Nature’s Metropolis: Chicago and the Great West highlights Chicago’s influence on the development of the American West’s natural and economic landscape during the 19th century. Chicago provides a metropolitan vantage point to understanding the story of the western “frontier,” and by the second half of the 19th-century Americans viewed Chicago as the gateway to the West.

The 19th century witnessed the creation of major modern cities, rich farmland, improved transportation, and vast markets. However, deforestation, species extinction, exploitation of natural resources, and widespread destruction of natural habitat negatively impacted the environment. Many individuals fail to see the relationship between urban, rural, and wilderness areas, often treating them as uniquely separate landscapes. The city and the country share similar histories and should be unified into one narrative.

The book does not address traditional topics of an urban study, such as the growth of neighborhoods, treatment of sewage and water supply, social conflict, or actions of municipalities. Rather, the book is about commodities and how economic and ecological growth have impacted North America. Commodity markets are essential to the urban-rural narrative because so few other economic institutions have impacted human communities and natural ecosystems to the same degree.