The Course of Empire[1] is a 1952 book by the American journalist and historian Bernard DeVoto. It is the third volume of a trilogy that includes The Year of Decision (1942) and Across the Wide Missouri (1947).[2]
Description
editThe Course of Empire is a history of the exploration of Western North America. The book chronicles several centuries of searching for a Northwest Passage, a water route that would connect the settlements of the Atlantic seaboard with trading markets in India and China. The book proceeds in unconventional narrative fashion, focusing on how centuries of geographical study of the continent, especially its hydrology, shaped the exploration of the West, and eventually a United States that reached from coast to coast. [3]
Reception
editThe book was widely-praised, called "a permanent contribution to history" by Kirkus.[4]
The book was awarded a National Book Award in 1953. [5]
References
edit- ^ DeVoto, Bernard (1952). The Course of Empire. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 9780395924983.
- ^ "Review: Bernard Devoto and the Making of the Year of Decision: 1846". Reviews in American History. 18 (3): 436–451. 1990. doi:10.2307/2702680. JSTOR 2702680. Retrieved 7 July 2021.
- ^ "Westward Advance; THE COURSE OF EMPIRE. By Bernard DeVoto. With maps by Erwin Raisz. 647 pp. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. $6". The New York Times.
- ^ "Book Reviews, Sites, Romance, Fantasy, Fiction". Kirkus Reviews.
- ^ "The Course of Empire".