Exploration and Empire

Exploration and Empire

“The exploration of the American West,” writes William H. Goetzmann, “was never an isolated event. It belongs to world rather than to national history, and never more so than in the opening decades of the nineteenth century.” From the celebrated expedition of Captain Merriwether Lewis and Lieutenant William Clark to the rise of the conservation movement at the height of the Gilded Age, Exploration and Empire offers a sweeping and colorful account of the opening of the West and its impact on the world. Winner of both the 1967 Pulitzer Prize and the 1967 Parkman Prize from the Society of American Historians, this extraordinary book has long been regarded as a masterpiece of both scholarship and prose. Now, thanks to this exclusive new hardcover edition featuring a new introduction by author William H. Goetzmann, the History Book Club is proud to reintroduce our members to this essential classic. The Great American Desert Drawing on a wealth of research and materials, Goetzmann offers a penetrating three-part account of this fascinating era. The first phase, “Exploration and Empire: 1805-1845,” centers on the young republic’s quest for practical information and political capitol, including the discovery of trade and transportation routes and the drawing of national boundaries. Next, Goetzmann chronicles “The Great Reconnaissance and Manifest Destiny: 1845-1860,” a period of mass settlement and investment as Americans began enjoying the natural riches beyond the Mississippi. Finally, the third phase is “Exploration and the Great Surveys: 1860-1900,” a period of tremendous scientific accomplishment as botanists, geologists, and other researchers entered the “frontier laboratory,” permanently shaping both the landscape and culture of the American West. A national effort Furthermore, Goetzmann argues, there was nothing haphazard about any of it. In fact, the exploration of the West was the result of a series of carefully planned missions in which explorers, often armed with instructions from the federal government itself, pursued the national interests of our young republic. Lewis and Clark, for instance, were neither fur traders nor commercial agents. President Thomas Jefferson selected them precisely because of their military backgrounds and experience in frontier regions. “It was as carefully trained agents of a civilized and flexible culture,” Goetzmann writes, “that Lewis and Clark set out into the wilderness and injected the United States into the struggle for a national empire.” Impeccably researched and eloquently written, this award-winning volume remains one of the essential works on the history of America. 656 pages • 6" x 9" • 50 B&W Photos • Drawings and Prints • Maps • Index ABOUT THE AUTHOR: William H. Goetzmann is Jack S. Blanton Senior Professor of History and American Studies at the University of Texas at Austin. A recognized authority on the American West, Dr. Goetzmann won both the Pulitzer Prize and the Parkman Prize in 1967 for Exploration and Empire. His other books include Army Exploration in the American West, 1803-63 and, with Kay Sloan, Looking Far North: The Harriman Expedition to Alaska, 1899.

Hardcover: 704 pages

Publisher: Bookspan ( January 18, 2006 )

Item #: 88-8190

ISBN: 158288210X

Product Dimensions: 6.0 x 9.0 x 1.062 inches

Product Weight: 34.0 ounces