A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America
by Jon Kukla
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Publisher's description: The remarkable story of the land purchase that doubled the size of our young nation, set the stage for its expansion across the continent, and confronted Americans with new challenges of ethnic and religious diversity. In a saga that stretches from Paris and Madrid to Haiti, Virginia, New York, and New Orleans, Jon Kukla shows how rivalries over the Mississippi River and its vast watershed brought France, Spain, Great Britain, and the United States to the brink of show more war and shaped the destiny of the new American republic. We encounter American leaders--Jefferson and Jay, Monroe and Pickering among them--clashing over the opening of the West and its implications for sectional balance of power. We see these disagreements nearly derailing the Constitutional Convention of 1787 and spawning a series of separatist conspiracies long before the dispute over slavery in the territory set the stage for the Missouri Compromise and the Civil War. Kukla makes it clear that as the French Revolution and Napoleon's empire-building rocked the Atlantic community, Spain's New World empire grew increasingly vulnerable to American and European rivals. Jefferson hoped to take Spain's territories--piece by piece, --while Napoleon schemed to reestablish a French colonial empire in the Caribbean and North America. Interweaving the stories of ordinary settlers and imperial decision-makers, Kukla depicts a world of revolutionary intrigue that transformed a small and precarious union into a world power--all without bloodshed and for about four cents an acre. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
Excellent story about something we Americans all know of but don't really know at all. So many parts in motion, so many players, and praise to those that saw this moment in time coming. Great addition to the story of the beginnings of the USA. Thanks to the author for putting this together.
The fascinating story of how the young United States got the Louisiana Purchase. There is a lot of detail in this book, but it is written in an enjoyable style.
3837. A Wilderness So Immense: The Louisiana Purchase and the Destiny of America, by Jon Kukla (read 24 Dec 2003) Since this is the bicentennial of the Louisiana Purchase, and since this book's main title is so attractive, (on a par with other books whose titles compelled me to read them: They Shoot Horses, Don't They? read 9 April 1952; I Came Out of the 18th Century, read 3 Feb 1979; Right Hand, Glove Uplifted, read 30 June 1983; I, Too, Have Lived in Arcadia, read 26 Feb 1987; What Me Befell, read 24 Feb 2001; and Keep the Aspidistra Flying, read 2 April 2002) I thought it appropriate to read it. It started slow but when the book got into the negotiations leading up to the Purchase it became awesomely interesting--so much so that I show more had to keep reminding myself that it all turns out well since here I am in Iowa and an American citizen! I was surprised by how much I enjoyed this book--maybe early American history is just naturally fun. show less
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Best U.S. History Books (1754-1828)
363 works; 18 members
Author Information
10+ Works 589 Members
Jon Kukla has directed research and publishing at the Library of Virginia and directed the Historic New Orleans Collection and the Red Hill-The Patrick Henry National Memorial in Charlotte County, Virginia. He is the author of two previous books, as well as many scholarly articles and reviews. He lives and writes in Richmond.
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 2003
- Epigraph
- Will republicans, who glory in their sacred regard to the rights of human nature, purchase an immense wilderness for the purpose of cultivating it with the labor of slaves?
- The Balance and Columbian Repository... (show all), September 20, 1803
Louisiana is ours! If we rightly improve the heaven sent boon, we may be as great, and as happy a nation, as any on which the sun has ever shone. The establishment of independence, and of our present constitution, are prio... (show all)r; both in time and importance; but with these two exceptions, the acquisition of Louisiana, is the greatest political blessing ever conferred on these states.
- Dr. David Ramsay, May 12, 1804
No event in all Amerian history - not the Civil War, nor the Declaration of Independence, nor even the signing of the Constitution - was more important.- Bernard DeVoto, March 21, 1953 - Dedication
- For Amy, for Jennifer, and for Elizabeth
- First words
- (Prologue) In the pine woods of northern Minnesota, about one hundred eighty miles inland from Lake Superior and the port of Duluth, the Mississippi River begins its winding journey of 2,552 miles from Lake Itasca to the Gulf... (show all) of Mexico.
The skies over Paris were cloudy on Wednesday, January 25, 1786, and the early morning temperature was 42 degrees in the courtyard of the elegant new mansion, the Hotel de Langeac, at the corner of the Champs-Elysees and rue ... (show all)de Berri just inside the western wall of the city. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Within a year, in 1820, the American debate over slavery focused on the admission of Missouri as a slave state - as the immediate aftermath of the Louisiana Purchase led the nation inexorably toward the Civil War.
(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)(Epilogue) And perhaps the most fascinating part of the story of the Louisiana Purchase - the destiny of America - remains farther downstream. - Blurbers
- Appleby, Joyce; Abbot, W.W.
Classifications
- Genres
- History, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction
- DDC/MDS
- 973.4 — History & geography History of North America United States Constitutional period (1789-1809)
- LCC
- E333 .K85 — History of the United States United States Revolution to the Civil War, 1775/1783-1861 By period 1789-1809. Constitutional period Jefferson's administrations, 1801-1809 Purchase of Louisiana, 1803
- BISAC
Statistics
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- 318
- Popularity
- 99,865
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 2
