I have watched the first few episodes of "Frontier" and an intrigued by the Dynamics between the Hudson bay company, the French, and the native American tribes. Can someone recommend a good cook covering the history during this area focusing on the fur trade?
I sure can!
Fur, Fortune, and Empire: The Epic History of the Fur Trade in America, Eric Jay Dolin, W.W. Norton & Co (2010) does a great job at answering questions you never knew you wanted to ask about the origin, establishment, and progression of fur trading.
If there were two things that defined the Puritans of Plymouth, as noted by previous historians, it was the "Bible and the Beaver." But even earlier "explorers" with no interest in cartography or named rivers for their endeavors sought out the absolute frontier in search of fuzzy gold - the thick fur pelts of cooler climate animals. Many of these traders were the first to enter Native lands in North America, providing essential knowledge to both European and Native people. Dolin does a wonderful job of setting the stage by explaining why this trade was poised to flourish and how it became an empire building commodity. He explains the early traders acting alone, the colonial efforts to profit from the trade, the western expansion into fresh lands, the involvement and creation of major trading companies, and then caps it all with details about the ending of the era (which happened well after America was independent). It works chronologically and has a nice rhythm and flow, and I found it to be a fascinating read. That said, I also read a six volume biography (at well over 3000 pages) on one man - and loved every minute of it. So if you're into it it's cool, and if you're not into it, well, pobody's nerfect, I guess. Stop reading this and go read that. Or listen to it; you may find it as an audio book on some providers. 8/10, definitely recommend.