The last American [Unknown Binding]

John Ames Mitchell (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1970

Originally published in 1902. This volume from the Cornell University Library's print collections was scanned on an APT BookScan and converted to JPG 2000 format by Kirtas Technologies. All titles scanned cover to cover and pages may include marks notations and other marginalia present in the original volume.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

John Ames Mitchell (1845-1918), was the founder and publisher of Life magazine. Mitchell was a man of many talents. Educated at Phillips Exeter Academy, he later studied at the Lawrence Scientific School at Harvard. After leaving Harvard, Mitchell went on to study architecture in Boston and then at the École des Beaux Arts in Paris. He later returned to the U.S. where he would then work for an architecture firm for a number of years. John Ames returned to Paris again after deciding architecture was not his calling and there studied drawings and paintings at Julian s atelier and with Albert Maignan. Returning in 1880 to New York City, Mitchell founded Life magazine in 1883, which was a humorous weekly that was closer in its format to the New Yorker Magazine of today than the picture magazine that Henry Luce developed Life into when he bought the magazine in 1936. In addition to being an architect, artist, editor and novelist, Mitchell was also active in charitable work. In fact, he along with Horace Greely created the Fresh Air Fund. J.A. Mitchell wrote fourteen books, the most famous being Amos Judd, which was made into the 1922 silent film, The Young Rajah, starring Rudolph Valentino. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Unknown Binding: 151 pages
• Publisher: Literature House (1970)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0839812620
• ISBN-13: 978-0839812623
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #10,517,700 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

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Short and cutesy, August 28, 2001

By 

Brian Melendez (Minneapolis, MN United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The last American

I bought this book looking for a story about post-apocalypse America: the full title is "The Last American: A Fragment from the Journal of Khan-Li, Prince of the Dimph-You-Chur and Admiral in the Persian Navy." It was short and cutesy--filled with puns just as bad as "Dimph-You-Chur" (="dim future"), not quite what I expected. A Persian expedition a thousand years from now explores the ruins of New York and Washington. The book is interesting at least for its vintage: first published in 1889, it is one of the earliest works in its genre. There is a thinly veiled and shallow commentary on American shortcomings in the gilded age.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A brief read and critical commentary on American society, values.., January 1, 2007

By 

Steve Mason (Mt. Pleasant, SC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Last American (Paperback)

This reprint of the 1902 edition of J.A. Mitchell's The Last American is a brief and critical commentary on American society, values. Its essentially a science fiction tale that takes place about 1,000 years into the future. America was long ago destroyed (due in part to dramatic climate change - how timely it is now!)and a group of Persian explorers voyage across the seas to visit the long lost country of "Merika."

Their journey takes them to New York and Washington and it is during those visits that reader hears social commentary from the Persian visitors on American society, culture, etc. Since the book was written over 100 years ago, the commentary no doubt is a criticism of American society at that point in time(ex. excessive focus on materialism, etc.), however, some of these criticisms are still valid today. Others, such as the one that America has no original ideas or creations of its own is just plain wrong (now or at the time when the book was written).

The book is also interesting in that the voyagers and critical commentators are from Persia, which today we know as Iran. Also, the explanation of America's sudden collapse due in part to dramatic climate change is an interesting (and also a bit uncomfortable) part of the story given today's problems we face with global warming.

As noted above, this reprint was taken from the 1902 edition, which included some wonderful full-color illustrations. However, the publisher has reprinted them in black and white which is understandable for an inexpensive paperback edition. The cover contains an enlarged version of one interior f/c illustration, so, that at least will give you a sense of what the others would look like if done in color.

In any case, its a good read and one that most can go through in couple of hours. And I recommend it.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book of the future..., August 13, 2007

By 

Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: The Last American (Paperback)

I have a copy from 1902, the seventh edition, and I am happy I found it. The story is about a Persian ship that finds itself off the coast of the Western continent, a land known from myths and history, a land many thought didn't even exist. The crew explore this land, full of ruins and wonders, and even find a few surviving members of the natives. Natives once known as Mehrikans, the last of a great civilization, but a civilization that was already flawed before it collapsed. The author wrote the story as a warning about American threads that, at the time, seemed to be pushing the nation towards a dangerous end. Greed, self centered life styles, people more worried about class and fashion than their fellow man, he saw a America turning away from everything good and heading down the pathway of doom. The fact that the first copies were published in 1889 makes this a treasure and also a interesting mirror of history showing the thoughts and fears of Americans at the turn of the last century.