Empires of the Imagination

"Empires of the Imagination"takes the Louisiana Purchase as a point of departure for a compelling new discussionof the interaction between France and the United States. In addition to offering thefirst substantive synthesis of this transatlantic relationship, the essays collectedhere offer new inter [...]
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"Empires of the Imagination"takes the Louisiana Purchase as a point of departure for a compelling new discussionof the interaction between France and the United States. In addition to offering thefirst substantive synthesis of this transatlantic relationship, the essays collectedhere offer new interpretations on themes vital to the subject, ranging frompolitical culture to intercultural contact to ethnic identity. They capture thecultural breadth of the territories encompassed by the Louisiana Purchase, exploringnot only French and Anglo-American experiences, but also those of Native Americansand African Americans.Despite differences in concerns and methods, the pieces collected share crucial ground in how they suggest new ways for thinkingabout empire, identity, and memory. The authors show how France and the UnitedStates set about their competing imperial projects even as residents of the NorthAmerican West effectively resisted those imperial aims, creating instead their ownnotions of community and connection. At the same time, these essays show how thecontact among peoples created new social configurations and distinct culturalidentities. Moving beyond the particulars of the late eighteenth and earlynineteenth centuries, these essays reveal how the Louisiana Purchase subsequentlyentered into the public consciousness on both sides of the Atlantic in ways thatcontinue to define imperial projects, racial identities, and ethniccommunities.Delineating a unique moment in transatlantic historicalconversation, "Empires of the Imagination" alsoprovides important lessons in cross-disciplinary approaches to North American andAtlantic history. In addition to the multinational perspectives of the authors, individual essays deploy social science history, political culture, and ideologicalhistory, as well as social and cultural history, to create a cohesive understandingof diverse experiences.Contributors: Emily Clark, Tulane University* Laurent Dubois, Duke University * Mark Fernandez, Loyola University, New Orleans *Peter J. Kastor, Washington University in St. Louis * Paul Lachance, University ofOttawa * Jean-Pierre Le Glaunec, Dalhousie University * James E. Lewis Jr., Kalamazoo College * Peter S. Onuf, University of Virginia * Jacques Portes, Universit de Paris VIII * Marie-Jeanne Rossignol, Universit de Paris VII--DenisDiderot * C cile Vidal, L' cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales * Fran oisWeil, L' cole des Hautes tudes en Sciences Sociales * Richard White, StanfordUniversity