Looking For Humboldt Searching For German Footprints In New Mexico And Beyond Erika Schelby by Erika Schelby 9780989121637, 0989121631 instant download after payment.

After closures due to the pandemic, the landmark "Humboldt & The Unites States" exhibit at the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum reopened on May 14, 2021. Humboldt visited the United States for only six weeks, but in that time he changed America and American art permanently. His impact was profound and his name is everywhere: on mountains, rivers, towns, counties, parks, schools, plants, animals, and products. It’s in the sea, and on a crater of the moon. An American rediscovery of Humboldt can deliver a positive boost during these difficult times.

Erika Schelby’s Looking For Humboldt is a fitting book to complement the exhibit. It covers Humboldt’s ideas and his down-to-earth influence on those who worked in the field while exploring the Southwest. Schelby uses a fresh lens, tells the stories of an adventure-rich past, and introduces a handful of captivating German settlers, soldiers, artists, and surveyors. To gain insight into the region, the tale starts with the Spanish Colonial era, investigates the Black Legend, and travels with the Mexican War, Manifest Destiny, Pro-and Anti-Slavery struggles, the Territorial Period, Labor Strife, Racism, and the Gilded Age until it reaches the First World War. In the background is a frame that connects these regional events to the larger world of social movements, geopolitics, and current affairs.

Humboldt was a cosmopolitan scientist and a Prussian-German. Today, at least 46 million Americans continue to claim German descent. Their contributions are vast. Before World War I, this heritage was evident throughout American society. It was erased during World War I. A century later it is certainly reasonable to ask: why is this large demographic group of solid citizens wrapped in so much silence? Did these Americans forget how to think, read, or write? With Humboldt’s spirit inspiring her work, Schelby discards the silence. Her synthesis of geography, geopolitics, history, personal revelation and German experience in Ame