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

Sachs, Aaron

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0143111922 ISBN 13: 9780143111924

Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group, 2007

Synopsis

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.

About this title

Review

Sachs has done something worthy of gratitude: He has reintroduced a nineteenth- century sage to a generation that sorely needs his wisdom. (Los Angeles Times)

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.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0143111922
• ISBN 13: 9780143111924
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 512