Great Plains Studies, Center for
Date of this Version
Fall 2011
Citation
Great Plains Quarterly 31:4 (Fall 2011).
Abstract
The travel accounts of Prince Maximilian of Wied have long been considered one of the finest early scientific and ethnographic descriptions of North American landscapes. Maximilian journeyed with the Swiss painter Karl Bodmer through the United States in 1832-34 to study its natural environments and Indigenous peoples. His keen observations were published in German in 1839-41, were translated into other languages in the following years, and have been harvested ever since for their factual information. Maximilian's publication, however, left out a good portion of his original observations.
With this, the second of three volumes of Maximilian's journals, Stephen S. Witte and Marsha V. Gallagher continue the monumental task of publishing annotated translations of a compilation of notes and data the prince used for the creation of his travel accounts. As the editors remarked in the first volume, published in 2008, such an undertaking was long overdue. Readers will be delighted to see a continuation of this project, further closing important gaps in our understanding of Prince Maximilian's America as seen through his copious notes and illustrations.
Comments
Copyright © 2011 Center for Great Plains Studies, University of Nebraska.