Jeffersons America, Julie M. Fenster
Jeffersons America, Julie M. Fenster
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Jefferson's America
The President, the Purchase, and the Explorers Who Transformed a Nation

Author: Julie M. Fenster

Narrator: John Pruden

Unabridged: 12 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 05/10/2016

Synopsis

At the dawn of the 19th century the stakes for American expansion were incalculably high. Even after the purchase of the Louisiana Territory, Spain coveted that land and sought to retain it. With war expected at any moment, Jefferson played a game of strategy, putting on the ground the only Americans he could: a cadre of explorers who finally annexed it through courageous exploration.

President Jefferson most famously recruited Meriwether Lewis and William Clark, but at the same time other teams did the same work in places where it was even more crucial. William Dunbar, George Hunter, Thomas Freeman, Peter Custis, and Zebulon Pike were all dispatched on urgent missions to map the frontier and keep a steady correspondence with Washington about their findings.

They weren't always well-matched—with each other and certainly not with a Spanish army of a thousand soldiers or more. These tensions threatened to undermine Jefferson's goals for the country, leaving the United States in danger of losing its foothold in the West. Jefferson's America rediscovers the robust and often harrowing action from these seminal expeditions and illuminates the president's vision for a continental America.

About Julie M. Fenster

Julie M. Fenster is an award-winning author and historian, specializing in the American story. In 2006 her book Parish Priest, written with coauthor Douglas Brinkley, was a New York Times bestseller for seven weeks. She also wrote Ether Day: The Strange Tale of America's Greatest Medical Discovery and the Haunted Men Who Made It, which won the prestigious Anesthesia Foundation Award for Best Book. Fenster is the author of six other books, including Race of the Century: The Heroic True Story of the 1908 New York to Paris Auto Race and The Case of Abraham Lincoln: A Story of Adultery, Murder, and the Making of a Great President.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Vicki

The book is packed with stories and recounting of the travels of Meriwether Lewis and George Rogers Clark. These were known as some of Jefferson’s men and they were actively engaged in discovering cities and towns all across the country. There are snippets of letters included in the book. So fascin......more

Goodreads review by Sharon

I won this Free Book through Goodreads First-Reads. Thank you for choosing me to win this book. I loved this book. When we think about Thomas Jefferson, sending Lewis and Clark out to explore the West, we never hear about the other men that went out too. This book tells about Lewis and Clark, plus me......more

Goodreads review by John

Non-Lewis and Clark exploration gets short shrift from popular historians, and it's nice to see the explorations of the Red, Arkansas, Ouachita and upper Mississippi rivers get their due. Fenster weaves the stories together well, with Jefferson's passion for exploration and expansion -- and desire t......more

Goodreads review by Fredrick

The Louisiana Purchase was a major land acquisition for the fledgling United States of America. Thomas Jefferson sent several expeditions to explore the region and help stake American claims to the area. As well as the more commonly known expeditions of Lewis and Clark and Pike, many minor ventures......more

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