Synopses & Reviews
John C. Frand#233;mont was the most celebrated explorer of his era. In 1842, on the first of five expeditions he would lead to the Far West, Frand#233;mont and a small party of men journeyed up the Kansas and Platte Rivers to the Wind River Range in Wyoming. At the time, virtually this entire region was known as the Great Desert, and many Americans viewed it and the Rocky Mountains beyond as natural barriers to the United States. After Congress published Frand#233;montand#8217;s official report of the expedition, however, few doubted the nation should expand to the Pacific.and#160;The first in-depth study of this remarkable report,
Sight Unseen argues that Frand#233;mont used both a radical form of the picturesque and an imaginary map to create an aesthetic craving for expansion. Not only did he redefine the Great Desert as a novel and complex environment, but on a summit of the Wind River Range he envisioned the Continental Divide as a feature that would unify rather than obstruct a larger nation.and#160;In addition to provoking the great migration to Oregon and providing an aesthetic justification for the national park system, Frand#233;montand#8217;s report profoundly altered American views of geography, progress, and the need for a transcontinental railroad. By helping to shape the very notion of Manifest Destiny, the report became one of the most important documents in the history of American landscape.
and#160;and#160;
Review
and#8220;Eloquent, lively, and learned, with an intellectual breadth as wide as a Rocky Mountains horizon, Andrew Menardand#8217;s Sight Unseen ably reconnoiters geographies of both imagination and terra firma. This fascinating book recovers the American West as John Frand#233;mont found it and shows us how the explorer taught us to see American landscapesand#8212;and America itselfand#8212;anew.and#8221;and#8212;Tom Chaffin, author of Pathfinder: John Charles Frand#233;mont and the Course of American Empire
Review
“Sight Unseen is a book for anyone who loves maps, landscape, and historical intricacy. . . . Anchored by the image of the explorer waving his nations flag from a mountain peak, Menards account of Frémonts expedition enlivens the rhetoric of a triumphal national narrative. Like the explorers Report, Sight Unseen melds scientific, symbolic, and aesthetic views of a nation that knew no bounds.”—Lucy R. Lippard, author of Down Country, winner of the Caroline Bancroft History Prize Tom Chaffin
Review
"[Sight Unseen is] a well-written work revealing an essential part of the history of the North American continent."and#8212;G.J. Martin, Choice
Review
"Sight Unseen is a rigorously researched, exceptionally astute, and well-reasoned interdisciplinary study of a report that defined America's emerging ideology of progress. It is a splendid contribution to the historiography of both Frand#233;mont and nineteenth-Century America."Fred MacVaugh, Nebraska History
Review
"Crisply written, deliciously illustrated."and#8212;Ryan Boyd, Great Plains Quarterly
Review
andquot;Through the imaginative eyes of Frandeacute;mont, Menard makes significant strides in linking the words of the explorer and naturalist to the cultural concept that would shape the future land use and settlement of the American West.andquot;andmdash;Camden Burd, Historical Geography
Review
andquot;Anyone interested in how Americans transformed western lands from obstacles into symbols of national achievement will find much of value in Menardand#39;s work.andquot;andmdash;Jared Orsi, Kansas History
About the Author
Andrew Menard is an independent writer, artist, and critic. His work has appeared in publications such as
Artforum,
The Fox,
Art-Language,
Studio International,
Western American Literature,
Journal of American Studies, and
The New England Quarterly.