"Fortune’s a River: The Collision of Empires in Northwest America" (used book)

Fortune’s a River: The Collision of Empires in Northwest America

by Barry Gough

About the book

Used book. Paperback. Excellent Condition. Message to previous owner on title page.

Fortune’s a River: The Collision of Empires in Northwest America is the most authoritative and readable account to date of just how British Columbia became British and how Oregon, Washington and Alaska became American.

By the closing years of the eighteenth century, the stage was set for a major international confrontation over the Northwest Coast. Imperial Russia was firmly established in Alaska, Spain was extending its grasp north from Mexico, Captain James Cook had claimed Northwest America for Britain and Captain Robert Gray had discovered the Columbia River, the historical basis of the United State’s claim to the river and watershed.

In Fortune’s a River, noted historian Barry Gough re-examines this Imperial struggle for the Pacific Northwest and fully evokes its peculiar drama.

Gough examines many of the players in this territorial drama, bringing them fully to life and vividly recounting their hardships and struggles. Fortune’s a River is a major historical work that reads like a wild west adventure.