Seizing Destiny: The Relentless Expansion of American Territory [Paperback]

Less than 100 years after its creation as a fragile republic, the United States more than quadrupled its size, making it the world's third largest nation. No other country or sovereign power had ever grown so big so fast or become so rich and so powerful. Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Richard Kluger chronicles this epic achievement in a compelling narrative, celebrating the energy, daring, and statecraft behind America's insatiable land hunger while exploring the moral lapses that accompanied it. Comprehensive and balanced, Seizing Destiny is a revelatory, often surprising reexamination of the nation's breathless expansion, dwelling on both great accomplishments and the American people's tendency to confuse opportunistic success with heaven-sent entitlement that came to be called manifest destiny.

“A detailed and compelling portrait. . . . It will force you to think about how America was made, and why.” —The Boston Globe

“Comprehensive and sweeping. . . . Fascinating. . . . Kluger is a skilled and passionate storyteller.” —Chicago Tribune

“Epic. . . . Brilliant. . . . Kluger limns colorful pen portraits of heroes and knaves both familiar and forgotten.” —The Plain Dealer

“A well-crafted and readable narrative of this often sordid, sometimes forgotten side of the American past.” —The Washington Post Book World

Richard Kluger began his career as a writer and editor for The Wall Street Journal, Forbes, the (old) New York Post, and the New York Herald Tribune. After a book publishing career as an editor and executive, he turned to writing lã(