The New World-this empty land dazzlingly rich in forests, soils,
rainfall, and mineral wealth-was to represent a new beginning for
civilized humanity. Unfortunately, even the best of the European settles
had a stronger eye for conquest than for justice. Natives were in the
way-surplus people who must be literally displaced. Now, as ecologist
Wes Jackson points out, descendants of those early beneficiaries of
conquest find themselves the displaced persons, forced to vacated the
family farmsteads