This is a very good biography of a little known early American adventurer, John Ledyard (1751-1789), a contemporary and friend of Thomas Jefferson. Gifford's writing is exceptional, and he went the extra mile, spending a rough week on a replica Napoleonic-era ship as a deck hand, and traveling across Russia. These experiences intersperse the text giving it an extra dimension of interest. Ledyard himself is a difficult subject because he never actually accomplished anything, yet did great things. He is of a type we might recognize, a handsome and personable rouge who never settles down, living his dreams and inspiring those around him. Except for certain Russian traders, who saw him a threat to their territory, which is the same thing that happened to his contemporary, Mungo Park, who was attacked by Arab traders because he was a threat to their trade monopoly in Africa. Both men were the tip of the spear of a colonialism surge that followed in the 19th century, first travelers to terra incognita. Joseph Banks, Lewis and Clark, Captain Cook and so many more. It's useful to think of America as a colonial enterprise, a colonizing people, a spirit that is for better or worse still ingrained in its character with Ledyard an early American archetype. ( )

This was another of those works that I found difficult to put down once I began reading the first page. I have always been aware of John Ledyard, having stumbled across is name in other works, but actually knew little of him or his exploits. This work changed that.

As the author so well points out, not many have heard the name John Ledyard recently. As a bit of a test, I asked three advanced high school history classes if anyone could give me an idea of who he was and what he did. Not one answer did I get. What a pity. The young Ledyard, shortly after dropping out of Dartmouth (have you ever noticed how many great men of note have dropped from Dartmouth and gone ahead and led quite interesting lives?), and began his restless wondering that did not cease until his death at the early age of 37 in a sort of pest hole in Cairo, Egypt, from an apparent over zealous self-medication overdose of one of those medications which were more poison than anything. In his years of wondering that he did, he was on the crew, acting as a Royal Marine, of Captain Cooks' third voyage. He drifted from the United States to Europe and then travel well into Siberia, alone, until he was arrested as a spy by the agents of Catherine the Great. His plans were to take a trading ship, sail to the North American Continent and walk from the west coast to the east, doing what Lewis and Clark did about fifteen years later, but going in the opposite direction and completely alone with no support staff what-so-ever. Did I mention that Ledyard was a bit of a dreamer? He was on his way to explore Africa, again alone, when he met his untimely death. The fact that Ledyard failed to complete most, if not all of his goals, has cast a bit of a shadow over his accomplishments over the years, which is a pity, because for sheer human effort, he did accomplish more than most. He certainly inspired many explorers of the next generation and beyond. Keep in mind that through all of his travel, he was all most completely without funds, being on the edge of complete poverty to the point of starvation many times.

Bill Gifford has done a wonderful job with this one and given us another great popular history which is quite readable and insightful. This cannot have been an easy task as most of the needed documentation concerning Ledyard has long been lost, destroyed or completely changed and altered by his contemporaries and family. Much like Sir. Richard Burton's wife, it seems his family was not all that thrilled about some of the things he addressed in his letters. A pity, but this was rather common practice in that day and time. The author followed the path Ledyard took across Siberia, actually spent times sailing on a reproduction of Cooks Ship and has explored much of the New England country side where Ledyard got his start. His writing style is quite smooth and each page is a wealth of information. In this case I have to admire the author almost as much as Ledyard, scraping together all these facts could not have been an easy job. The author has also given us a very nice picture of what life was like in those times and this is always interesting. This is not a scholarly work, although the research is good, and I don't feel it was intended to be. It is a very detailed and readable popular biography about a little known, but very interesting character out of our history. I felt much richer for having read it. Thank you Mr. Gifford!

I do highly recommend this one. ( )