The Louisiana Purchase [Hardcover]

Thomas Fleming (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471267384 | ISBN-13: 978-0471267386 | Publication Date: June 13, 2003 | Edition: 1

From The Louisiana Purchase

Like many other major events in world history, the Louisiana Purchase is a fascinating mix of destiny and individual energy and creativity. . . . Thomas Jefferson would have been less than human had he not claimed a major share of the credit. In a private letter . . . the president, reviving a favorite metaphor, said he "very early saw" Louisiana was a "speck" that could turn into a "tornado." He added that the public never knew how near "this catastrophe was." But he decided to calm the hotheads of the west and "endure" Napoleon's aggression, betting that a war with England would force Bonaparte to sell. This policy "saved us from the storm." Omitted almost entirely from this account is the melodrama of the purchase, so crowded with "what ifs" that might have changed the outcome-and the history of the world.

The reports of the Lewis and Clark expedition . . . electrified the nation with their descriptions of a region of broad rivers and rich soil, of immense herds of buffalo and other game, of grassy prairies seemingly as illimitable as the ocean. . . . From the Louisiana Purchase would come, in future decades, the states of Arkansas, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, and large portions of what is now North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, Minnesota, Colorado, and Louisiana. For the immediate future, the purchase, by doubling the size of the United States, transformed it from a minor to a major world power. The emboldened Americans soon absorbed West and East Florida and fought mighty England to a bloody stalemate in the War of 1812. Looking westward, the orators of the 1840s who preached the "Manifest Destiny" of the United States to preside from sea to shining sea based their oratorical logic on the Louisiana Purchase.

TURNING POINTS features preeminent writers offering fresh, personal perspectives on the defining events of our time.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Most high school students ought to remember learning a little something about the Louisiana Purchase, but this pivotal event in American history has rarely received sustained attention until this year, the event's bicentennial. Noted historian Fleming's brief study, an entry in Wiley's Turning Points series, presents an overstuffed look at the machinations that prompted Napoleon, famous for his conquests and colonial aspirations, to sell this vast piece of land for $15 million. Fleming's account highlights the importance of two leaders, Thomas Jefferson and Napoleon, along with their closest advisers, but the most memorable figures are the handful of diplomatic negotiators working behind the scenes, like Robert Livingston, the ambassador to France who originated the idea of buying the Louisiana territory, thereby easing the threat of war between the U.S. and France. The narrative weaves in several key events on both sides of the Atlantic, including the rampant yellow fever in Santo Domingo that substantially delayed and weakened Napoleon's troops, volatile conversations between Jefferson and his cabinet about whether the purchase required an amendment to the Constitution and Napoleon's near retraction of the sale. The story carries a surprising amount of drama, though Fleming (Liberty! The American Revolution) does little to play this up. His narrative is straightforward but cluttered with detail, showing more breadth than depth, and is intently focused on the "mix of destiny and individual energy and creativity" that supported one of the world's great diplomatic triumphs.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Fleming needs no introduction to history buffs, and in this concise new history of the Louisiana Purchase, the latest entry in Wiley's Turning Points series, he offers a treasury of forgotten details and new insights about this landmark deal that doubled the size of the country and opened the way to expansion west of the Mississippi. Conventional high-school civics classes traditionally presented a foresighted Thomas Jefferson driving a hard bargain to grab the new territories from the French for pennies on the dollar. Instead, Fleming reveals a less than glorious Jefferson, sending signals to Napoleon that we wouldn't mind at all if the French overthrew the black hero of Santo Domingo, Toussaint L'Ouverture. Fleming's presentation is compelling even in its brevity, thanks in large part to his capsule descriptions of the colorful cast of characters--not the least of which was the French foreign minister, Talleyrand, and the American envoy to Paris, Robert Livingston. An informative addition to the literature of this period. Allen Weakland
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (June 13, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471267384
• ISBN-13: 978-0471267386
• Product Dimensions: 8.1 x 5.4 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #191,696 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

"How do you write a book?" 24 year old Thomas Fleming asked bestselling writer Fulton Oursler in 1951. "Write four pages a day," Oursler said. "Every day except Sunday. Whether you feel like it or not. Inspiration consists of putting the seat of your pants on the chair at your desk." Fleming has followed this advice to good effect. His latest effort, "The Intimate Lives of the Founding Fathers," is his 50th published book. Twenty three of them have been novels. He is the only writer in the history of the Book of the Month Club to have main selections in fiction and in nonfiction. Many have won prizes. Recently he received the Burack Prize from Boston University for lifetime achievement. In nonfiction he has specialized in the American Revolution. He sees Intimate Lives as a perfect combination of his double talent as a novelist and historian. "Novelists focus on the imtimate side of life. This is the first time anyone has looked at the intimate side of the lives of these famous Americans, with an historian's eyes." Fleming was born in Jersey City, the son of a powerful local politician. He has had a lifetime interest in American politics. He also wrote a history of West Point which the New York Times called "the best...ever written." Military history is another strong interest. He lives in New York with his wife, Alice Fleming, who is a gifted writer of books for young readers.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You Never Knew How Much you Didn't Know, November 3, 2003

By 

Richard A. Mitchell "Rick Mitchell" (candia, new hampshire United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Louisiana Purchase (Hardcover)

This is a great history.

We all knew that the La. Purchase was a "steal" perpetrated during the Jefferson administration, that Bonaparte needed the money, that Lewis and Clark explored the territory and Jefferson skirted the Constitution to make the deal.

This book tells in very readable prose all that you probably did not know beyond that skeletal history - like the Lewis and Clark mission started as a military reconnoiter and only later turned into a scientific one.

Mr. Fleming takes the reader into the palace and diplomatic intrigues of France, Spain and England to tell us how the purchase really came about. He includes the bribes and backdoor dealings emanating from Paris and how they were understood or misunderstood in America. Mr. Fleming also portrays well the fledging politics and "spinning" in the new UNited States. Included are the views of the naysayers on both sides of the ocean in all four countries as well.

This is well-written and interesting throughout. Fleming's short descriptioins of each major character are brief but very concise. There is not a wasted word in the book. I strongly recommend it to anyone with even a passing history of the United States.

8 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Dipolmacy, Warts and All, July 13, 2003

By 

nancyyipes "nancyyipes" (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Louisiana Purchase (Hardcover)

This is a fun way to re-read history 101. Remember what a wily scuzz Talleyrand was? And how upright Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were by comparison? And do you recall how rapid the rise of Napoleon was from commander of the French army to Emperor of France? Toss all these characters into the equation, add mosquitoes in Santo Domingo and the question of whether Spain or France owned the Louisiana Territory. Result is a tale well told with plenty of juicy adjectives missing from history textbooks - so fascinating it's like reading a sanitized modern novel.

Thomas Fleming adroitly weaves dates, events and places together with characterizations of the men who made it possible for the Louisiana Territory to become part of the United States. He stays with the main characters, focuses on pertinent peripheral events that tipped the scales at opportune times, and gives the reader a vivid sense of how closely diplomacy is related to patience, chicanery, misinformation, trial by press and bribery.

Two surprises to this reader were how very long it took to get news and legal documents from France to Washington, and from the East Coast to New Orleans AND how frequent and how quick was the tendency to try for secession on the part of loyal Americans as well as corrupt leaders. Only "diplomacy" and a tip of the scales of peripheral events kept the United States united through the years of Jefferson's presidency to the War of 1812.

So this is the story, warts and all, of how the United States bought the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million.
The book ends, not with the gala ball for 500, but with a laundry list of those who wanted full credit for what finally was hailed as a very good thing for the USA. And then it's on to the War of 1812 - but that's another story.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not history at its worst, but it does have shortcomings, July 19, 2007

By 

Dennis Brandt (Red Lion, PA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Louisiana Purchase (Hardcover)

I enjoyed reading this little book. Fleming is a well known historian who spins out an improbable tale of how our country more than doubled in size overnight and how it almost didn't happen. If it were fiction I'm not certain I would consider it plausible. But it happened. My main gripe is this: Where the blazes are the index and bibliography? This smells of a publishing decision, not Fleming's. Whoever made it, it was wrong-headed.