The Colonizer Abroad

Looking at a diverse series of authors--Herman Melville, Richard Henry Dana, Jr., Mark Twain, Charles Warren Stoddard, and Jack London--The Colonizer Abroad claims that as the U.S. emerged as a colonial power in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, the literature of the sea became a literature of imperialism. This book applies postcolonial theory to the travel writing of some of America's best-known authors, revealing the ways in which America's travel fiction and nonfiction have both reflected and shaped society.

Christopher McBride completed his Ph.D. in English in 2001 at the Claremont Graduate University, and is currently a member of the English faculty at Solano College. He has published articles on American conjure stories, Herman Melville, William Dean Howells, and Mary Austin.