In this bicentennial year of the Louisiana Purchase, it's hard to imagine a more lively, shrewd and vivid narrative of the tangled events leading to it than this book. Compared to Roger Kennedy's zigzagging, unfocused Mr. Jefferson's Lost Cause
(look for a review next week),
Cerami's book is notable for its readability and clarity. When he occasionally strays from his subject, he stumbles badly and shouldn't be taken as an authority on history in other times; nor is his tale based on the most recent, pertinent scholarship and available documents. But about the geopolitical and diplomatic circumstances of the purchase, Cerami (A Marshall Plan for the 1990s,
etc.) is a master. His greatest achievement is to bring all of the characters involved—not only the well-known figures like Napoleon, Jefferson and James Monroe, but also the less famous but equally significant ones such as Robert Livingston, Louis-André Pichon and François de Barbé-Marbois—brilliantly to life. Cerami's book will not satisfy those looking to understand the larger significance of the sudden doubling of American territory—its implications for slavery, politics and the emergence of the U.S. as a continental and world power. But anyone wanting to read the story of a momentous turning point in American history, a story of diplomatic maneuvering and international politics, will be hard-pressed to find a better version than this. Illus. Agent, Bob Silverstein. (On sale Mar. 3)
Forecast:Given the publisher's deep marketing savvy, the book's merits and probable media focus on the 200th anniversary of the Louisiana Purchase, this title should sell handsomely.
