In This Remote Country

“Beautifully written and rich both in original research and in cogent critiques of U.S. imperialist ideology.” — Modern Philology

“A remarkable contribution. It deserves a wide readership among scholars of nineteenth-century literature and historians.” — Michigan Historical Review

“An important book going well beyond its subtitle. . . . Valuable . . . [a] nuanced reading of contemporary literary and historical texts.” — Journal of the West

“Packed with many stimulating insights. . . . Watts has something important to say to a very wide audience. . . A powerful argument about the importance of colonial representations in a postcolonial world.” — Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History

“[An] intriguing book. . . . A remarkable array of nineteenth-century sources. . . . An especially rich analysis.” — Indiana Magazine of History

“A major contribution to contemporary scholarship. . . . A fascinating and authoritative study.” — Journal of American Studies

“Offers a compelling analysis of US expansion to and gradual hegemony in the old Northwest and the Mississippi River Valley.” — CHOICE

“Burgeoning interest in early modern France’s colonial enterprise is enhanced by [this] . . . study. . . . Original.” — American Historical Review

“In This Remote Country is an important contribution to the burgeoning literature on the imperial dimension of United States history. Edward Watts’ fascinating study of representations of eighteenth-century French colonists in nineteenth-century American narratives underscores the existence of multiple models of nation-building in the post-colonial republic.” — Andrew Cayton, Miami University of Ohio

“On one level, this study is valuable as a project of recovery, restoring to nineteenth-century discourse forgotten voices of protest and alternative visions of national character. On another level, it represents a contribution to current theoretical debates regarding the relevance of postcolonial theory to American studies. Its careful attention to the specific historical, political, and cultural dynamics of America’s colonial, postcolonial, and imperial development is the work of a mature scholar with a broad historical and theoretical perspective and a firm mastery of his subject.” — Susan Scheckel, Stony Brook University