The Old West's first power couples : the Frémonts, the Custers, and their epic quest for Manifest Destiny
(Book - Regular Print)

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Average Rating
Published
Tucson, AZ : Rio Nuevo Publishers, [2020].
Physical Desc
pages cm
Status
Sharlot Hall Museum Library & Archives - SHNFB - SHM Book Collection
978 NES
1 available

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Published
Tucson, AZ : Rio Nuevo Publishers, [2020].
Format
Book - Regular Print
Language
English

Notes

Bibliography
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Description
"A century and a half before the Kennedys and the Clintons, the Fremonts and the Custers were American power couples. Indeed, John and Jessie Fremont, and George and Libbie Custer pioneered the phenomenon. So what made the Fremonts and Custers so famous? In popular culture, the husbands became all-American if tarnished heroes. Fremont was renowned as "the Pathfinder" who mapped swaths of the West in five expeditions and helped lead America's conquest of California from Mexico. His fame and anti-slavery views got him nominated as the newborn Republican Party's presidential candidate in the 1856 election. During the Civil War, Custer was celebrated as the "boy-general" who led cavalry charges that routed rebel forces in a score or more combats. He achieved immortality for the "last stand" of him and 262 of his men against thousands of Indian warriors during the battle of the Bighorn, an epic defeat nearly as culturally powerful as America's Thermopylae, the Alamo. Fremont and Custer epitomized the themes and lived their own adventurous versions of the Odyssey and Iliad, respectively. But above all they helped spearhead "Manifest Destiny," the belief that Americans have a God-given right to expand their nation across the continent and even beyond to the ends of the earth. Then there were their wives. Although little known today, Jessie and Libbie were nearly as famous as their husbands. Each served as her husband's political muse, offering candid advice and spurring him to ever higher ambitions. Both were beautiful, vivacious women who loved entertaining and being the center of attention. They knew how to appropriately wield their charms so that they inspired admiration rather than unwanted advances from men or jealousy from women. They were courageous women who followed their husbands to war, the frontier, and even into the wilderness where they endured extremes of bone-numbing cold, stifling heat, deluges, and swarms of mosquitoes; resided in drafty tents or cabins; and at times feared being victims of violence. The Fremonts and Custers were powerhouses as literary as well as political couples. All four authored books and articles, although overall the ladies were better writers. Proudly backed by their wives, Fremont and Custer committed epic acts in epic times that brought them enormous fame. Yet eventually each self-destructed, Fremont with an accumulating series of disastrous decisions as an explorer, general, politician, and businessman; Custer spectacularly at the Little Bighorn. The reason was simple--serious character flaws made each man his own worst enemy. Had Shakespeare been born three centuries later, his plays on the Fremonts and Custers would likely rank with Macbeth, Lear, Hamlet, Richard III, or Julius Caesar. Hubris was the Achilles heel of both men. Becoming adored heroes at an early age warped each to believe that he could get away with anything. Once extolled as symbolizing America's greatest traits of courage, decisiveness, and ingenuity, with time John Fremont, George Custer, and, by extension their "enabling wives," have increasingly been reviled for representing imperialism, racism, and genocide. It is long past due for a critical reappraisal. As usual the truth shifts mostly far from the extremes. The Old West's First Power Couples neither celebrates nor demonizes John and Jessie Fremont, and George and Libbie Custer. Instead each is explored as an extraordinary, gifted, flawed, unique individual who was half of a unique couple that made history and advanced America's Manifest Destiny"--,Provided by publisher.

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APA Citation, 7th Edition (style guide)

Nester, W. R. (2020). The Old West's first power couples: the Frémonts, the Custers, and their epic quest for Manifest Destiny . Rio Nuevo Publishers.

Chicago / Turabian - Author Date Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Nester, William R., 1956-. 2020. The Old West's First Power Couples: The Frémonts, the Custers, and Their Epic Quest for Manifest Destiny. Rio Nuevo Publishers.

Chicago / Turabian - Humanities (Notes and Bibliography) Citation, 17th Edition (style guide)

Nester, William R., 1956-. The Old West's First Power Couples: The Frémonts, the Custers, and Their Epic Quest for Manifest Destiny Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2020.

MLA Citation, 9th Edition (style guide)

Nester, William R. The Old West's First Power Couples: The Frémonts, the Custers, and Their Epic Quest for Manifest Destiny Rio Nuevo Publishers, 2020.

Note! Citations contain only title, author, edition, publisher, and year published. Citations should be used as a guideline and should be double checked for accuracy. Citation formats are based on standards as of August 2021.

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