The Louisiana Purchase

by Thomas Fleming

Book Overview

From The Louisiana Purchase

Like many other major events in world history, the Louisiana Purchase is a fascinating mix of destiny and individual energy and creativity. . . . Thomas Jefferson would have been less than human had he not claimed a major share of the credit. In a private letter . . . the president, reviving a favorite metaphor, said he ""very early saw"" Louisiana was a ""speck"" that could turn into a ""tornado."" He added that...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0471267384
• ISBN13: 9780471267386
• Release Date: June 2003
• Publisher: Wiley (TP)
• Length: 192 Pages
• Weight: 1.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.4" x 8.1"

Customer Reviews

Quick History

The Louisiana Purchase the great achievement of Jefferson's presidency . A miracle of diplomacy , we borrow money from An English bank which was just involved in financing the British military efforts to keep American colonies part of their empire , and whom we would shortly to go to war with again , to buy the rights to an vast area of land from a country that we are involved in a quasi war with. This book is a short but very informative and fast moving book covering many of the reasons for the purchase and the motives of the sellers. It is like Dragnet TV series fast entertaining while giving the facts just the facts something modern historians often ignore. Hooray for The Louisiana Purchase. Timely as we are approaching the 200th anniversary of the leap forward in manifest destiny. This is a great companion book to "The Battle of New Orleans" by Remini. This is an exciting part of the miraculous growth of the American Republic .

Substandard?!--Nonsense!

"Substandard"?!--Hardly. "what territories it encompassed"?!--"who explored it"?!--These things are left out because these questions are answered by any American history textbook, ad nauseum. What Fleming's (short) book concentrates on is exactly what is neglected in textbooks: "the diplomatic tug of war". As usual, he does it with a writing style that is captivating.

You Never Knew How Much you Didn't Know

This is a great history.We all knew that the La. Purchase was a "steal" perpetrated during the Jefferson administration, that Bonaparte needed the money, that Lewis and Clark explored the territory and Jefferson skirted the Constitution to make the deal.This book tells in very readable prose all that you probably did not know beyond that skeletal history - like the Lewis and Clark mission started as a military reconnoiter and only later turned into a scientific one.Mr. Fleming takes the reader into the palace and diplomatic intrigues of France, Spain and England to tell us how the purchase really came about. He includes the bribes and backdoor dealings emanating from Paris and how they were understood or misunderstood in America. Mr. Fleming also portrays well the fledging politics and "spinning" in the new UNited States. Included are the views of the naysayers on both sides of the ocean in all four countries as well.This is well-written and interesting throughout. Fleming's short descriptioins of each major character are brief but very concise. There is not a wasted word in the book. I strongly recommend it to anyone with even a passing history of the United States.

Dipolmacy, Warts and All

This is a fun way to re-read history 101. Remember what a wily scuzz Talleyrand was? And how upright Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were by comparison? And do you recall how rapid the rise of Napoleon was from commander of the French army to Emperor of France? Toss all these characters into the equation, add mosquitoes in Santo Domingo and the question of whether Spain or France owned the Louisiana Territory. Result is a tale well told with plenty of juicy adjectives missing from history textbooks - so fascinating it's like reading a sanitized modern novel.Thomas Fleming adroitly weaves dates, events and places together with characterizations of the men who made it possible for the Louisiana Territory to become part of the United States. He stays with the main characters, focuses on pertinent peripheral events that tipped the scales at opportune times, and gives the reader a vivid sense of how closely diplomacy is related to patience, chicanery, misinformation, trial by press and bribery.Two surprises to this reader were how very long it took to get news and legal documents from France to Washington, and from the East Coast to New Orleans AND how frequent and how quick was the tendency to try for secession on the part of loyal Americans as well as corrupt leaders. Only "diplomacy" and a tip of the scales of peripheral events kept the United States united through the years of Jefferson's presidency to the War of 1812. So this is the story, warts and all, of how the United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million.The book ends, not with the gala ball for 500, but with a laundry list of those who wanted full credit for what finally was hailed as a very good thing for the USA. And then it's on to the War of 1812 - but that's another story.

The Louisiana Purchase

This is by far the best book on the Louisiana Purchase that I've ever read. Fleming ties all the details together and presents the most interesting account of The Purchase out there.