Harry Liebersohn is Professor of History at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
"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" (01/01/2007)
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" (05/01/2006)
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" (12/01/2007)
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" (12/01/2006)
This 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" (02/01/2007)
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