The Making of John Ledyard: Empire and Ambition in the Life of an Early American TravelerYale University Press, 1. okt 2008 - 224 pages During the course of his short but extraordinary life, John Ledyard (1751–1789) came in contact with some of the most remarkable figures of his era: the British explorer Captain James Cook, American financier Robert Morris, Revolutionary naval commander John Paul Jones, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and others. Ledyard lived and traveled in remarkable places as well, journeying from the New England backcountry to Tahiti, Hawaii, the American Northwest coast, Alaska, and the Russian Far East. In this engaging biography, the historian Edward Gray offers not only a full account of Ledyard’s eventful life but also an illuminating view of the late eighteenth-century world in which he lived. Ledyard was both a product of empire and an agent in its creation, Gray shows, and through this adventurer’s life it is possible to discern the many ways empire shaped the lives of nations, peoples, and individuals in the era of the American Revolution, the world’s first modern revolt against empire. |
From inside the book
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Page vi
... some middle altitude he hangs like a being indigenous to no sphere or unfit for any . -John Ledyard , A Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean ( 1783 ) contents Acknowledgments ix A Note on Quotations xiii Introduction ...
... some middle altitude he hangs like a being indigenous to no sphere or unfit for any . -John Ledyard , A Journal of Captain Cook's Last Voyage to the Pacific Ocean ( 1783 ) contents Acknowledgments ix A Note on Quotations xiii Introduction ...
Page 1
... Pacific . He carried a heavy overcoat , boots , and socks made from reindeer hide ; a fur cap ; and a pair of foxskin gloves lined with rabbit fur . He was penniless , expecting , as he had for most of his days , that friends and ...
... Pacific . He carried a heavy overcoat , boots , and socks made from reindeer hide ; a fur cap ; and a pair of foxskin gloves lined with rabbit fur . He was penniless , expecting , as he had for most of his days , that friends and ...
Page 2
... Pacific Ocean. His return to London in the spring of 1788 was nonetheless a happy occasion. The thirty-seven-year-old American traveler was greeted with news that a group of prominent British gentlemen had formed the Association for ...
... Pacific Ocean. His return to London in the spring of 1788 was nonetheless a happy occasion. The thirty-seven-year-old American traveler was greeted with news that a group of prominent British gentlemen had formed the Association for ...
Page 5
... Pacific expedition would never have happened had the Admiralty (the agency charged with protecting Britain's oceanic trade and overseeing all naval expeditions) not sought easier routes to the rich Pacific basin. And Ledyard's final two ...
... Pacific expedition would never have happened had the Admiralty (the agency charged with protecting Britain's oceanic trade and overseeing all naval expeditions) not sought easier routes to the rich Pacific basin. And Ledyard's final two ...
Page 6
... Pacific Northwest or the amazing nutritive properties of Hawaii's breadfruit trees. When such commodities appeared to be lacking—on Russia's eastern frontier, for instance—he found little about the lands he explored worthy of praise ...
... Pacific Northwest or the amazing nutritive properties of Hawaii's breadfruit trees. When such commodities appeared to be lacking—on Russia's eastern frontier, for instance—he found little about the lands he explored worthy of praise ...
Contents
1 | |
9 | |
23 | |
43 | |
IV Seeking Distinction with the Pen Aboard the Resolution | 69 |
V Following the Revolution Home | 83 |
VI From Author to Fur Trader | 101 |
VII Becoming a Traveler in Thomas Jeffersons Paris | 124 |
VIII Across the Russian Empire | 136 |
IX Despotism and Human Nature in Catherine IIs Russia | 153 |
X To Africa | 170 |
Memories of the Traveler | 186 |
Notes | 195 |
Index | 217 |
Other editions - View all
The Making of John Ledyard: Empire and Ambition in the Life of an Early ... Edward G. Gray No preview available - 2007 |
Common terms and phrases
Abigail aboard the Resolution Africa African Association appeared Banks Beaufoy Britain British Captain John Catherine chap character China colonial command Connecticut River Cook’s Cook's Last Voyage crew Dartmouth College death despotism Discovery eighteenth-century Eleazar Wheelock elite Empress England ethnic European expedition explained French frontier fur trade Hartford Hawaiian History human Ibid imperial Imperial Russia Irkutsk Islands Jared Sparks JCJC John Ledyard John Ledyard's Journey John Paul Jones Jones journal labor land letter Library London luxury marines merchants military moral Munford native nature naval navy never North America North Pacific northwest coast officers Pacific Ocean Palais Paris patrons perhaps political reprint returned revolutionary Russian Empire Russian Far East seemed Shelikov ships Siberia simply slavery slaves social Society South Squire John suggested Syphax Tahitian tattooed Thomas Jefferson tion Unalaska vessels Watrous West Whitman William writing Yakutsk yard York young