The Tide of Empire: America's March to the Pacific [Hardcover]

Michael Golay (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471377910 | ISBN-13: 978-0471377917 | Publication Date: September 4, 2003 | Edition: 1

A vivid tableau of the American conquest of the Pacific Coast

"With Broughton's expedition, the Americans and the British had posted competing claims to a vast expanse of the Pacific Northwest. The area in contention would encompass all of present Oregon and Washington and parts of Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, and British Columbia. Robert Gray, the dour Yankee trader, and William Broughton, the obscure British naval officer, nonentities both, sailed away from the misty coasts of the Columbia in 1792, never to return. They had no way of knowing, of course, how it would all end. But the breathtaking effrontery of their claims set in motion events of fateful consequence, touching off a half-century of trade and diplomatic rivalry, a flood of Euroamerican settlement, and the displacement and virtual destruction of the immemorial inhabitants of what the contestants would come to call the Oregon Country."
-from THE TIDE OF EMPIRE

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

This engaging popular history details the settlement of the Oregon Territory, from the 1792 Columbia fur-trading expedition that discovered the great river of that name, to the great migrations of the mid-19th century. Golay, the author of five previous books on 19th-century America, introduces pivotal figures in the quest for a Pacific Empire, such as John McLoughlin, of the Hudson Bay Company, who ruled the Oregon Territory during the 1820s and 1830s. During much of that period, neither the British nor the Americans had full control of the area, but soon thereafter Americans pushed up the Columbia and across the Plains. Finding passes through the mountains, many of these settlers and explorers earned the title of "pathfinder." Golay limns balanced portraits of many explorers, including one of John Charles Fremont (the celebrated "pathfinder of empire") that does justice to him and his intrepid wife Jessie. He also profiles Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, the best-known martyrs among the new territory's missionaries. Golay ably chronicles the expansion that established the American claim to the Pacific Northwest, as well as the devastating consequences for the Native Americans who preceded the European settlers. The quality of the writing and the depth of the research make this book a valuable read for anyone interested in 19th-century American history. B&w illustrations and maps.
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

In examining our nation's trans-Mississippi expansion in the nineteenth century, there is always the temptation to focus on "sudden," dramatic episodes such as the Louisiana Purchase or the Mexican War. The strength of this book is that it views this expansion as a slow but steady process that began before, and often proceeded independently of, such well-known events. Golay, who has written five books about nineteenth-century American history, concentrates on the American exploration and settlement of the Oregon country and California before the Civil War. As Golay illustrates, Americans were interested in the Pacific coast almost from the nation's birth. A decade before Jefferson expressed his hopes for an "empire of liberty," American commercial and war ships were active in the coastal waters of the Oregon country. Golay coherently describes the complicated and often treacherous competition between American and British fur companies, and his accounts of the tribulations of idealistic but native missionaries, including the doomed Marcus and Narcissa Whitman, have the air of genuine tragedy. An excellent addition to collections on the history of the American West. Jay Freeman
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 400 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 4, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471377910
• ISBN-13: 978-0471377917
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.4 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,940,716 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

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Exceptional!, December 18, 2007

By 

Michael E. Fitzgerald (Kingwood, Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: The Tide of Empire: America's March to the Pacific (Hardcover)

This story of the Oregon Country has been told so many times, what could be added to enhance it? Try enthusiasm and style. This work is so well written as to be jaw dropping. Whether you are an accomplished historian or someone with a casual interest, this history of the Pacific Northwest will please.

While there is nothing new here Golay covers the waterfront. You meet the usual cast of characters, the Chinook Indians, John Jacob Astor, the Mountain Men, John McLoughlin, Senator Thomas Hart Benson, the Whitmans, Charles Wilkes, Jedediah Smith, Charles Fremont, etc., etc. Michael Golay omits no one. He covers the builders and the destroyers from the traders, trappers, explorers, and missionaries who withstood seemingly insurmountable odds to seize the Pacific Northwest for the United States to the economic interests such as the American Fur Company and the Northwest Company that provided employment and competing political agendas.

A compellingly told, fast paced account of exploration and adventure, Golay covers a half century of diplomatic rivalry, a flood of transcontinental Euro American settlement and the breathtaking impudence of their claims.