Customer Reviews

The Natures of John and William Bartram: Two Pioneering Naturalists, Father and Son, in the Wilderness of Eighteenth-Cen tury America

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Many years ago I read "The Travels of William Bartram" for a seminar course in American Literature. Recently I read "Cold Mountain" in which the main character has discovered Bartram's "Travels" and peripatetically dips into it to pass the time and sharpen his ability to observe nature. Now we have this "Natures" book which details what is known about the Bartrams--father and son. I found Mr. Slaughter's synthesis and presentation of primary sources a model of good scholarship. Perhaps it is just my way, but I found reading about the Bartrams as interesting as so many people found Pamela Harriman. I attribute this to the author's knowledge and perception of them and his ability to bring them alive on the page. I read this book in a library copy, but I just bought my own copy because I know I will want to slip into the 18th century with the Bartrams again.

One wonders if in his collection of seeds and specimens maybe William may have been spreading some.
If this is a biography, it is genealogically lacking for the researcher. Ann Bartram, daughter of John, wife of George Bartram, and sister of William did not die in the same year as her father, as quoted in the book. She died much later. She is on the 1790 Philadelphia County Pennsylvania tax list. Is listed as being ill in the early eighteen hundreds, according to the Wright papers, and her son George Bartram, Jr. is the executor of her estate ca. 1824.
Other than this, it is very good reading and Thomas's revelations of the difference and likeness of this father and son seem typical. Since I am not a word for word reader, I am sure that when I pick it up again, I will find more wonderful surprises