Flowers, guns, and money : Joel Roberts Poinsett and the paradoxes of American patriotism /
Joel Roberts Poinsett is one of those figures who show up all across the expanding United States in the early nineteenth century. His career culminated as Secretary of War but also encompassed time as a secret agent in South America, ambassador to Mexico, South Carolina state legislator and US Congr...
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| Format: | Book |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Chicago :
The University of Chicago Press,
2023.
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| Series: | American beginnings, 1500-1900.
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| Subjects: |
| Summary: | Joel Roberts Poinsett is one of those figures who show up all across the expanding United States in the early nineteenth century. His career culminated as Secretary of War but also encompassed time as a secret agent in South America, ambassador to Mexico, South Carolina state legislator and US Congressman, as well as as a naturalist and namesake of the poinsettia, which he stole from Mexico. While Poinsett was not an ideologue with a master plan, his consistently self-interested actions reveal an America defined by selfishness, cruelty, greed and the use of federal power in support of them. |
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| Physical Description: | 264 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm. |
| Bibliography: | Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| ISBN: | 9780226829609 022682960X 9780226829623 0226829626 |