The Louisiana Purchase: The Grand Bargain and the Making of America (Pivotal Moments in American History)

Review

"Alexander Mikaberidze offers a profound and refreshing new take on the Louisiana Purchase as deeply rooted in European colonial rivalries and diplomatic gamesmanship. American leaders discovered that it was better to be lucky than good in securing the first great prize in their own construction of empire." --Alan Taylor, author of ^iAmerican Republics: A Continental History, 1783-1850^r "No-one could write more authoritatively and brilliantly on the Louisiana Purchase than Alexander Mikaberidze, steeped as he is in all the international primary sources. He conveys superbly how the westward manifest destiny of the United States was in fact anything but manifest, and how important contingency was on what was to become the continental greatness of America." --Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon: A Life "In this engaging, revealing, and deeply researched book, Alexander Mikaberidze gives the long history of the Louisiana Purchase the sweeping global perspective it has always needed and deserved." --Peter Kastor, Washington University, author of The Nation's Crucible: The Louisiana Purchase and Creation of America "With a range and amplitude that reflects the age of epic historians, and a precision and scholarship that captures the insights and issues of the present, Alexander Mikaberidze does it again. A very fine work on a seminal moment in the history of both the U.S. and the Americas." --Jeremy Black, author of The Struggle for Mastery in North America "An exploration of an outstanding event in global history that both demonstrates masterful scholarship and recaptures the hallowed tradition of grand storytelling. Uncovering details long forgotten and obscured, Mikaberidze illuminates the Purchase's impact across national, imperial, and cultural boundaries. A rare achievement." --Edward G. Lengel, author of General George Washington: A Military Life "Alexander Mikaberidze offers a profound and refreshing new take on the Louisiana Purchase as deeply rooted in European colonial rivalries and diplomatic gamesmanship. American leaders discovered that it was better to be lucky than good in securing the first great prize in their own construction of empire." -- Alan Taylor, author of American Republics: A Continental History, 1783-1850"No-one could write more authoritatively and brilliantly on the Louisiana Purchase than Alexander Mikaberidze, steeped as he is in all the international primary sources. He conveys superbly how the westward manifest destiny of the United States was in fact anything but manifest, and how important contingency was on what was to become the continental greatness of America." -- Andrew Roberts, author of Napoleon: A Life"In this engaging, revealing, and deeply researched book, Alexander Mikaberidze gives the long history of the Louisiana Purchase the sweeping global perspective it has always needed and deserved." -- Peter Kastor, Washington University, author of The Nation's Crucible: The Louisiana Purchase and Creation of America"With a range and amplitude that reflects the age of epic historians, and a precision and scholarship that captures the insights and issues of the present, Alexander Mikaberidze does it again. A very fine work on a seminal moment in the history of both the U.S. and the Americas." -- Jeremy Black, author of The Struggle for Mastery in North America"An exploration of an outstanding event in global history that both demonstrates masterful scholarship and recaptures the hallowed tradition of grand storytelling. Uncovering details long forgotten and obscured, Mikaberidze illuminates the Purchase's impact across national, imperial, and cultural boundaries. A rare achievement." -- Edward G. Lengel, author of General George Washington: A Military Life

About the Author

Alexander Mikaberidze is Professor of History and the Ruth Herring Noel Endowed Chair at Louisiana State University-Shreveport. He is an award-winning author and editor of over two dozen books that have appeared in over half a dozen languages. His books Kutuzov: A Life in War and Peace (Oxford 2022) and The Napoleonic Wars: A Global History (Oxford, 2020) received critical acclaim and won the Society for Military History's Distinguished Book Awards and the Gilder-Lehrman Military History Prize. He served as an editor for the multi-volume Cambridge History of the Napoleonic Wars (Cambridge, 2023).