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Sto caricando le informazioni... The Stranger and the Statesman: James Smithson, John Quincy Adams, and the Making of America's Greatest Museum: The Smithsonian (2003)di Nina Burleigh
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 Iscriviti per consentire a LibraryThing di scoprire se ti piacerà questo libro. Attualmente non vi sono conversazioni su questo libro.   ) melydia | Aug 18, 2015 |  Burleigh’s investigation into the life of Smithson comes against the usual historical boondoggle – documentation. There are a lot of details about his life that are aren’t known, either because no one recorded them or they were destroyed in 1865 by a fire. So, there’s a fair amount of conjecture in the book, but it’s not enough to make you question the entire work. The machinations of aristocratic and scientific England were very pleasant to read, especially when juxtaposed against the political battle in Washington in creating the museum. All in all, I enjoyed it. http://lifelongdewey.wordpress.com/2012/04/24/069-the-stranger-and-the-statesman... (  )1  NielsenGW | Apr 24, 2012 | ) basbleu39 | Apr 8, 2008 |  ) dolphinluver22000 | Feb 13, 2008 |
 Amassed from scant source material, this inescapably forced attempt to make something of the life of the Smithsonian Institution’s founder underscores the peculiar nature of the institution's origins. Little is known of James Smithson’s life—a state of affairs this account will not change—and he would not provoke much interest except for one grand gesture: He left to the US government, on his death in 1836, a sum of $500,000 “for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men.” What makes this act so strange, writes Burleigh (A Very Private Woman, 1998), was that Smithson was an Englishman who never set foot in America. The bastard son of the Duke of Northumberland, though his mother also had a nice pot of her own gold, he led the life of a dilettante scientist; to call him even a minor 18th-century mineralogist would be generous. “Smithson’s career was marginal, maybe even irrelevant as far as the great questions of his day,” admits the author. Since her subject provides few handles, she fastens onto his parents, his social milieu, and his colleagues in the Royal Society to move the story along. Then comes his bequest, which Burleigh suggests was the product either of his desire to make a name for himself or, more charitably, “to bring scientific knowledge to the masses,” both certainly plausible speculations. When the money makes it to the US Treasury, the author can finally sink her teeth into events, following the financial shenanigans through which the entire bequest was swindled and the efforts of John Quincy Adams to have the money put to its intended use. The dabbling Smithson isn’t much of a rudder for a biography, and authorial enthusiasm never overcomes the handicap.
In her illuminating and dramatic biography The Stranger and the Statesman, New York Times bestselling author Nina Burleigh reveals a little-known slice of history in the life and times of the man responsible for the creation of the United States' principal cultural institution, the Smithsonian.It was one of the nineteenth century's greatest philanthropic gifts - and one of its most puzzling mysteries. In 1829, a wealthy English naturalist named James Smithson left his library, mineral collection, and entire fortune to the "United States of America, to found... an establishment for the increase & diffusion of Knowledge among men" - even though he had never visited the United States or known any Americans. In this fascinating book, Burleigh pieces together the reclusive benefactor's life, beginning with his origins as the Paris-born illegitimate son of the first Duke of Northumberland and a wild adventuress who preserved for her son a fortune through gall and determination.The book follows Smithson through his university years and his passionate study of minerals across Europe during the chaos of the French Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars. Detailed are his imprisonment - simply for being an Englishman in the wrong place - his experiences in the gambling dens of France, and his lonely and painstaking scientific pursuits.After Smithson's death, nineteenth-century American politicians were given the task of securing his half-million dollars - the equivalent today of $50 million - and then trying to determine how to increase and diffuse knowledge from the muddy, brawling new city of Washington. Burleigh discloses how Smithson's bequest was nearly lost due to fierce battles among many clashing Americans - Southern slavers, states' rights advocates, nation-builders, corrupt frontiersmen, and Anglophobes who argued over whether a gift from an Englishman should even be accepted. She also reveals the efforts of the unsung heroes, mainly former president John Quincy Adams, whose tireless efforts finally saw Smithson's curious notion realized in 1846, with a castle housing the United States' first and greatest cultural and scientific establishment. Non sono state trovate descrizioni di biblioteche |
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 Google Books — Sto caricando le informazioni...GeneriSistema Decimale Melvil (DDC)069.09753Information Organizations Museums History of museums and the museum idea North America Southeastern U.S. District of Columbia, Washington (city)Classificazione LCVotoMedia: (3.76)
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