction, folk architecture, hunting and gathering, and frontier expansion. The authors present the thesis that Finnish colonial immigrants at the colony of New Sweden played a highly significant role in shaping America's frontier culture. Although the Germans and Scotch- 142Southeastern Geographer Irish have been seen as the primary sources of this culture, the influence of New Sweden settlers on at least some aspects of it is not an entirely new idea. This book, however, has much more supporting material from field and library research than anyone has assembled previously . Jordan and Kaups argue that the frontier culture was shaped from 1640 to 1680 in the core area of southeastern Pennsylvania and adjacent Delaware and New Jersey. From there it diffused through much of what has been called the Upland South. In contrast to the English in the Tidewater and New England and the French, Dutch, and Spanish, who were unfamiliar with forest living, these Midland settlers were culturally suited to occupy the wooded interior. Diffusion and cultural ecology combine to explain why they dominated the frontier and whence came the skills that made them so successful. The authors hypothesize that settlers from a non-specialized culture in a stressful marginal environment with physiological and biological diversity, such as the fringes of the European core in northern Europe, would be the most adaptive in successful forest pioneering. Ethnic Finns, especially the eastern Finns of Karelian and Savoan background, who made up a substantial part of the population in the colony of New Sweden, were the most significant group shaping the American backwoods way of life. The Finns were preadapted to forest life through "their individualistic tradition of diversifying selection" and their basic similarity in lifestyle to that of the Delaware Indians who provided them knowledge ofthe local environment. The essential elements of the settlement system, therefore , were well established in the Midland core before the arrival of the Scotch-Irish, who were ignorant of many or most of these vital characteristics . They borrowed the colonization system but themselves contributed few traits of any adaptive significance. The Finnish-Indian clearing and farming system allowed a rapid advance of the American frontier, opening the way for secondary settlers. As Scotch-Irish pioneers carried this system into virgin forests, a secondary wave of farmers represented by the Germans occupied the old fields with an intensive agriculture that included stump removal, fertilization , plowing, and permanent occupation. The immigrants from the European Germanic core region were not capable...

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