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 31
Page 5
... sense, though, this gesture had the same function as the acquisition of expensive clothes. It defined Ledyard as a freeborn, independent gentleman, familiar with the most sophisticated thinking of the day and fully suited to the company ...
... sense, though, this gesture had the same function as the acquisition of expensive clothes. It defined Ledyard as a freeborn, independent gentleman, familiar with the most sophisticated thinking of the day and fully suited to the company ...
Page 6
... sense, em- pire was for Ledyard quite literally costume. It provided a crucial social currency for a striving eighteenth-century man.5 Empire also afforded Ledyard the frame through which he viewed the various peoples and places he went ...
... sense, em- pire was for Ledyard quite literally costume. It provided a crucial social currency for a striving eighteenth-century man.5 Empire also afforded Ledyard the frame through which he viewed the various peoples and places he went ...
Page 25
... sense of the common mind . And unlike the stoic Cato , he never denied his passions . They were part of his nature and thus part of his intelligence . Just as he was slave to no man , so he was no slave to cold reason . His intelligence ...
... sense of the common mind . And unlike the stoic Cato , he never denied his passions . They were part of his nature and thus part of his intelligence . Just as he was slave to no man , so he was no slave to cold reason . His intelligence ...
Page 31
... sense that some were born to cultivate themselves and some to cultivate the earth.13 Dartmouth College, with its spare facilities, its toiling students, and its remote location, might seem the ideal place for Ledyard to craft himself ...
... sense that some were born to cultivate themselves and some to cultivate the earth.13 Dartmouth College, with its spare facilities, its toiling students, and its remote location, might seem the ideal place for Ledyard to craft himself ...
Page 37
... sense to use that infrastructure to his advantage . After returning to Hartford , Ledyard displayed a similar resourceful- ness as he went about trying to salvage his reputation . He knew full well that much as the Connecticut River ...
... sense to use that infrastructure to his advantage . After returning to Hartford , Ledyard displayed a similar resourceful- ness as he went about trying to salvage his reputation . He knew full well that much as the Connecticut River ...
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