The American Elsewhere:
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Reviews
Montana the Magazine of Western History (pdf)
"Bryan's work . . . is the first study in several decades to engage constructively with the relationship between expansionism and myth. And he does so with great skill. Bryan's writing ability is enviable, and The American Elsewhere is notable for both its scope and readability. There is a pleasantly meandering quality to Bryan's beautifully illustrated explorations of various adventure narratives, which nicely reflects the often meandering narratives presented by the adventurers themselves." Amy S. Greenberg author of Manifest Manhood and the Antebellum American Empire (2005) and A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico (2013) American Historical Review (pdf)
"The American Elsewhere abounds in aperçus that evince [Bryan's] grasp of his disparate material and give his history purchase on the reader's imagination . . . . Full of fascinating detail put in service of a strongly expressed and important argument, it merits the attention of all historians of the American West and of American masculinity." Tim Fulford author of Romanticism and Masculinity (1999) and Romantic Indians: Native Americans in Transatlantic Literary Culture, 1755-1830 (2006) Pacific Historical Review (pdf)
"As a literary scholar, I found particularly fascinating the detailed account of how adventurism was generated by what Bryan calls a 'new genre, the adventurelogue' (68) . . . . [T]he admirable detailed scholarship and deft use of manliness as construction allows The American Elsewhere to show convincingly how the ideal and reality of the adventurer with its promise of renewed male vitality energized US expansion." Herbert Sussman author of Victorian Masculinities (1995) and Victorian Technology (2009). Southwestern Historical Quarterly (pdf)
"As the author usefully reminds us, empires require persistent narrative reaffirmation. Stories, in other words, helped structure the expansionist impulse, and Bryan subjects those stories--an array of travel narratives, memoirs, and sensationalistic fiction--to a fascinating blend of literary and historical analysis . . . . This is a book, then, that ought to appeal across several different subfields . . . . It is, ultimately, a powerful reminder of the primary importance of storytelling to our understanding of and relationship with the world that surrounds us." Brian Rouleau author of With Sails Whitening Every Sea (2014) For More Reviews click (here)
Advance Word
“American Elsewhere guides us through the tortuous and often baleful mental landscapes of American adventurers . . . . Bryan’s grasp of emotional topographies is masterful. Saddle up and follow his lead.”—Daniel Herman, author of Hell on the Range: A Story of Honor, Conscience, and the American West
“This book is a compelling investigation of how stories of Western adventurers . . . romantically redefined the staid conventions of American manhood and thereby promoted a national ethos of manifest destiny. A unique, pivotal study in the cultural history of American exceptionalism and expansionism.”—Michael L. Johnson, author of Hunger for the Wild: America’s Obsession with the Untamed West “In appealing, accessible prose, Bryan explores the world of the adventurer. He draws fresh insights from sources long familiar to western historians and uncovers sources long forgotten as he demonstrates the role played by romantic self-fashioning in the national project of territorial acquisition . . . . Bryan organizes his sprawling array of sources into a readable study that will interest scholars in many fields, including western and borderlands history, gender studies, and American studies.”—Monica Rico, author of Nature’s Noblemen: Transatlantic Masculinities and the Nineteenth-Century American West |