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The entirety of the Roman Empire has always been an interest of mine, and I love seeing it being referenced. And in this case, Cronon referenced writers speaking of “Chicago as ‘the Rome that is to be of the new world’ or ‘the Rome of the railroads,’ they were reaching for a metaphor that lent their city the grandeur of past urban empires” (p 42). The city was so focused on the fame they would receive from their advancements in technology resembling Rome, that they didn’t worry about other aspects, like corruption, that also lead to the fall of Rome. Although Chicago isn’t an empire and conquering other lands, it grew through the expansion of railroads, attempting to take as much space as it could. But then again the colonization is pretty much the same thing. However, what was more important was they tried becoming the known central city, the city known for its achievements without any considerations for what could go wrong. With no thought of what it was doing to the nature, the health of its citizens, and the future of the land plowed to ground becoming infertile. It shows that we need to look into the past and make considerations to what we want to achieve today and onward. In @mvanderdussen they mention the importance of “allowing historians to gain a better understanding of history, and helps continue to encourage historical research and debate, helping to maintain the discipline as a whole.” We can learn about what we need to avoid or encourage to make a better tomorrow through the achievements and failures of our pasts through the history of Chicago and other empires/states/cities in the world.
