American Traveler: The Life and Adventures of John Ledyard, the Man Who Dreamed of Walking the World [Hardcover]

James Zug (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 15, 2005

Called a "man of genius" by his close friend Thomas Jefferson, John Ledyard lived, by any standard, a remarkable life. In his thirty-eight years, he accompanied Captain Cook on his last voyage; befriended Jefferson, Lafayette, and Tom Paine in Paris; was the first American citizen to see Alaska, Hawaii, and the west coast of America; and set out to find the source of the Niger by traveling from Cairo across the Sahara. His greatest dream, concocted with Jefferson, was to travel alone around the world and cross the American continent from the Pacific Northwest to the Atlantic. Catherine the Great dashed that dream when she had him arrested in deepest Siberia and escorted back to the Polish border. Ledyard wrote the definitive account of Cook's last voyage and his death at the hands of Hawaiian islanders, and formed a company with John Paul Jones that launched the American fur trade in the Pacific Northwest.Before the Revolution, Americans by and large didn't travel great distances, rarely venturing west of the Appalachians. Ledyard, with his boundless enthusiasm and wide-ranging intellect, changed all that. In lively prose, journalist James Zug tells the riveting story of this immensely influential character -a Ben Franklin with wanderlust-a uniquely American pioneer.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

By the time he was 37, Ledyard (1751–1788) had sailed across the South Pacific, befriended Thomas Jefferson, challenged a Russian governor to a duel in Siberia and become the first U.S. citizen to touch North America's western coast. Zug (Squash: A History of the Game) vividly renders Ledyard's remarkable life in this brisk, exciting book. After failing as a divinity student at Dartmouth, Ledyard fled to the sea, eventually volunteering to serve on what would be the legendary Captain Cook's final voyage. It was an eventful trip: Ledyard got a tattoo in Tonga and venereal disease in Tahiti, and helped slaughter natives in Hawaii. Later, still poor, Ledyard drifted to Paris and socialized with Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin and the Marquis de Lafayette. They encouraged Ledyard's wildest scheme: to walk across the world, from Europe to America. The failure of this quest—ended by czarist police in Siberia—prompted Ledyard to volunteer for an even more quixotic expedition, into Africa. It was there that he met a "bleak, anonymous ending" in Cairo, dogged by disease and, Zug suggests, a life of disappointment and hardship. Zug draws on many primary sources, including Ledyard's journals and letters. A shameless self-promoter, an enterprising and original American, Ledyard is superbly resurrected in this stirring, tragic tale. Photos. Agent, Joe Regal. (Apr.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

In Ledyard's short life (1751-89), his accomplishments included sailing with Captain James Cook on Cook's third voyage and writing about Cook's murder in Hawaii. He formed fur-trading companies with Robert Morris, the Philadelphia financier, and John Paul Jones, the notorious sea captain, and he visited Egypt before Napoleon's invasion opened the country up to Western travelers. Thomas Jefferson asked Ledyard to explore the American continent, the plan calling for him to proceed overland through Russia, cross at the Bering Strait, and head south through Alaska and across the American West to Virginia. This expedition failed after 15 months of traveling, when Empress Catherine the Great had him arrested in Siberia. Zug asserts that during his trip Ledyard's focus was not on the landscape but on the people in it; his letters and journals sparkled with descriptions of customs and habits. This meticulously researched biography of an ingenious explorer will hold the reader's complete attention. George Cohen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 312 pages
• Publisher: Basic Books; 1St Edition edition (March 15, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0465094058
• ISBN-13: 978-0465094059
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 6.1 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,751,246 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The First World Citizen, March 27, 2005

By 

SJ Coker (Wenatchee, WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: American Traveler: The Life and Adventures of John Ledyard, the Man Who Dreamed of Walking the World (Hardcover)

I've been fascinated by Ledyard since I first encountered him, in 1989, at a University of Washington history lecture. At the time I was struck by the fact that I'd never heard of him before. How could this guy have been forgotten? Poking around the stacks in the library led me to Sparks' and Watrous' work, but I couldn't believe that somebody wasn't out there researching and writing about Ledyard. I've been poking around ever since. At last, Zug has delivered the biography I've been waiting for.

American Traveler serves as an outstanding introduction to one of the most fascinating figures in American history. Zug does a wonderful job describing Ledyard's relationships with movers and shakers of the late 18th century (particularly Jefferson), as well as his role as a catalyst behind the eventual expansion of American power. However, the real strength of the book is Zug's portrait of Ledyard the world traveler--a guy on the road who, though frustrated by the restrictions of time and petty bureaucracy, takes a genuine interest in the people he encounters. Yes--Ledyard was a spectacular failure as a businessman, but he understood something that many (apparently including P.J. O'Rourke) do not: traveling isn't about arriving at your destination--it's all about the road trip and the people you meet along the way. In this sense, there has never been a more spectacular success than John Ledyard.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A portrait of a remarkable 18th Century American, July 3, 2005

By 

Bruce Trinque (Amston, CT United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: American Traveler: The Life and Adventures of John Ledyard, the Man Who Dreamed of Walking the World (Hardcover)

John Ledyard has been mostly forgotten today, but this late eighteenth century New England Yankee dreamed of exporing an as-yet largely unknown world and, before his death while still in his thirties, he had accomplished part of that dream. Ledyard, a correspondent of Thomas Jefferson, was very much cast in the mold of an explorer and natural philosopher at the end of the Age of Reason. Russian bureaucracy and xenophobia cut short Ledyard's planned journey around the globe on foot (with water transportation when necessary) and he died on the eve of setting out on an expedition to explore central Africa, so his largest ambitions remained unfulfilled, but nonetheless he had been a companion and chronicler of Captain on his last, fatal voyage to the Pacific.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read for Anyone Who Appreicates Travel, February 24, 2006

By 

David A. Chase (Bartlett, TN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: American Traveler: The Life and Adventures of John Ledyard, the Man Who Dreamed of Walking the World (Hardcover)

I'd never heard of John Ledyard before ordering this book; I greatly enjoy travel and this story is incredible. Every once in awhile, I had to stop turning the pages to reflect upon what I'd just read. The adventure and tales were awesome. More than once, I had to remind myself that this is non-fiction. Ledyard really believed he could walk around the world? I'm not one to lightly label a books as must read, but this one should be on such a list.

Here's to you, John Ledyard.