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The American Wisdom Tradition, Part III: The West

  • College of William & Mary Sadler Center, 200 Stadium Drive Williamsburg, VA, 23186 United States (map)

The American Wisdom Tradition that begins at Jamestown in the confluence of American Indian, European American, and African American cultures, concludes at the end of the continent in the Far West. There the national impulses memorialized by Jefferson and spiritualized by Emerson are brought to earth in the wilderness revelations of John Muir. All American wisdom ultimately rests on a foundation of Native American culture. In this concluding part III, we examine the environmental wisdom of the early 20th century in the light of the American Indian experience.