Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire

At its best, this book is a close examination of an enigmatic figure who deserves to be better remembered. At its worst, it has a certain prefunctory quality to it. These extremes roughly coincide with Fremont the explorer versus Fremont in his roles as military officer, politician and businessman. One could say that Fremont's real talents as an expedition leader and scientist allowed him to rise to the level where his incapacity to be an organization man was exposed. Still, if nothing else, Chaffin does do a good job of putting Fremont in context as an American conquistador.

3869. Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire, by Tom Chaffin (read 21 Mar 2004) This 2002 biography of the famed explorer and the first (in 1856) Republican presidential candidate is well-done and tells the story of his life well. He made four or more expeditions in the West and they were tough trips. This book tells the story of those trips well, though I was not too interested in them. The account of how California came to be in the US is told in more detail than I have ever read before, and was interest-holding. This is a good book, especially the part covering his life from 1849 on.