An Embarrassment of Riches [Kindle Edition]

James Howard Kunstler (Author)

Book Description

A picaresque novel of the American West in 1803. An historical comedy about two bumbling botanists sent into the southern wilderness by Thomas Jefferson to look for something that isn't there. A novel in the spirit of Lewis and Clark (who make cameo appearences). Replete with wild Indians, river pirates, the kidnapped son of King Louis XVI, the lost colony of Roanoke, and much more. A non-stop romp full of life and humor and the sensibility of early America.

Product Details

• File Size: 578 KB
• Print Length: 276 pages
• Publisher: Prospecta Press (November 1, 2011)
• Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
• Language: English
• ASIN: B005TJM9JC
• Text-to-Speech: Enabled
• X-Ray: Enabled
• Lending: Not Enabled
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #179,857 Paid in Kindle Store (See Top 100 Paid in Kindle Store)

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Thomas Jefferson is My New Hero December 9, 2011

By Scott B. Garthwaite

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a wonderful out-of-print book. Extremely funny in a subversive manner. It makes me wonder how many other great print books have been forgotten. Hopefully this new digital domain will garner them new life. I loved this book. Extremely witty and engaging. I shall never forget the dim yet loveable Lou-Lou, the somehow admirable mountebank Bilbo, the sexually insatiable Bessie, and of course Thomas Jefferson, a man with perhaps too much on his mind. This would make a great movie! There's even room for that thing I hate dearly in modern cinema: CGI. For how else to portray Megatherium once our heroes find him? Or do they? Read this book!

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Light and Fun Reading, Anyone? May 25, 2012

By W. Gibson

Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase

I had fun reading this historical fantasy, and it led to reading some classics I'd never gotten around to reading, so it was a salubrious, entertaining, and ultimately uplifting Kindle read. But don't think there aren't any bawdy or politically incorrect bits in there...

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars None January 16, 2012

By chrissmaz

Format:Kindle Edition

Nicely written. very entertaining. would like to have my son read it but like so many things in our present culture there is too much sex to make it suitable for children. Too bad as it otherwise would have still been a good story and might have served as a good hook to interest the next generation in reading about history.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Parallel Universes in History January 2, 2012

By sherry bunch

Format:Kindle Edition

Knowing of JHK's talent and whit for satire having read his weekly blogs, I had high expectations for this book. I was not disappointed. A small "corps of wonders" embarks on it's parallel journey to the true Corps of Discovery and their saga relates endless delays and detours as they set out to accomplish their mission on literally 1/10th the funds distributed to the original Corps. If you love the history of the mapping and discovery of the west following Lewis and Clark, you will be delighted to follow the bumbles and travails of Sammy and Uncle as they unpredictably and incompetently struggle to serve their benefactor, President Thomas Jefferson.
I felt that JHK's relation of this tale strongly resembles the style and whit of Mr. Samuel Clemens combined with the silliness and quixotic nature of Miguel de Cervantes. Wholly enjoyable.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Buried treasure May 30, 2011

By Mark Fleischmann

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I have collected all of Kunstler's books and put off reading this one for some time. Look at the cover and it purports to be a boy's adventure story suitable for preteens, hence my reluctance. The contents are really more for young and older adults, brimming with sex, violence, and grotesquerie. But there's also plenty of humor, color, and great writing in this wilderness adventure fantasy. Some elements of the more serious and formidable World Made by Hand novels are also present in embryonic form. I had a great time reading this book. One hopes it will return to print with a more appropriate cover.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars The author's fertile imagination will make this enjoyable to many. September 25, 2012

By John H. Manhold

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

An Embarrassment of Riches ISBN9781935212393, Prospecta Press, an e-book by James Howard Kunstler is a tongue-in-cheek history of a search for a beast based upon a Thomas Jefferson statement in "Notes of the State of Virginia".
In the spring of 1803, William Walker, a Botanist of renown and friend of the President, along with his nephew, an aspiring artist, are invited to dinner. The invitation is to inform them of, and enlist their endeavors to find, the giant sloth rumored to exist prowling the wilds of the American frontier somewhere in the area between the boundaries of the eastern states and the Ohio/Tennessee and Mississippi Rivers. These intrepid explorers set forth upon their journey and have encounters with river pirates, Indians of several tribes, a displaced French nobleman, his beautiful wife and young ward of unusual identity in a magnificent plantation in an unbelievable setting, a mysterious `woodsman' and even members of the `Lost Colony of Virginia'. Lewis and Clark also are encountered several times.
Although a novel, this quasi history in many ways follows a protocol of formality more in line with a history book; e.g. the Latin names of plants and some animals always are included as are even end-notes detailing the fate of some of the persons involved in the story and the chronological life of Samuel Walker.
For many readers, the author's manner of presentation and fanciful descriptions of the characters and their activity no doubt will be enjoyed. Unfortunately, although I found the author's fertile imagination most commendable and much of the material a `different' offering, the overall exposition was not my `my cup of tea'. Reviewed by John H. Manhold, award winning fiction/non-fiction author.

5.0 out of 5 stars My second reading and still great! May 29, 2013

By BobinCinti

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

What more can you want? Fluent and florid period language with wit and humor. Adventure. Historical and literary references galore. Great fun and peril. A little smut. A rogues' gallery of colorful antagonists and a savvy, wise, yet Voltairian hero. C'mon. This is 5 stars.

4.0 out of 5 stars An Embarrassment of Riches May 25, 2013

By Sandra Lafon

Format:Kindle Edition

A different and somewhat unusual group of characters and story. At times very descriptive and bloody but powerful. Not for the squimish but most of the time very interesting.

More About the Author

James Howard Kunstler is probably best known as the author of "The Long Emergency" (The Atlantic Monthly Press 2005), and "The Geography of Nowhere" (Simon and Schuster, 1993). Two other non-fiction titles in that series are "Home From Nowhere" (Simon and Schuster, 1996), and "The City in Mind" (Simon and Schuster, 2002). He's also the author of many novels, including his tale of the post-oil American future, "World Made By Hand" (The Atlantic Monthly press, 2008). The sequel will be published in the fall of 2010. His shorter work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, Metropolis, Rolling Stone, Playboy, and many other periodicals.

James Howard Kunstler was born in New York City in 1948. He attended New York's High School of Music and art and SUNY Brockport (BA, Theater, 1971). He was a reporter for the Boston Phoenix, the Albany Knickerbocker News, and later an editor with Rolling Stone Magazine. In 1975 he dropped out of corporate journalism to write books, and settled in Saratoga Spring, New York, where he has lived ever since.

Kunstler's popular blog, Clusterf**k Nation, is published every Monday morning at www.kunstler.com and his weekly podcast, The KunstlerCast, is refreshed every Thursday.

Kunstler is also a serious professional painter. His work may be seen at www.kunstler.com