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 39
Page 3
... political events of his age helps to explain how it was that he became so well known . He died before the spirit of party enveloped American life , and he spent most of his adulthood abroad , beyond the gaze of equally ambitious ...
... political events of his age helps to explain how it was that he became so well known . He died before the spirit of party enveloped American life , and he spent most of his adulthood abroad , beyond the gaze of equally ambitious ...
Page 4
... politicians and academics. “Fame from them bestowed . . . is closely allied to a well done from God.”3 That Ledyard endured brutal discomfort and much personal peril, only to die an early death, was a testament to just how seriously he ...
... politicians and academics. “Fame from them bestowed . . . is closely allied to a well done from God.”3 That Ledyard endured brutal discomfort and much personal peril, only to die an early death, was a testament to just how seriously he ...
Page 7
... 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 Ledyard's death in early 1789 he still lived in a world dominated by ...
... 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 Ledyard's death in early 1789 he still lived in a world dominated by ...
Page 8
... politics of empire . The second discusses the ways Ledyard reconciled the moral failings of the Russian Empire with his own more hopeful vision of empire . Insofar as Ledyard came to embody the republican values of his revolutionary ...
... politics of empire . The second discusses the ways Ledyard reconciled the moral failings of the Russian Empire with his own more hopeful vision of empire . Insofar as Ledyard came to embody the republican values of his revolutionary ...
Page 11
... political influence in London that kept the British government busy protecting the Atlantic trade . The coastal trade would never make Captain John wealthy , at least not in comparison to the wealthiest merchants of New England ...
... political influence in London that kept the British government busy protecting the Atlantic trade . The coastal trade would never make Captain John wealthy , at least not in comparison to the wealthiest merchants of New England ...
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