The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism
A masterly and beautifully written account of the impact of Alexander von Humboldt on nineteenth-century American history and culture

The naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) achieved unparalleled fame in his own time. Today, however, he and his enormous legacy to American thought are virtually unknown. In The Humboldt Current, Aaron Sachs traces Humboldt's pervasive influence on American history through examining the work of four explorers—J. N. Reynolds, Clarence King, George Wallace, and John Muir—who embraced Humboldt's idea of a "chain of connection" uniting all peoples and all environments. A skillful blend of narrative and interpretation that also discusses Humboldt's influence on Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, Melville, and Poe, The Humboldt Current offers a colorful, passionate, and superbly written reinterpretation of nineteenth-century American history.
"1111518290"
The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism
A masterly and beautifully written account of the impact of Alexander von Humboldt on nineteenth-century American history and culture

The naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) achieved unparalleled fame in his own time. Today, however, he and his enormous legacy to American thought are virtually unknown. In The Humboldt Current, Aaron Sachs traces Humboldt's pervasive influence on American history through examining the work of four explorers—J. N. Reynolds, Clarence King, George Wallace, and John Muir—who embraced Humboldt's idea of a "chain of connection" uniting all peoples and all environments. A skillful blend of narrative and interpretation that also discusses Humboldt's influence on Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, Melville, and Poe, The Humboldt Current offers a colorful, passionate, and superbly written reinterpretation of nineteenth-century American history.
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The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism

The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism

by Aaron Sachs
The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism

The Humboldt Current: Nineteenth-Century Exploration and the Roots of American Environmentalism

by Aaron Sachs

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Overview

A masterly and beautifully written account of the impact of Alexander von Humboldt on nineteenth-century American history and culture

The naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) achieved unparalleled fame in his own time. Today, however, he and his enormous legacy to American thought are virtually unknown. In The Humboldt Current, Aaron Sachs traces Humboldt's pervasive influence on American history through examining the work of four explorers—J. N. Reynolds, Clarence King, George Wallace, and John Muir—who embraced Humboldt's idea of a "chain of connection" uniting all peoples and all environments. A skillful blend of narrative and interpretation that also discusses Humboldt's influence on Emerson, Whitman, Thoreau, Melville, and Poe, The Humboldt Current offers a colorful, passionate, and superbly written reinterpretation of nineteenth-century American history.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781101201619
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date: 07/31/2007
Sold by: Penguin Group
Format: eBook
Pages: 512
File size: 3 MB
Age Range: 18 Years

About the Author

Aaron Sachs is a professor of history and American studies at Cornell University and an award-winning environmental journalist. This is his first book.

Table of Contents


List of Images     xiii
Prologue: Humboldt in America: 1804-2004     1
"The Chain of Connection"     8
Excursion-Exile: Napoleon's France     37
Part 1
East: Humboldt and the Influence of Europe
Personal Narrative of a Journey: Radical Romanticism     41
Cosmos: Unification Ecology     73
Excursion-Eureka: The Death of Edgar Allan Poe     109
Part 2
South: J. N. Reynolds and the "More Comprehensive Promise" of the Antarctic
"Rough Notes of Rough Adventures": Exploration for Exploration's Sake     115
"Mocha-Dick": The Value of Mental Expansion     143
Excursion-Watersheds: 1859-1862     177
Part 3
West: Clarence King's Experience of the Frontier
Mountaineering in the Sierra Nevada: The Art of Self-Exposure     185
"Catastrophism and the Evolution of Environment": A Science of Humility     229
Excursion-Yreka: Just North of Mount Shasta     267
Part 4
North: George Wallace Melville and John Muir in Extremis
In the Lena Delta: Arctic Tragedy and American Imperialism     273
The Cruise of the Corwin: Nature, Natives, Nation     305
Excursion-Home: The Harriman Expedition     333
The Grounding of American Environmentalism     338
Epilogue: Humboldt on Chimborazo     355
Acknowledgments     359
Chronology     369
Notes     375
Bibliography     447
Image Credits     473
Index     477
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