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Historians, biographers, and scholars of John James Audubon and natural history have long been mystified by Audubon’s 1843 Missouri River expedition, for his journals of the trip were thought to have been destroyed by his granddaughter Maria Rebecca Audubon. Daniel Patterson is the first scholar to locate and assemble three important fragments of the 1843 Missouri River journals, and here he offers a stunning transcription and critical edition of Audubon’s last journey through the American West.

Patterson’s new edition of the journals—unknown to Audubon scholars and fans—offers a significantly different understanding of the very core of Audubon’s life and work. Readers will be introduced to a more authentic Audubon, one who was concerned about the disappearance of America’s wild animal species and yet also loved to hunt and display his prowess in the wilderness. This edition reveals that Audubon’s famous late conversion to conservationism on this expedition was, in fact, a literary fiction. Maria Rebecca Audubon created this myth when she rewrote her grandfather’s journals for publication to make him into a visionary conservationist. In reality the journals detail almost gratuitous hunting predations throughout the course of Audubon’s last expedition.

The Missouri River Journals of John James Audubon is the definitive presentation of America’s most famous naturalist on his last expedition and assesses Audubon’s actual environmental ethic amid his conflicted relationship with the natural world he so admired and depicted in his iconic works.

Table of Contents

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  1. Cover
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  1. Title Page, Copyright, Dedication, Quotations
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  1. Contents
  2. pp. ix-x
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  1. List of Illustrations
  2. pp. xi-xiv
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  1. Preface
  2. pp. xv-xviii
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  1. Acknowledgments
  2. pp. xix-xxiv
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  1. List of Abbreviations
  2. pp. xxv-xxvi
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  1. Editorial Principles
  2. pp. xxvii-xxx
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  1. Part I. Maria Rebecca Audubon, Her Grandfather’s 1843 Missouri River Journals, and the “Great Auk Speech”
  2. pp. 1-24
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  1. Part II. Audubon’s Missouri River Expedition of 1843
  2. pp. 25-26
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  1. His Eminence
  2. pp. 27-30
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  1. Preparations
  2. pp. 31-46
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  1. Minnie’s Land to St. Louis, March 11–28
  2. pp. 47-54
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  1. St. Louis, March 28–April 24
  2. pp. 55-62
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  1. St. Louis to the Yellowstone River and Fort Union, April 25–June 12
  2. pp. 63-82
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  1. Fort Union and the Prairies, June 13-August 15
  2. pp. 83-114
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  1. Fort Union to St. Louis, August 16–October 19
  2. pp. 115-126
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  1. St. Louis to Minnie’s Land, October 22–November 7
  2. pp. 127-130
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  1. Part III. The Three Forgotten Manuscript Journals
  2. pp. 131-132
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  1. The Beinecke Partial Copy
  2. pp. 133-158
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  1. The Original Field Notebook and the Newberry Partial Copy
  2. pp. 159-208
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  1. Part IV. Audubon’s Conservation Ethic Reconsidered
  2. pp. 209-210
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  1. Audubon’s Hunting and Conservation Ethic as Represented in the Biographies
  2. pp. 211-234
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  1. The Lived Ethic
  2. pp. 235-266
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  1. The Written Ethic
  2. pp. 267-298
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  1. Epilogue
  2. pp. 299-304
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  1. Part V. Other Materials from the 1843 Expedition
  2. pp. 305-306
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  1. The 1843 Diary of John Graham Bell
  2. pp. 307-374
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  1. The 1843 Diary of Isaac Sprague
  2. pp. 375-422
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  1. Audubon’s “George Catlin” Powder Horn from the Missouri River Expedition
  2. pp. 423-426
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  1. Appendix: “The Pet Bear,” an Unpublished Episode
  2. pp. 427-432
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  1. Works Cited
  2. pp. 433-438
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  1. Index
  2. pp. 439-445
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  1. Image Plates
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