From the Publisher
As David McCullough writes, "Not all pioneers went west."
In The Greater Journey, he tells the enthralling,
inspiring-and until now, untold-story of the adventurous American
artists, writers, doctors, politicians, and others who set off for
Paris in the years between 1830 and 1900, hungry to learn and to
excel in their work. What they achieved would profoundly alter
American history.
Elizabeth Blackwell, the first female doctor in America, was one
of this intrepid band. Another was Charles Sumner, whose encounters
with black students at the Sorbonne inspired him to become the most
powerful voice for abolition in the U.S. Senate. Friends James
Fenimore Cooper and Samuel F. B. Morse worked unrelentingly every
day in Paris, Morse not only painting what would be his
masterpiece, but also bringing home his momentous idea for the
telegraph. Harriet Beecher Stowe traveled to Paris to escape the
controversy generated by her book, Uncle Tom's Cabin.
Three of the greatest American artists ever-sculptor Augustus
Saint-Gaudens, painters Mary Cassatt and John Singer
Sargent-flourished in Paris, inspired by French masters.
Almost forgotten today, the heroic American ambassador Elihu
Washburne bravely remained at his post through the Franco-Prussian
War, the long Siege of Paris, and the nightmare of the Commune. His
vivid diary account of the starvation and suffering endured by the
people of Paris is published here for the first time.
Telling their stories with power and intimacy, McCullough brings
us into the lives of remarkable men and women who, in
Saint-Gaudens' phrase, longed "to soar into the blue."
About the Author
David McCullough was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on July 7, 1933. He received a bachelor's degree in English literature from Yale University in 1955. After graduation, he moved to New York City and worked as a trainee at Sports Illustrated. He later worked as a writer and editor for the United States Information Agency, in Washington, D.C., including a position at American Heritage. While working at American Heritage, he wrote The Johnstown Flood which was published in 1968. He has written numerous books since then including 1776, Brave Companions, and The Great Bridge. He twice received the Pulitzer Prize, for Truman and John Adams, and twice received the National Book Award, for The Path Between the Seas: The Creation of the Panama Canal and Mornings on Horseback. He has also won two Francis Parkman Prizes, the Los Angeles Times Book Award, and New York Public Library's Literary Lion Award. Two of his books, Truman and John Adams, have been adapted into a television movie and mini-series, respectively, by HBO. In December 2006, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian award that a United States citizen can receive.
About the Book
"New York Times"-bestselling, two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author McCullough presents the enthralling story of the American painters, writers, sculptors, and doctors who journeyed to Paris between 1830 and 1900 and how they altered American history.
