The country versus city dichotomy is a central component of scholarship on environmental history and natural resources. Cronon’s book rests on identifying the obvious differences of these two locales while allowing their differences to serve as the chief reason they become so intricately intertwined. Towns and villages located in the country are often regarded as tributaries, feeding the larger populations with necessary natural resources for survival. It is no accident that a term associated with the natural development of a great river should be used to describe the rise of the great Chicago empire.

The city versus country theme, most obviously differentiated by population and commerce, is complicated by Cronon’s use of Central Place Theory and von Thünen’s related zoned landscapes. Central Place Theory, limited because of its lack of grounding in historical time and place, maintains that high ranking cities promoted growth of hinterland communities and dictated where the hinterland regions would be located. However, Cronon argues that these urban areas had already developed based on the growing industries in the East. The hinterland region, while impacted by the growth of the city, also controlled how much the city could develop and what goods it could produce.