Paperback: 320 pages
Publisher: Lava Gate Press (September 15, 2017)
Language: English
about
the book
Cher. Madonna. Bono. Sting. Beyoncé. All global icons. Let’s go back in time and add another one: Humboldt,” wrote Katie Hondorf of the Smithsonian American Art Museum as she announced the upcoming landmark exhibition.
This was good news. Humboldt visited the United States for only six weeks, but in that time he changed America and American art permanently. His impact was profound and his name is everywhere: on mountains, rivers, towns, counties, parks, schools, plants, animals, and products. It’s in the sea, and on a crater of the moon. He remains acutely relevant as an environmental scientist and a naturalist. An American rediscovery of Humboldt can deliver a positive boost during these difficult times.
Erika Schelby’s LOOKING FOR HUM BOLDT is the fitting book to compliment the Schmithsonian’s SAAM exhibit.
It covers Humboldt’s ideas and his down-to-earth influence on those who worked in the field while exploring the Southwest. Schelby uses a fresh lens, tells the stories of an adventure-rich past, and introduces a handful of captivating German settlers, soldiers, artists, and surveyors.
To gain insight into the region, the tale starts with the Spanish Colonial era, investigates the Black Legend, and travels with the Mexican War, Manifest Destiny, Pro-and Anti-Slavery struggles, the Territorial Period, Labor Strife, Racism, and the Gilded Age until it reaches the First World War. In the background is a frame that connects these regional events to the larger world of social movements, geopolitics, and current affairs.
Humboldt was a cosmopolitan scientist and a Prussian-German. Today, at least 46 million Americans continue to claim German descent. Their contributions are vast. Before World War I, this heritage was evident throughout American society. It was erased during World War I. A century later it is certainly reasonable to ask: why is this large demographic group of solid citizens wrapped in so much silence? Did these Americans forget how to think, read, or write?
With Humboldt’s spirit inspiring her work, Schelby discards the silence. Her synthesis of geography, geopolitics, history, personal revelation and German experience in America holds especially powerful messages in the face of modern challenges to immigrant and ethnic groups in the country and the world.
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