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Astoria: Astor and Jefferson's Lost Pacific Empire: A Tale of Ambition and Survival on the Early American Frontier Paperback – February 10, 2015
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In the tradition of The Lost City of Z and Skeletons in the Zahara, Astoria is the thrilling, true-adventure tale of the 1810 Astor Expedition, an epic, now forgotten, three-year journey to forge an American empire on the Pacific Coast. Peter Stark offers a harrowing saga in which a band of explorers battled nature, starvation, and madness to establish the first American settlement in the Pacific Northwest and opened up what would become the Oregon trail, permanently altering the nation's landscape and its global standing.
Six years after Lewis and Clark's began their journey to the Pacific Northwest, two of the Eastern establishment's leading figures, John Jacob Astor and Thomas Jefferson, turned their sights to founding a colony akin to Jamestown on the West Coast and transforming the nation into a Pacific trading power. Author and correspondent for Outside magazine Peter Stark recreates this pivotal moment in American history for the first time for modern readers, drawing on original source material to tell the amazing true story of the Astor Expedition.
Unfolding over the course of three years, from 1810 to 1813, Astoria is a tale of high adventure and incredible hardship in the wilderness and at sea. Of the more than one hundred-forty members of the two advance parties that reached the West Coast—one crossing the Rockies, the other rounding Cape Horn—nearly half perished by violence. Others went mad. Within one year, the expedition successfully established Fort Astoria, a trading post on the Columbia River. Though the colony would be short-lived, it opened provincial American eyes to the potential of the Western coast and its founders helped blaze the Oregon Trail.
- Print length400 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherEcco
- Publication dateFebruary 10, 2015
- Dimensions5.31 x 0.93 x 8 inches
- ISBN-100062218301
- ISBN-13978-0062218308
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Stark’s delightful narrative is proof that even though Astor didn’t leave the legacy he intended, his grand failure certainly deserves its own place in history.” — New York Times Book Review
“In Astoria, Peter Stark recounts the colony’s history as a fast-paced, enjoyable adventure tale.” — Wall Street Journal
“In his new book, Astoria ... Stark moves skillfully back and forth from one segment of the splintered expedition to another. He also raises a tantalizing question about the enterprise as a whole.” — Washington Post
“[Descriptive] passages . . . make Stark’s fine book truly distinctive. They raise Astoria above the level of a well-done historical adventure and help the reader get into a scene and understand the context or see relationships between participants and between then and now.” — Chicago Tribune
“Peter Stark’s Astoria is a vivid recreation of an era when the Pacific Northwest was a vast unexploited wilderness, with Astoria as its main American colony. . . . Stark is particularly strong in describing the wilderness and its effects on human psychology.” — Seattle Times
“Stark tells their grim story well . . . ‘Astoria’ is a well-written . . . account of John Jacob Astor’s attempt to found a commercial empire in the Pacific Northwest. It illuminates the cultural limits of the American approach to frontier expansion.” — Portland Oregonian
“In this harrowing historical tale of adventure and hardship, journalist Peter Stark re-creates a largely forgotten 19th-century expedition-during which one group crossed the Rockies and another sailed around Cape Horn-to establish America’s first colony on the Pacific Northwest coast.” — Parade Magazine
“A fast-paced, riveting account of exploration and settlement, suffering and survival, treachery and death. [Stark] recovers a remarkable piece of history: the story of America’s first colony on the continent’s West coast.” — Kirkus (Starred Review)
“A page-turning tale of ambition, greed, politics, survival, and loss.” — Publishers Weekly
“New York businessman Astor, with support from President Jefferson, launched two expeditions in 1810 - overland and by ship ... and Stark recounts the perilous journeys.” — New York Post
“The story of its founders is harshly inspiring, a deeply researched look into the irresistible drive to explore the unknown and the capacity of people to survive, not only the elements, but one another.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune
“... a thrilling true-adventure tale ... A breathtaking account of an expedition that changed the geography of a young nation and its place in global commerce and politics.” — Booklist
“Author Peter Stark retraces the journey in spellbinding detail, making use of journals to get inside the minds of these explorers who set out just two years after Lewis and Clark successfully crossed the continent. . . . Astoria brings to life a harrowing era of American exploration.” — Bookpage
“Stark’s compelling, contextual account of Astoria’s founding―at one time documented by none other than author Washington Irving - casts this early venture as a pivotal point in the development of the Pacific Northwest and the nation.” — Crosscut (Seattle)
“For better or worse, the precedents set by Astor and his expeditions created a tangible American legacy of entrepreneurship, risk-taking, and manifest destiny. Carefully researched and splendidly written―an utterly spellbinding account.” — Bellingham Herald
“A great yarn set in our own corner of the continent.” — Inlander
“A valuable book . . .but more importantly for my perspective, it’s really good reading.” — Nancy Pearl on NPR's "Morning Edition"
“Astoria is ultimately worth reading not just because it’s about Oregon history, but because it contextualizes Oregon’s past within American history. . . . The book is a welcome departure from romanticized tales of Lewis and Clark or of later pioneers.” — Portland Mercury
“Stark vividly writes of fur trader John Jacob Astor’s capitalist quest … [a] fascinating account… that never loses its focus.” — Library Journal
“Well researched and historically accurate, [Astoria] reads much like an adventure novel, engaging you from start to finish.” — Coast Weekend
“Peter Stark does readers a very large service in reminding us about this extraordinary and important piece of North American history. I can’t recommend Astoria highly enough for anyone interested in the colonization of the American West.” — BookBrowse.com
“A truly great adventure story, filled with high drama and hardship that would put ‘Survivor’ cast members into a tailspin of humility.” — BookReporter.com
“Peter Stark’s Astoria picks up where the Lewis and Clark Expedition leaves off, providing a fascinating and sometimes terrifying window into the brutal and acquisitive essence of not only America but of the human condition. It’s also a great and ... an ennobling tale of survival. Highly recommended.” — Nathaniel Philbrick, author of Bunker Hill, and In the Heart of the Sea
“Peter Stark weaves a spellbinding tale from this lost chapter of American history. Astoria gave me the sense all readers long for: that nothing exists but the riveting narrative unfolding in your head.” — Albany Times Union
“A splendid account of the man and men who had the audacity, passion, and courage to dream of an American Empire. Peter Stark’s Astoria is a must read for anyone wanting to understand the power of leadership in its purest form.” — Stephenie Ambrose-Tubbs, author of The Lewis and Clark Companion
“Peter Stark leaps aboard at the very beginning of John Jacob Astor’s Pacific Northwest enterprise, then clings tenaciously to witness every twist, by land and by sea, along the entire desperate ride.” — Jack Nisbet, author of Sources of the River and The Collector
“This saga of ambition and adventure and courage is vividly told and thoroughly researched, a not very well known story of ambition confounded. Shipwrecks, bloodiness, and starve-to-death treks through drifted snow in the Rockies-Astoria is a hard-edged beauty.” — William Kittredge, author of A Hole in the Sky
Astoria is a scintillating corrective to the “guts and glory” school of American history and economics. [...] Grandiose visions ... have consequences, and Peter Stark’s depiction of the body count that results from this one unfolds with the inevitability of a fine tragedy and comedic zing of a good action flick. — David James Duncan, author of The Brothers K and The River Why
From the Back Cover
In 1810, John Jacob Astor sent out two advance parties to settle the wild, unclaimed western coast of North America. More than half of his men died violent deaths. The others survived starvation, madness, and greed to shape the destiny of a continent. Unfolding from 1810 to 1813, Astoria is a tale of high adventure and incredible hardship drawing extensively on firsthand accounts of the men who made the journey. Though Astoria, the colony itself, would be short-lived, its founders opened provincial American eyes to the remarkable potential of the Western coast, discovered the route that became the Oregon Trail, and permanently altered the nation's landscape and global standing.
About the Author
Peter Stark is a historian and adventure writer. He is the author of the New York Times bestseller Astoria, along with The Last Empty Spaces, Last Breath, and At the Mercy of the River. He is a correspondent for Outside magazine, has written for Smithsonian and The New Yorker, and is a National Magazine Award nominee. He lives in Montana with his wife and children.
Product details
- Publisher : Ecco; Reprint edition (February 10, 2015)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 400 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0062218301
- ISBN-13 : 978-0062218308
- Item Weight : 12 ounces
- Dimensions : 5.31 x 0.93 x 8 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #39,084 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Peter Stark is an adventure and exploration writer and historian. Born in Wisconsin, he studied English and anthropology at Dartmouth College, took a master’s in journalism from the University of Wisconsin, and headed off to the remote spots of the world writing magazine articles and books. With a home base in Missoula, Montana, he and his family periodically have lived abroad for a year, most recently in a small town in Northeast Brazil.
His forthcoming book, “Young Washington: How Wilderness and War Forged America’s Founding Father,” tells the story of a young and struggling George Washington in the Ohio wilderness of the 1750s. It will be published by Ecco/HarperCollins on May 1st, 2018.
His previous book, “Astoria,” tells the gripping story of John Jacob Astor’s hugely ambitious wilderness expedition to establish the first American colony on the West Coast and a global trade empire. A New York Times bestseller, it received a PEN USA literary award nomination, and has been adapted into an epic, two-part play by Portland Center Stage in Portland, Oregon. A long-time correspondent for Outside magazine, Stark’s articles and essays have also appeared in Smithsonian, The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine, Men’s Journal, and many others.
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I just purchased it again for my husband to read. He is in a zoom book group with old friends and the guys are loving it.
It’s about the two groups going from the east coast of the U.S. to the west coast, one overland, one by ship, and the many mistakes made by both leaders along the way. Very good read.
In many ways, the Lewis and Clark Expedition, however arduous, was an example of a trip where almost everything went right. There was only one fatality, from illness. Conflict with the Indians was minimal. They never drifted terribly far off course. The Astoria Expedition, on the other hand, is an example where just about everything that could go wrong did go wrong, for both the sea-faring party and the cross-country trekkers. Internal conflict, an ambiguous chain of command, poor decision-making or a lack thereof, faulty wilderness survival skills, undiplomatic relations with the Native population, the outbreak of the War of 1812, and more all added up to a mission impossible with a high body count. Although Lewis and Clark’s crew suffered from hunger and privation, their troubles pale in comparison to the perils encountered by the Astorians. Stark does a good job of bringing these hardships to vivid reality, but he’s always a little too ready to shift focus back to Astor in his cozy Manhattan brownstone and praise the fur baron’s vision of global domination. Stark strikes a pretty good balance between happenings on the East and West coasts, but I would have preferred a little more of the microhistory of the travelers and their survival tales, and a little less of the relentless affirmation of Astor’s importance as a pioneer of globalization.
Though several members of the Astorian land and sea parties kept diaries of the journey, there seems to be a lot less information available on this expedition than that of Lewis and Clark. Stark is forced to skip over periods of time or to resort to filling in blank spots with speculation. All historians do this to some extent, but one wishes there were a greater pool of primary source material from which to draw. Documentation was one of the primary missions of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, as it had specific scientific, geographic, and diplomatic mandates to fulfill. The Astoria Expedition, on the other hand, was largely a commercial venture, and its members were primarily focused not on exploration or diplomacy but simply on the getting there. In terms of an adventure story, the Astoria trip may be the grittier and more treacherous quest, but it lacks some of the epic grandeur and Enlightenment spirit of its predecessor.
Stark’s book is an illuminating reinvestigation and compelling retelling of this important episode in America history. It’s also just a great wilderness adventure story. Anyone interested in Western expansion or the early exploration of the American continent will certainly find it an enjoyable read.
The trouble was Astor, comfortable in his own well-to-do life in Manhattan, hadn't counted what a considerable undertaking this would be for the men he recruited to pioneer it.
Astor commissioned two expeditions to the Northwest: one to go by sea around Cape Horn, the other to travel overland into the wilderness along a route that only one party of white men--Lewis and Clark's--had traveled before. Both would encounter hardships. The mariners were captained by a rather Captain Bligh-like figure, and their voyage was compounded by other mishaps including a virtual swamping. The overland party, on the other hand, under inexperienced leadership, had to endure the threats of hostile Indians, illness, near-starvation, and winter in the mountains.
The wonder was that as many reached the Columbia River as they did. An outpost was established. But the culmination of their experiences, plus the utter isolation that plagued the men being so far from home did not make for a happy situation. A couple went literally insane. Author Peter Stark raises the interesting proposition that, as this history illustrates, so much of American history--especially in the Age of Exploration and Settlement--may have been shaped by those suffering from PTSD.
But even a greater wonder is that Astor's dream of an empire in the Northwest may have actually been realized if it hadn't been for the War of 1812. With the Royal Navy commandeering the seas and blockading American ports, there was no way to keep up regular supply lines with the poor souls at Astor's outpost. The British moved in and took over. Later, an agreement to all intents and purposes ceded fur gathering west of the Rockies to the British, while Americans stay on the east side of that divide.
It's a great story, full of adventure, and Stark tells it more as a story than as dry history ("We can imagine . . ." he is sometimes prompted to say, filling in the blanks when his sources are sparse in detail). It's a chapter of American history that's little remembered these days (even among those, like myself who live in the Northwest), and Stark does well in bringing it back to life again.
the material becomes one big long mass with no attempt at emphasis through plotting, long winded, and very tedious, could have been much the material is all there , or most of it, which could have been developed very differently to leave a coherent, truly exciting narrative
but ignore the hype about being an exciting best seller. that is publisher blather it should have been broken up into digestible, dramatic segments
I keep yearning for a summary at the end of some lengthy exposition and it was not there. very weak explanation of the Astoria/Oregon story after the failure of the fur post.. where did it all lead... just a few sentences, even the route that became the Oregon trail is feeble, no maps, no further information