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
Results 1-5 of 53
Page vii
... Colonial Childhood 9 II On Stage at Dartmouth College 23 III Serving Captain Cook with Honor 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 ...
... Colonial Childhood 9 II On Stage at Dartmouth College 23 III Serving Captain Cook with Honor 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 ...
Page 5
... colony of Connecticut. His family was dependent on the British West Indies trade. His working life began aboard a merchant vessel plying the British Atlantic triangle trade. And his career as traveler and explorer was inseparable from ...
... colony of Connecticut. His family was dependent on the British West Indies trade. His working life began aboard a merchant vessel plying the British Atlantic triangle trade. And his career as traveler and explorer was inseparable from ...
Page 6
... colonial project of his own. Although he is best known as a lone traveler, his solo travels consumed only the last two years of his life. Prior to this, he had spent five years attempting to capitalize on his years as a marine corporal ...
... colonial project of his own. Although he is best known as a lone traveler, his solo travels consumed only the last two years of his life. Prior to this, he had spent five years attempting to capitalize on his years as a marine corporal ...
Page 7
... colony - mother country relationship or in their rejection of the political institutions that sustained that relation- ship — they did not , of course , destroy it . For momentum is a powerful force in history , and at the time of ...
... colony - mother country relationship or in their rejection of the political institutions that sustained that relation- ship — they did not , of course , destroy it . For momentum is a powerful force in history , and at the time of ...
Page 8
... hopeful vision of empire . Insofar as Ledyard came to embody the republican values of his revolutionary countrymen , it was a result of this struggle . CHAPTER I A Colonial Childhood JOHN LEDYARD was born in 8 INTRODUCTION.
... hopeful vision of empire . Insofar as Ledyard came to embody the republican values of his revolutionary countrymen , it was a result of this struggle . CHAPTER I A Colonial Childhood JOHN LEDYARD was born in 8 INTRODUCTION.
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