In an era of grand risk, fur moguls vied to command Northwest and China markets, gambling lives and capital on the price of beaver pelts, purchases of ships and trade goods, international commerce laws, and the effects of war.

Born in 1833 at Fort Edmonton, Johnny Grant experienced and wrote about many historical events in the Canada-US northwest. Grant was not only a fur trader; he was instrumental in early ranching efforts in Montana and played a pivotal role in the Riel Resistance of 1869-70. Published in its entirety for the first time, Grant's memoir is an indispensable primary source for the shelves of fur trade and Métis historians.

A detailed look at the common characteristics found in most successful traders While there are a variety of approaches to trading in the financial markets, profitable traders tend to share similar underlying characteristics. Most have a methodology that they believe will prove profitable over the long run and are willing to endure short-term setbacks. If you're looking to make the most of your time in today's markets, you need to understand what separates the best from the rest. And with Trade Like a Casino, you'll gain the knowledge needed to excel at this challenging endeavor. Engaging and informative, this reliable guide identifies and explains the key techniques and mental processes characteristic of successful traders. It reveals that successful traders operate very much like a casino in that they develop a method that gives them "positive expectancy" and they unflappably implement the method in the face of changing, and oftentimes volatile, market conditions. Page by page, the book explores the intricacies of methodology, mental control, and flexibility that allow traders to develop and maintain the casino-like edge. Reveals how many successful traders tend to follow the same general principles, even if their approach to trading may differ Explores how to account for the risk of being wrong and the market moving against you Discusses how to develop an approach that combines trade selection with sound risk management, avoids emotional attachment to positions, exploits volatility cycles, and focuses on market action Regardless of how you approach markets, the insights found here will help improve the way you trade by putting you in a better position to distinguish the differences between successful and unsuccessful traders.

A Seattle Times selection for one of Best Non-Fiction Books of 2010 Winner of the New England Historial Association's 2010 James P. Hanlan Award Winner of the Outdoor Writers Association of America 2011 Excellence in Craft Award, Book Division, First Place "A compelling and well-annotated tale of greed, slaughter and geopolitics." —Los Angeles Times As Henry Hudson sailed up the broad river that would one day bear his name, he grew concerned that his Dutch patrons would be disappointed in his failure to find the fabled route to the Orient. What became immediately apparent, however, from the Indians clad in deer skins and "good furs" was that Hudson had discovered something just as tantalizing. The news of Hudson's 1609 voyage to America ignited a fierce competition to lay claim to this uncharted continent, teeming with untapped natural resources. The result was the creation of an American fur trade, which fostered economic rivalries and fueled wars among the European powers, and later between the United States and Great Britain, as North America became a battleground for colonization and imperial aspirations. In Fur, Fortune, and Empire, best-selling author Eric Jay Dolin chronicles the rise and fall of the fur trade of old, when the rallying cry was "get the furs while they last." Beavers, sea otters, and buffalos were slaughtered, used for their precious pelts that were tailored into extravagant hats, coats, and sleigh blankets. To read Fur, Fortune, and Empire then is to understand how North America was explored, exploited, and settled, while its native Indians were alternately enriched and exploited by the trade. As Dolin demonstrates, fur, both an economic elixir and an agent of destruction, became inextricably linked to many key events in American history, including the French and Indian War, the American Revolution, and the War of 1812, as well as to the relentless pull of Manifest Destiny and the opening of the West. This work provides an international cast beyond the scope of any Hollywood epic, including Thomas Morton, the rabble-rouser who infuriated the Pilgrims by trading guns with the Indians; British explorer Captain James Cook, whose discovery in the Pacific Northwest helped launch America's China trade; Thomas Jefferson who dreamed of expanding the fur trade beyond the Mississippi; America's first multimillionaire John Jacob Astor, who built a fortune on a foundation of fur; and intrepid mountain men such as Kit Carson and Jedediah Smith, who sliced their way through an awe inspiring and unforgiving landscape, leaving behind a mythic legacy still resonates today. Concluding with the virtual extinction of the buffalo in the late 1800s, Fur, Fortune, and Empire is an epic history that brings to vivid life three hundred years of the American experience, conclusively demonstrating that the fur trade played a seminal role in creating the nation we are today.

The driving concept of the book's analysis, whether global or regional, is to examine the pertinent international trade regulations in services in the light of the very special nature of gambling. --