1

Palmer, Stanley H. and Dennis Reinhartz, eds.  Essays on The
History of North American Discovery and Exploration.
College Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1988.


     This work is a companion piece to the twenty-first

annual Walter Prescott Webb lecture series at the University

of Texas at Arlington.  Since Webb is known for his work on

frontiers (particularly the Great Plains and the Great

Frontier theses) this topic matter is particularly

appropriate.  The collection celebrates the heroic nature of

those involved with the Discovery of North American, and

praises the shift from "grand narrative to more analytic

accounts."

     The first essay, "Colonies in the Beginning: Examples

from North America",  urges the reader to consider usual

assumptions about conquista-driven Spanish colonization.

The various colonizing efforts can be sorted, though:

Spanish as distance governance, English as loosely-reined

and driven by personality, and French as a largely hands-off

affair as far as bureaucracy is concerned.

     The second essay, "The John Cabot Mystique", is a

survey of the current state of knowledge (and mythos) on the

titular subject.  The first half of the essay discusses

biases in Cabotine historiography (personal, provincial, and

national), while the latter half addresses the problems

associated with the rich body of cartographic sources

available to scholars studying Cabot.

     The third essay, "Old World Law, New World peoples, and

Concepts of Sovereignty", is a piece of intellectual history

concerned with European mindsets that were imported to (and

framed experiences in) North America.  The adaptation (or

evolution) of European theory to North American practice

frequently had intra-national aspects, as with Spain's papal

petitions for American claims, or France's territorial

usurpations under Verrazzano.

     The fourth essay, "Characteristics of French-Amerindian

Contact in New France", is a discussion of the largely-

autonomous governmental structures in New France in parallel

to commercial interests.  The Author, Cornelius J. Jaenen,

contends these experiences shaped contemporary (and later)

ideas of culture, civilization, and progress.

     The last sections of the book concern cartography.  The

fifth essay, "The Riddle of Mapmaker Juan Pedro Walker",

discusses the international (cartopolitical?) ramifications

of state-sponsored mapmaking.  In this essay the reader is

treated to a close view of neglectful or abusive federal

governments, the opportunities offered by the sale of a

massive section of territory (Louisiana), and the vagaries

of self-fashioning in a largely-unsettled land.

     The last essay, "Seeing and Believing: The Explorer and

the Visualization of Place", discusses the use of near-

propagandic imagery in the description of the "Second Great

Age of Discovery (134)."  Iconic shorthand ranged from

tricks like retouched photographs (by members of the USGS)

to Romantic-style landscapes to Currier and Ives prints

shaped the perceptions of people who might never see the

American West.

     The respectful tone toward heroes (whether Cabot,

Walker, or possibly Webb himself) is reminiscent of the tone

in Daniel Boorstin's The Discoverers.  The final chapter on

iconography reminded me of Moll's Niagaran beavers, symbols

of unity and industry.  I think an entire Webb lecture

series could be mounted on that topic.  We certainly have

the sources (physical and human) to mount such an effort.



jason carr