{"product_id":"john-sutter-a-life-on-the-north-american-frontier-9780806137728","title":"John Sutter: A Life on the North American Frontier","description":"\u003cp\u003eIn the history of the American frontier  John Sutter (18031880) looms large. A Swiss expatriate who attempted to create a personal empire in Californias Sacramento Valley  he founded New Helvetia  a cosmopolitan settlement whose economy depended on Indian slaves and free laborers. New Helvetia drew overland immigrants to California in the 1840s and thenafter gold was discovered by Sutters employeesa flood of fortune seekers. Sutter was poised to become one of the richest men in the West  but rapacious settlers and his own poor business sense sent his dreams crashing. Albert L. Hurtado has written the definitive biography of Sutter  mining a wealth of sources to create the first fully documented account of the man and his times. John Sutter explores Sutters life in the broader context of Americas rush for westward expansion while plumbing the inner dynamics of this erstwhile empire-builder. Sutter was a quintessential outsider driven by anxiety over statusa man of talent  vision  and heroic ambitions who nevertheless became the victim of his own inadequacies as a businessman and his inability to adjust to a rapidly changing frontier. Sutter was full of contradictions. While building a reputation as a humanitarian friend of destitute immigrants  he callously exploited Indians. Nevertheless  this penniless dreamer became one of the most important men in California and a major player in the American conquest of the West.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45648258302005,"sku":"ByrdShop_080613772X","price":39.65,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9780806137728.jpg?v=1781714235","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/john-sutter-a-life-on-the-north-american-frontier-9780806137728","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}