Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War By Steve Inskeep

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Author: Steve Inskeep

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Special Edition Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War with Free PDF EDITION Download Now!

Steve Inskeep tells the riveting story of John and Jessie Frémont, the husband and wife team who in the 1800s were instrumental in the westward expansion of the United States, and thus became America's first great political couple John C. Frémont, one of the United States’s leading explorers of the nineteenth century, was relatively unknown in 1842, when he commanded the first of his expeditions to the uncharted West. But in only a few years, he was one of the most acclaimed people of the age – known as a wilderness explorer, bestselling writer, gallant army officer, and latter-day conquistador, who in 1846 began the United States’s takeover of California from Mexico. He was not even 40 years old when Americans began naming mountains and towns after him. He had perfect timing, exploring the West just as it captured the nation’s attention. But the most important factor in his fame may have been the person who made it all possible: his wife, Jessie Benton Frémont. Jessie, the daughter of a United States senator who was deeply involved in the West, provided her husband with entrée to the highest levels of government and media, and his career reached new heights only a few months after their elopement. During a time when women were allowed to make few choices for themselves, Jessie – who herself aspired to roles in exploration and politics – threw her skill and passion into promoting her husband. She worked to carefully edit and publicize his accounts of his travels, attracted talented young men to his circle, and lashed out at his enemies. She became her husband’s political adviser, as well as a power player in her own right. In 1856, the famous couple strategized as John became the first-ever presidential nominee of the newly established Republican Party. With rare detail and in consummate style, Steve Inskeep tells the story of a couple whose joint ambitions and talents intertwined with those of the nascent United States itself. Taking advantage of expanding news media, aided by an increasingly literate public, the two linked their names to the three great national movements of the time—westward settlement, women’s rights, and opposition to slavery. Together, John and Jessie Frémont took parts in events that defined the country and gave rise to a new, more global America. Theirs is a surprisingly modern tale of ambition and fame; they lived in a time of social and technological disruption and divisive politics that foreshadowed our own. In Imperfect Union, as Inskeep navigates these deeply transformative years through Jessie and John’s own union, he reveals how the Frémonts’ adventures amount to nothing less than a tour of the early American soul.

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Special Edition Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War with Free PDF EDITION!

Imperfect Union is the story of John and Jessie Fremont, a couple who had a significant impact in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century. It is also the story of the imperfect union among the states themselves and how controversies about slavery and also immigration (sound familiar?) led to the Civil War. It tells of a third “imperfect union” from the period, too, and that was the chasm between the eastern part of the continent and the west. Uniting the continent was the focus of most of John Fremont’s efforts and the goal of his many explorations, as he dreamed of opening the doors to trade with Asia across the Pacific from California.I have enjoyed listening to Steve Inskeep on NPR’s Morning Edition for many years, but the question in my mind was: can he write? And, very important for a nonfiction book on history, has he done careful research so he can provide the details that will make the people and the era come alive and enable him to make generalizations about the period that will be credible? I am delighted to report that the answer to both questions is a resounding “Yes”. The wealth of primary sources consulted and cited is impressive, and the results are presented very well.John and Jessie’s story is well-told and gave me a sense of them as people as well as a much better acquaintance with what John contributed to our history. Those more knowledgeable with history than I am might have known that John was the first presidential nominee of the new Republican party, but how many know that he named the San Francisco harbor the Golden Gate? The personal story was to me as interesting as a novel, and I was a bit sorry there was not even more about John and Jessie as a couple, but there is only so much room in one book. Plus it is clear that Inskeep was trying to be true to his sources, and there is only so much that can be inferred about their lives even from personal journals.The era explored in this book was an exciting one, with technological innovations so radical that it reminds me of our own time. Before the telegraph was invented, for example, it would take many days to learn how other states had voted in an election. Congress did not even establish a single day for the national presidential election until 1845. After Samuel Morse, people in cities could find out election results in a matter of hours. Inskeep does an excellent job of pointing out these innovations and their effects.The big political issue during this period, of course, was slavery. Here again the book gives good insights. The issue was more complex than is often presented. For example, there are the “nativists”, who were opposed to many groups like the Irish and Italians who were immigrating in larger numbers. Perhaps surprisingly, many of the nativists were also abolitionists for the same reason they opposed the immigrants: their goal was to protect the livelihood of the working man, which was threatened by slaves as well as immigrants.One thing that is not covered in the book is another of its good points. As I read the book, I could see many parallels between that period and our own. Inskeep does not, however, spell these out. They will be obvious to the discerning reader and actually (in my case anyway) increase the reader’s enjoyment as you perceive them yourself. It also will keep the book from sounded dated in a few years.Most people have heard of John Fremont, who has mountain peaks and towns named after him, but few people know much about why he was famous. This book will tell you why and give you the bigger picture of the era as well. Whether you are a history buff or not, there is a lot to enjoy and a lot to learn in Imperfect Union.My thanks to Edelweiss and the publisher for an advance review copy of this book.

Special Edition Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War with Free PDF EDITION Download Now!

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Special Edition Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War with Free PDF EDITION Download Now!

Special Edition Imperfect Union: How Jessie and John Frémont Mapped the West, Invented Celebrity, and Helped Cause the Civil War with Free PDF EDITION!

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