Pathfinder: John Charles Fremont and the Course of American Empire

The amazing life of the explorer who first mapped the West and forever changed nineteenth-century America The career of John Charles Fremont (1813-90) celebrates and ties together the full breadth of American expansionism from its eighteenth-century origins through its culmination in the Gilded Age. Tom Chaffin's important new biography demonstrates Fremont's vital importance to the history of American empire, and his role in shattering long-held myths about the ecology and habitability of the American West. As the most celebrated American explorer and mapper of his time, Fremont stood at the center of the vast federal project of Western exploration and conquest. His expeditions between 1838 and 1854 captured the public's imagination, inspired Americans to accept their nation's destiny as a vast continental empire, and earned him his enduring sobriquet, the Pathfinder. But Fremont was more than an explorer. Chaffin's dramatic narrative includes Fremont's varied experiences as an entrepreneur, abolitionist, Civil War general, husband to the remarkable Jessie Benton Fremont, two-time Republican presidential candidate, and Gilded Age aristocrat. Chaffin brings to life the personal and political experiences of a remarkable American whose saga offers compelling insight into the conflicts, tensions, and contradictions at the core of America's lust for empire and its conquest of the trans-Missouri West.

About the Author :
Tom Chaffin, author of "Fatal Glory: Narciso Lopez and the First Clandestine U.S. War Against Cuba," teaches at Emory University. His work has appeared in "The New York Times, Harper's, The Nation "and other publications. He lives in Atlanta, Georgia.

Review :
"With this superb biography, the reader is soon convinced that Fremont's life is well worth examining, not only for its dizzying ups and downs but also for its intersection with so many hugely important themes in the nation's history . . . Chaffin's masterful grasp of storytelling creates a deeply nuanced portrait of a man of many parts . . . There's something here for every history buff: gripping accounts of Fremont's expeditions to map the rugged terrain of the West; insightful portrayals of Fremont's allies and adversaries that reveal the author's deep understanding of how power is wielded in both political and nonpolitical settings; and suberb analysis of the philosophical underpinnings of American empire." -"Publishers Weekly," September 23, 2002 "A comprehensive, lively study of one of America's greatest -- and most controversial -- explorers . . . of great interest to students of Western History." -"Kirkus Reviews," September 1, 2002 "More than any other American, John C. Fremont became the pathfinder for a vast inland empire stretching from the Mississippi Valley to the Pacific Ocean. In a biography that, like its subject, never knows a dull moment, Tom Chaffin captures the spectacular successes as well as failures of this complex and colorful character." -James McPherson, Princeton University "Throughout the 19th century the most celebrated explorer in America was not Lewis or Clark or Pike or Powell. It was the extraordinary 'Pathfinder, ' John Charles Fremont. In his mesmerizing biography, Tom Chaffin brings to life not only Fremont but the amazing personalities who populated his world, including William Clark, Kit Carson, Robert E. Lee, and Abraham Lincoln. Near the end of his life, Fremont's remarkable wife Jessie Benton Fremont, remarked to her husband that 'All your campfires have become cities.' Today the American empire we see throughout the West is the enduring legacy of Fremont's campfires." -Landon Jones, former ManagingW