Review of William Clark's World: Describing America in an Age of Unknowns by Peter J. Kastor

Authors

Thomas P. Slaughter, University of Rochester

Date of this Version

Winter 2012

Citation

Great Plains Quarterly 32:1 (Winter 2012).

Comments

Copyright © 2012 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.

Abstract

This book, though not a biography, is biographical. It considers William Clark's attempts to describe the American West within the context of other descriptions during his lifetime (1770-1838). Peter J. Kastor explores the conscious agendas of writers and mapmakers that supported their particular political and cultural goals. He addresses problems that grew from describing the unknown and the ambivalence that inspired many of the attempts. He aims for a subtle and less valedictory analysis than is traditional, while avoiding a flip of that view into a simple indictment of empire-building and ethnic cleansing on the American frontier.