Finally, it should be clear that exploration has not been without its critics. England's Dr. Johnson deplored it as victimizing native peoples. And such criticism has always followed the European and American explorers and their nationalist writings which some have called "imperial" or "imperialistic." Foremost of those critics in modern times is Edward Said whose diatribe on this subject of "the others" in Orientalism has made his work a classic. Certain historians of the American West have made exploration one of the prime evils of conquest, while at the same time destroying the interest and romance of western American history. This bibliography of American histories of exploration is intended to bring back not only the adventure and romance of American exploration but its profound reflection of a country and a culture born and guided by the Second Great Age of Discovery.

Introduction || Part 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 || Conclusion