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 17
Page 6
... frontier, for instance—he found little about the lands he explored worthy of praise. Distant territories, he clearly believed, were of value for what they could yield to Europeans such as himself. These beliefs were of more than ...
... frontier, for instance—he found little about the lands he explored worthy of praise. Distant territories, he clearly believed, were of value for what they could yield to Europeans such as himself. These beliefs were of more than ...
Page 9
... frontier conflict or colonial war raged ; the bitter controversy surrounding the Great Awakening , that evangelical surge of the late 1730s and early 1740s , had passed ; and the economic and emo- tional disruptions brought by the ...
... frontier conflict or colonial war raged ; the bitter controversy surrounding the Great Awakening , that evangelical surge of the late 1730s and early 1740s , had passed ; and the economic and emo- tional disruptions brought by the ...
Page 13
... frontier town with all the hazards of life on the far periphery of European settlement . The town's local newspaper , the Connecticut Courant , was filled with re- ports of floods , lightning strikes , epidemics , and stray wildlife ...
... frontier town with all the hazards of life on the far periphery of European settlement . The town's local newspaper , the Connecticut Courant , was filled with re- ports of floods , lightning strikes , epidemics , and stray wildlife ...
Page 31
... frontier of Puri- tan New England. And with this migration came the displacement of the native communities and the game they hunted. By the time of Ledyard's arrival at Dartmouth, the lands between the Green Mountains to the west and ...
... frontier of Puri- tan New England. And with this migration came the displacement of the native communities and the game they hunted. By the time of Ledyard's arrival at Dartmouth, the lands between the Green Mountains to the west and ...
Page 44
... frontier life and the hardships of life at sea, this was to be an. The Resolution , sketched in pencil by John Webber , the expedition's official artist . British Library . Add . MS 17277.1 . Captain John Gore painted by John Webber ...
... frontier life and the hardships of life at sea, this was to be an. The Resolution , sketched in pencil by John Webber , the expedition's official artist . British Library . Add . MS 17277.1 . Captain John Gore painted by John Webber ...
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