Description
Book SynopsisAn unforgettable voyage filled with delightful characters, dramatic encounters, and rich cultural details, this book heralds a moment of intellectual preparation for the modern global era. Harry Liebersohn examines the transformation of global knowledge during the great age of scientific exploration.
Trade ReviewThe Travelers' World is a terrific book. Beautifully written, elegantly organized, and persuasive, this work is an innovative contribution to the history of travel, and should appeal not only to readers of discovery and exploration but to anyone interested in cultural and global history. -- Suzanne Marchand, author of
Down from OlympusThis encyclopedic story tells us how encounters between Pacific natives and European strangers became scientific and cultural knowledge. Liebersohn brings alive the travelers and thinkers of the time; we get a new look at so many-Commerson, Forster, Humboldt, Cook, Diderot, and Kant, among others. And while many have confined their studies to British and French exploration, Liebersohn goes farther afield, to Germany, Russia, Spain. His comprehensive coverage is impressive. -- Greg Dening, author of
Mr. Bligh's Bad LanguageThis book is well-written, interesting and creatively constructed and will serve as an important contribution for scholars interested in both colonialism and imperialism in addition to those working on travel, science, philosophy, Europeans abroad, non-Europeans in Europe and states' relations to these phenomena...The maps nicely show the sites travelers visited and the illustrations sprinkled throughout the text lend texture and flavor to the already fascinating subject matter. Liebersohn ultimately succeeds in portraying the production and procession of travel narratives as a series of networks. Germany and Germans were only mercurial ideas in this transitional hundred-year period, but this uncertain vision contributes to further understanding of the instability of structures that were later imagined as fixed, permanent and static, such as nation-states, science, knowledge and European global power. -- Nathaniel P. Weston * H-Net *
This book is timely, for it addresses, though not intentionally, aspects of globalization that invite the wringing of hands in many quarters...The history of that literary world of travelers has been ably portrayed here...It takes a central place in the growing literature. It is a great credit to author and publisher alike. -- Barry Gough * Journal of American History *
Liebersohn displays an impressive command of his specialist areas, European intellectual history and German history, but also that rare combination of great breadth of vision with clarity of expression and explanation. He writes in a very readable, accessible style that breathes life into the characters discussed and elucidates his complex and nuanced argument. -- Paul D'Arcy * International Journal of Maritime History *
The exploration of the Pacific has now been cast as decisive in the emergence of modern science and in the entanglement of science and empire. Harry Liebersohn’s book provides a sweeping survey of five groups of people who were involved in travel and who created and reshaped the knowledge that emerged from the exploration of the Pacific. -- Sujit Sivasundaram * Isis *
The Travelers’ World offers an original perspective on how to assess the scope of the impact travel writing had on social and political thought during this period. It also responds to several of the inherent flaws in the scientific and anthropological project in which the 18th and 19th century voyagers participated. Finally, this text urges the reader to reinterpret the body of travel literature in a “cumulative” context by considering each text in relation to others in the same tradition. -- L. Olivia Grenvicz * AmeriQuests *
Table of ContentsAcknowledgments Map: The Pacific Ocean Map: Europe in 1815, after the Congress of Vienna Introduction Travelers as Ethnographers-Histories-Dimensions of a World 1. Travelers Philibert Commerson--George Forster--Adelbert von Chamisso 2. Patrons France--Great Britain--Russia--Germany 3. Collaborators Ahutoru--Tupaia, Mai, Mahine--Elliot de Castro, Marin, Kadu--Ali'i and Kings--Kingship in Tahiti: The Pomares-Kingship in Hawaii: Kamehameha 4. Philosophers Diderot and the Shock of Tahiti--Kant and George Forster--Wilhelm von Humboldt on Linguistic Diversity 5.Missions Dumont D'Urville and the Triumph of Racial Science--Sex, Speech, and Prophecy in Tahiti--Native Missionaries, New Englanders, and kapus in Hawaii--Science and Religion in Conflict 6. Darwin, Melville, and the End of a World Darwin and the "More Cheerful View"--Melville and the Casket Ships Conclusion Travelers as Interpreters--Travelers as Mediators Chronology Notes Select Bibliography Illustration Credits Index
