With customary depth and insight, David Bain illumines the
United States''s nineteenth-century exploration of the Holy Land. To
lead the expedition, the navy tabbed William Francis Lynch, an
officer eager to enter the esteemed yet dangerous field of
Victorian exploration. Like many of his successful contemporaries,
Lynch was well-read, and possessed an independent nature, but in a
man who also preferred organization to chaos, and with a character
that tended toward the obsessive. The expedition would force a
juxtaposition of the ancient world with the modern, as the world''s
newest power attempted an exhaustive scientific study of the waters
of the cradle of civilization.
Beyond its fascinating topic, Bitter Waters is full of broad
allusions from the period that demonstrate Bain''s deep
understanding of America, and serve to make the work appealing for
general scholars and lay readers. Heroically engaging unfamiliar
terrain, hostile Bedouins, and ancient mysteries, Lynch and his
party epitomize their nation''s spirit of Manifest Destiny in the
days before the Civil War.
關於作者:
DAVID HAWARD BAIN''s four previous books of
nonfiction include Empire Express which was a New York
Times bestseller and Sitting in Darkness. His articles
and essays have appeared in Smithsonian, American
Heritage, Kenyon Review, and Prairie Schooner. He
teaches at Middlebury College and lives in Middlebury, Vermont.