| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 35.2

You have not been recognized as a subscriber to the WHQ online. About 182 words from this article are provided below; about 360 words remain.

If you are a individual subscriber to the Western Historical Quarterly, you may:: • login here if you have already registered for online access.; • Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
• Set up your online account for the first time.
If you are not a subscriber to the Western Historical Quarterly, you can:: • subscribe here.
• Purchase a research pass to gain two hour access to the entire History Cooperative web site. You will have full access to current issues of the Western Historical Quarterly (104.3-present). Note: the Research Pass does not provide access to JSTOR's holdings of the Western Historical Quarterly.
Instititutions can:: • Subscribe to this journal and receive print and electronic issues.
• Activate your existing subscription so that we recognize your IP number ranges.

| Book Review | The Western Historical Quarterly, 35.2 | The History Cooperative

*West of Emerson: The Design of Manifest Destiny*. By Kris Fresonke. (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2003. xii + 201 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, index. $19.95, paper.)
Reading Kris Fresonke's book is like using a compass near a magnetic anomaly. The points of reference provide no certain direction but, instead, jump and switch and spin. The problem lies not with poles but with horizons. Eastern positions determine western destinations; and western vistas, in turn, reconfigure eastern orientations. Readers, like explorers, cannot be quite certain where they stand though, the author contends, something is gained in losing—or better, regaining—one's spatial and conceptual bearings.	1
Little in Fresonke's book is as it first appears. Beginning with Lewis and Clark and Zebulon Pike, the work ends with Emerson and Thoreau and F. Scott Fitzgerald. A study of geographical explorations quickly focuses on theological, political, aesthetic, and literary saunterings. The nominal inquiry into Manifest Destiny is more an examination of cosmic design. The journey through the book, like travels through a wilderness, can be filled with the unexpected.	. . .

There are about 360 more words in this article. Please log in (or, if you are not yet an authorized user, please go to the User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.