Ledyard: In Search of the First American Explorer - Hardcover

Gifford, Bill

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0151012180 ISBN 13: 9780151012183

Publisher: Houghton Mifflin, 2007

Synopsis

For decades after his death in 1789, John Ledyard was celebrated as the greatest explorer America had ever produced. A veteran of Captain Cook’s final voyage, he walked across nearly all of Russia and suggested to his friend Thomas Jefferson that traversing the American continent was feasible—inspiring the Lewis and Clark expedition. When he died he was preparing to venture into Africa. Once as famous as the Founding Fathers whom he had befriended and beguiled, the “American traveler,” as Ledyard was called, fell into obscurity over the years, reduced to becoming a foot­noted reference in Moby Dick.
 Bill Gifford reenacted Ledyard’s 1773 escape from Dartmouth College in a canoe and followed Ledyard’s trail down the length of the Lena River in Siberia. In Ledyard he reveals the man in the legend, bringing back an American original and giving us a story that until now has not been fully told.

About this title

From the Back Cover:

BEFORE LEWIS AND CLARK, HUCK FINN, OR ISHMAEL CAME JOHN LEDYARD, THE FIRST AND GREATEST AMERICAN TRAVELER
Praise for LEDYARD:
"John Ledyard is probably the most fascinating historical figure you've never heard of. As I raced through the pages of Bill Gifford's enormously entertaining portrait of this astounding character, I found myself wanting to cheer. Ledyard is a terrific book." --Jon Krakauer, author of Under the Banner of Heaven

About the Author:

BILL GIFFORD attended Dartmouth College; unlike Ledyard, he graduated. His writing has appeared in Outside and the New York Times Magazine. He lives in Mount Gretna, Pennsylvania.

About this edition

• Publisher: Houghton Mifflin
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0151012180
• ISBN 13: 9780151012183
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 331