Date: 26 February 2023
Location: Jay & Gina
A dozen Bookers met to discuss Kukla’s remarkable book with the subtitle: The Lousiana Purchase and the Destiny of America. Only four of us actually read at least part of the book, but those who did enjoyed it.
I realized when recommending it that this was a big, dense book, but it had been almost a year since we had read a non-fiction work and thought we should give it a try. Some of the Bookers who were unable to complete the book found a CSPAN Booknotes interview with the author that was very interesting.
This is a big book with a wealth of information describing the people and events leading up to the land purchase which doubled the size of the United States and changed American (and world) history forever. Kukla discusses the many different individuals who played important roles in the process, including, of course, the principals: Jefferson, Napoleon, Carlos III and Carlos IV. Moreover, he explained the various factions involved in obtaining (or blocking) free access to the Mississippi River and the port of New Orleans.
Kukla writes with a very readable style providing scores of little-known (at least to me) facts. With the possible exception of a couple of David McCullough’s books, this is one of the best histories that I have ever read.
— Bob