True Yankees
The South Seas & the Discovery of American Identity
Reeks: The Johns Hopkins University Studies in Historical and Political Science
Dane A. Morrison
- “[A]
- fascinating
- perspective
- on
- how
- America’s
- early
- voyages
- of
- commerce
- and
- discovery
- to
- the
- exotic
- South
- Seas
- helped
- the
- new
- nation
- forge
- its
- identity.”
- —Eric
- Jay
- Dolan,
- bestselling
- author
- of
- Black
- Flags,
- Blue
- WatersDrawing
- on
- private
- journals,
- letters,
- ships’
- logs,
- memoirs,
- and
- newspaper
- accounts,
- True
- Yankees
- traces
- America’s
- earliest
- encounters
- on
- a
- global
- stage
- through
- the
- exhilarating
- experiences
- of
- five
- Yankee
- seafarers.
- Merchant
- Samuel
- Shaw
- spent
- a
- decade
- scouring
- the
- marts
- of
- China
- and
- India
- for
- goods
- that
- would
- captivate
- the
- imaginations
- of
- his
- countrymen.
- Mariner
- Amasa
- Delano
- toured
- much
- of
- the
- Pacific
- hunting
- seals.
- Explorer
- Edmund
- Fanning
- circumnavigated
- the
- globe,
- touching
- at
- various
- Pacific
- and
- Indian
- Ocean
- ports
- of
- call.
- In
- 1829,
- twenty-year-old
- Harriett
- Low
- reluctantly
- accompanied
- her
- merchant
- uncle
- and
- ailing
- aunt
- to
- Macao,
- where
- she
- recorded
- trenchant
- observations
- of
- expatriate
- life.
- And
- sea
- captain
- Robert
- Bennet
- Forbes’s
- last
- sojourn
- in
- Canton
- coincided
- with
- the
- eruption
- of
- the
- First
- Opium
- War.How
- did
- these
- bold
- voyagers
- approach
- and
- do
- business
- with
- the
- people
- in
- the
- region,
- whose
- physical
- appearance,
- practices,
- and
- culture
- seemed
- so
- strange?
- And
- how
- did
- native
- men
- and
- women—not
- to
- mention
- the
- European
- traders
- who
- were
- in
- direct
- competition
- with
- the
- Americans—regard
- these
- upstarts
- who
- had
- fought
- off
- British
- rule?
- The
- accounts
- of
- these
- adventurous
- travelers
- reveal
- how
- they
- and
- hundreds
- of
- other
- mariners
- and
- expatriates
- influenced
- the
- ways
- in
- which
- Americans
- defined
- themselves,
- thereby
- creating
- a
- genuinely
- brash
- national
- character—the
- “true
- Yankee.”
- Readers
- who
- love
- history
- and
- stories
- of
- exploration
- on
- the
- high
- seas
- will
- devour
- this
- gripping
- tale.“The
- book
- is
- informative
- and
- entertaining,
- a
- rare
- combination.
- Highly
- recommended.” —Choice
pro-mbooks3 : libris
