DeWitt Clinton and Amos Eaton: Geology and Power in Early New York Hardcover - 2014

From the rear cover

David I. Spanagel explores the origins of American geology and the culture that promoted it in nineteenth-century New York. Focusing on Amos Eaton, the educator and amateur scientist who founded the Rensselaer School, and DeWitt Clinton, the masterful politician who led the movement for the Erie Canal, Spanagel shows how a cluster of assumptions about the peculiar landscape and entrepreneurial spirit of New York came to define the Empire State. In so doing, he sheds light on a particularly innovative and fruitful period of interplay among science, politics, art, and literature in American history.

"A significant contribution to our current understanding of the history of science between the first scientific revolution of the early modern period and the emergence of modern, professionalized science . . . Provocative and compelling."--American Historical Review

"DeWitt Clinton and Amos Eaton provides the reader with a fresh exploration of the early American republic . . . Here is a volume chock full of good ideas and evocative questions."--Endeavour

"A compelling story of the intersections between science and politics in the early decades of the nineteenth century."--The Journal of American History

"What a good and interesting read this is, and that what is most novel and most striking are the numerous connections that others have perhaps seen--one here and one there--but that Spanagel has woven into a rich network that makes deep cultural sense."--Isis

"An unfailingly interesting and informative book. It provides excellent insight into antebellum New York and neatly details how Clinton, Van Rensselaer, and Eaton had a profound impact on the intellectual and political life of New York."--British Society for Literature and Science

From the jacket flap

David I. Spanagel explores the origins of American geology and the culture that promoted it in nineteenth-century New York. Focusing on Amos Eaton, the educator and amateur scientist who founded the Rensselaer School, and DeWitt Clinton, the masterful politician who led the movement for the Erie Canal, Spanagel shows how a cluster of assumptions about the peculiar landscape and entrepreneurial spirit of New York came to define the Empire State. In so doing, he sheds light on a particularly innovative and fruitful period of interplay among science, politics, art, and literature in American history.

A significant contribution to our current understanding of the history of science between the first scientific revolution of the early modern period and the emergence of modern, professionalized science . . . Provocative and compelling.--American Historical Review

DeWitt Clinton and Amos Eaton provides the reader with a fresh exploration of the early American republic . . . Here is a volume chock full of good ideas and evocative questions.--Endeavour

A compelling story of the intersections between science and politics in the early decades of the nineteenth century.--The Journal of American History

What a good and interesting read this is, and that what is most novel and most striking are the numerous connections that others have perhaps seen--one here and one there--but that Spanagel has woven into a rich network that makes deep cultural sense.--Isis

An unfailingly interesting and informative book. It provides excellent insight into antebellum New York and neatly details how Clinton, Van Rensselaer, and Eaton had a profound impact on the intellectual and political life of New York.--British Society for Literature and Science