Alexander von Humboldt was a towering figure of his time - scientist, explorer, and polymath, imbued with Enlightenment ideas - and he left an impact on the intellectual life of 19th century America. This work traces Humboldt's legacy by focusing not only on the man himself but on the lives of other individuals who took their lead from him.

While everyone has heard of the 'Humboldt Current', few know anything of the man after whom it was named. Yet Alexander von Humboldt was a towering figure of his time - scientist, explorer, and polymath, imbued with Enlightenment ideas. Aaron Sachs' colourful intellectual history rescues Humboldt from obscurity, and reveals the impact of a single European on both American thought and the environmental movement.

Brilliant, imaginative, and bold. Like the great Humboldt, Sachs has taken us to new worlds, given us new meanings.