Name: Zebulon Pike, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West, Paperback/Matthew L. Harris
Brand: University of Oklahoma Press
Price: 175.99 RON
Availability: InStock

Descriere & specificații

In life and in death, fame and glory eluded Zebulon Montgomery Pike (1779-1813). The ambitious young military officer and explorer, best known for a mountain peak that he neither scaled nor named, was destined to live in the shadows of more famous contemporaries--explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark. This collection of thought-provoking essays rescues Pike from his undeserved obscurity. It does so by providing a nuanced assessment of Pike and his actions within the larger context of American imperial ambition in the time of Jefferson. Pike's accomplishments as an explorer and mapmaker and as a soldier during the War of 1812 has been tainted by his alleged connection to Aaron Burr's conspiracy to separate the trans-Appalachian region from the United States. For two hundred years historians have debated whether Pike was an explorer or a spy, whether he knew about the Burr Conspiracy or was just a loyal foot soldier. This book moves beyond that controversy to offer new scholarly perspectives on Pike's career. The essayists--all prominent historians of the American West--examine Pike's expeditions and writings, which provided an image of the Southwest that would shape American culture for decades. John Logan Allen explores Pike's contributions to science and cartography; James P. Ronda and Leo E. Oliva address his relationships with Native peoples and Spanish officials; Jay H. Buckley chronicles Pike's life and compares Pike to other Jeffersonian explorers; Jared Orsi dis