Expansion Books

In the historical profession the term "Presentism" denotes writing a history book or article using the values of the present to judge the events of the past. For instance, apologists for the Confederacy--called neo-Confederates--have attempted to rewrite Civil War history. They attempt to prove--from their modern perspective--that slavery was wrong and had nothing to do with the outbreak of the Civil War because the "noble" leaders of the Confederacy could not have fought for so evil a cause. Much better to claim that they fought for states rights. Similar attitudes damn Presidents Washington and Jefferson for holding slaves despite the fact that abolition was an idea that had barely appeared in the American consciousness of their time. Similarly, other "presentists" damn the whites for taking land from the Indians at a time when taking land from aboriginal inhabitants any where in the world was then the norm. One wonders what sins our generation will be condemned for two or three centuries in the future because we did not have the wisdom to see that far ahead.

In this vein, R.C. Gordon-McCutchan, as editor of "Kit Carson: Indian Fighter or Indian Killer" has collected essays from modern scholars who have done their best to place Carson in his correct time and place. In short these authors have tried to let Carson live by the standards of the mid-19th Century rather than those of the 20th (the book was published in 1996).

Carson lived in a time and place where, since 1607, the Navajo raided first the Spanish, then Mexicans and finally the Americans. During this long period the Navajo also raided the resident Hopi, Pueblo, and Zuni, whose urban-agricultureal life produced a wealth worth stealing. There is some irony in the fact that both the archaeological and historical evidence clearly shows the Navajo were themselves invaders of the area.

The Americans were simply another group to raid as were any other non Navajos of the area. Kit Carson, as a man of the 19th Century, was in reality just carrying on an established pattern, and he did it, according to the research in this book, in a remarkably--for the time-- humane manner. The Navajo rendidtions of his cruelty are mainly, according to this book, legends that were spawned in the 1970 through the 1990s. They were not part of the Navajo opinion of the 1860s,

Timothy R. Roberts Ph.D (Univesity of Missouri 1976)

this is a history of a great woman; Olimpya's son was her creation, and she was the terrific one, the queen who made herself myth. We must to read this absolutly charming book. Hope that be in english soon...

This is a wonderful book.The War is reviewed by the warriors, wise men and tribe members.To see it through their eyes plus the scholarship of the author is really amazing. Someone once said that history is always written by the victors, but the honesty and balance of this book belies that.
Jerome A. Greene is a splendid writer and historian and has added an excellent volume to the canon of books already published on the subject. Thanks Amazon for making my aware of its existence.

I have been teaching for seventeen years, and this is the most treasured teaching resource I have. You can tell that it is written by a fellow teacher, a real professional. The format is very straightforward, no glitz, just black and white lists. Ms. Bush has compiled valuable lists of homophones, homographs, analogies (categorized by the words' relationships), inferences, idioms (organized by subject), and a multitude of other things. Before each list Ms. Bush gives you suggestions for how to use the list. Ms. Bush saves you hours of brainstorming time. You don't have to scratch your head trying to come up with lists of words on your own or trying to generate examples. The lists and activities help teachers with oral and written language development. I would imagine that it would be most helpful for elementary school teachers and those who work with second language learners. Again, it is not a "shiny" book, but it is a supremely practical and user-friendly resource.

This wonderful, 84 page chapter book is an excellent way to get American history into your children. It's easy to read, easy to understand, and your children will find it entertaining as well as informative. They will learn about Thomas Jefferson, Napoleon Bonaparte, Robert Livingston, James Monroe, Meriwether Lewis, William Clark, Sacagawea, and their respective roles in purchasing and exploring the Louisiana Purchase. Black and white illustrations are included throughout the book to help them visualize the events. It's so good, you'll want to read it yourself and learn what you didn't learn in school! I recommend using it for family reading times for K-6th grade.

This is one of the best books about ancient Macedonia , if not the best. It is probably the first time we have a book based on solid archaeological evidence. It is a fantastic reference for everyone who wishes to study the life of this ancient Greek kingdom.
Highly recommended.

In this classic work, the author traces American expansionism back to the Louisiana Purchase of 1804. The notion of Manifest Destiny itself dates from the 1840's and America's designs on Mexico and its territories. Essentially, Manifest Destiny expresses a doctrine of territorial expansion that is predetermined by some fateful American attribute of one kind or another. Weinberg's book is particularly valuable for both its historical account and its analytic understanding of America's missionary zeal.

Early on, expansionists saw the Hand of God behind America's civilizing mission. Other rationales emerged over the decades, including extension of political liberties to benighted peoples and/or making use of unused land. In Weinberg's view, the Founding Fathers tended to be anti-expansionist, believing that the natural lights of liberty would transmit infectiously, producing liberation movements in neighboring lands. Later on, such optimism receded, leaving a surrounding vacuum for the young Republic to fill which it often did with a vengeance.

As Weinberg points out, anti-expansionist sentiments have historically competed with their opposite, making unabashed expansion difficult to implement as national policy. Moreover, the desirability of expansion beyond culturally similar lands into foreign tongues and alien ways, such as Mexico's, has caused historical rifts within the expansionist camp, which by no means speaks with a single voice.

Writing in the 1920's and under the influence of the anti-expansionist President Wilson, Weinberg appears to believe expansionist designs along with Manifest Destiny have passed from the American scene. Presumably he would have found a home in the similarly deluded Kennedy administration. Though Weinberg records several glimpses of financial imperialism or "neo-colonialism", the author appears to equate overseas expansion with the presence of occupying military forces - a fatal mistake for assessing 20th century expansionist modes. Despite serious ideological shortcomings, the book remains both factual and informative of the early stages of American expansion, and well worth the read.

This is first class historical writing. Greenberg focuses on the 1840's to 50s, between the war on Mexico and the Civil war, when the nation had achieved its coast to coast "manifest destiny", but was torn over the next directions for growth. She explores the lively contention between visions of manhood and national success, between "restrained men" and "militant men" through every kind of public and private writing of the time. She follows the adventures of "filibuster" men, devoted to leading privateer expeditions to push open new frontieres for American civilization in Latin America or the Pacific. As she quotes the New York Herald in 1847, "Like the Sabine virgins, she [Mexico] will soon learn to love her ravisher." And the Democratic Review boasted in the late 1850s, "in no part of the world nor in any age, are the traits of a conquering and a dominant people to be found in greater perfection than among ourselves". Such views clash with other visions -- of professional family men or activist women -- creating a fine drama that echoes down the decades of American history to the present time.

Matt Field, a middling actor down on his luck, sickly, rejected twice by two different women when he proposed marriage, decided in 1839 to take a trip to Santa Fe with one of the trading caravans headed to that city from Independence, Missouri. Accompanied by a few friends, he steamboated from St. Louis to Independence, where in July he joined a small (18 men) caravan and set out across the plains. Going through Council Grove on to Bent's Fort, he continued over Raton Pass after which he left the main caravan and followed a trail to Taos and then down to Santa Fe. Thoroughly enjoying his stay in Santa Fe, but fearing a winter crossing of the plains, he left the capital late in September, took the Cimarron Cutoff, and made it back to Independence by the last day in October.

Fortunately for posterity, Field kept a journal of his trip, which is included here; he was also later hired by the New Orleans Picayune to write a number of articles based on his travels and experiences (they also are included here and make up the main portion of the book). A budding poet as well as an actor, Field turned his outward-bound journal into a long epic poem (the return leg remained in typical diary form). Though his poetic skills are not very good, this poem remains a unique document in the annals of western literature. The newspaper articles are another matter; they are superbly written and fascinating to read. The articles were meant to entertain readers, and hearsay and embellishment abound, but their bases are in fact and in what Field experienced. Everything seemed to be worthy of his attention and subsequent relating, from sights along the trail to humorous anecdotes related to him by others he met along the way. There is the obligatory grizzly bear story and thunderstorm-on-the-prairie story, but also more personal items such as a funeral in Taos and a wedding in Santa Fe. The articles ran for two years in the Picayune and as they still do today must have brought much enthusiasm to their first readers. The trade along the Santa Fe Trail was in decline by 1839, and to have Field's first-hand impressions of what it was like then is remarkable. It's among the half-dozen most important original works regarding the trail and the trade and the people who were involved with both, and it's a delight to read. Highly recommended.

This book is basically in two parts: the first is a listing of all 51 men associated with the L & C expedition and their biographies (most are very short since little or nothing could be learned about them); the second, and much longer part, is a reproduction of those sections in the Journals that mention specific men and their roles. Clarke believes that "as the men are rather lost in the maze of descriptive matter found [in the Journals], the aim of this condensation is to bring them back into sight." He has therefore culled the original journals, not only of Lewis and Clark, but also of Gass, Ordway, Floyd, and Whitehouse, seeking out the names and activities of the expedition's members. It's an interesting approach to the records of the expedition: in studying the original journals with all their mention of miles traveled, campsite locations, weather highlights, etc., it's easy to forget that it's a body of men who are performing this monumental task of exploration. Jefferson wanted the diarists to record "the facts"; this account adds the human element to those facts. A most interesting book.