{"product_id":"the-traveller-the-revolutionary-life-of-george-forster-and-his-search-for-humanity-9780241711217","title":"The Traveller: The Revolutionary Life of George Forster and his Search for Humanity","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eAn inspiring biography of the remarkable naturalist, explorer and revolutionary, by the bestselling author of The Invention of Nature  George Forster was a man out of time: he journeyed to the far reaches of the known world and challenged the worldviews of eighteenth-century Europe with radical ideas about equality and freedom. Celebrated during his lifetime, he knew Goethe, Benjamin Franklin, Mary Wollstonecraft and Alexander von Humboldt but has since been largely forgotten by history.  The Traveller seeks to restore Forster as one of the great visionaries of his era. At the age of seventeen he joined Captain Cook's second voyage - an exploration of vast contrasts from the icy world of Antarctica to the tropical islands of the South Pacific. A brilliant mind driven by boundless curiosity, he studied the diverse nature, people and cultures he encountered and came back imbued with a deep belief in the equality of races. On his return he was feted in England, France, Germany and Poland, using his fame to advocate for freedom and human rights and against empire, racism and slavery. He admired strong and educated women and was proud to have daughters. The book traces how - inspired by the French Revolution - he became a leader of the short-lived Republic of Mainz and was eventually forced into exile in Paris during the Reign of Terror.  Following in Forster's footsteps from Europe to Tahiti, and drawing on a wealth of correspondence mostly unpublished in English, Andrea Wulf paints a portrait of a remarkable, passionate figure unbound by place, people or establishment. She vividly conveys his extraordinary quest to find what connects us rather than what sets us apart.\u003ch4\u003eDetails\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cp\u003eISBN13: 9780241711217\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eFormat: Hardback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNumber of Pages: 512\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eEdition: \u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication Date: 01 Sep 2026\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublisher: Penguin Books Ltd\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePublication City, Country: London, United Kingdom\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDimensions (cm): 24.3(H)x16.5(L)x3.4(W)\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWeight (gm): \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch4\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h4\u003eAndrea Wulf was born in India and moved to Germany as a child. She lives in London and is the author of several books, including The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World (Winner of the 2015 Costa Biography Award and the 2016 Royal Society Science Book Prize) and Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self. A member of PEN American Center and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, she is currently a Miller Scholar at the Santa Fe Institute.\u003ch4\u003eReviews\u003c\/h4\u003e\u003cb\u003eAndrea Wulf’s splendid biography rescues a dizzying life\u003c\/b\u003e…  [George Forster’s] was, frankly, an almost indecently interesting life story [that] \u003cb\u003eprovides the contented reader with uninterrupted fascination.\u003c\/b\u003e  How many lives encompass Maori tribes, Easter Island, Habsburg Austria and the French Revolution? Wulf, the author of acclaimed books on Alexander von Humboldt and the German Romantics, tells it all with the\u003cb\u003e expected panache\u003c\/b\u003e -- James Marriott * The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA remarkable biography\u003c\/b\u003e of a remarkable man. Wulf’s books are always \u003cb\u003ehorizon-expanding\u003c\/b\u003e, but with this one she has excelled herself. \u003cb\u003eI loved it\u003c\/b\u003e -- Tom Holland\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eUnfailingly and inspiringly humane\u003c\/b\u003e, George Forster is the overlooked tragic hero of the European Enlightenment. W\u003cb\u003eith her characteristic combination of scholarship and empathy, Andrea Wulf conjures the global range of his curiosity, and the poignant wilderness of his family life. This book is the memorial that he has long deserved\u003c\/b\u003e -- Neil MacGregor\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eVibrant ... invigorating ...\u003c\/b\u003e George Forster is one of the most \u003cb\u003efascinating \u003c\/b\u003efigures you have probably never heard of. \u003cb\u003e\u003ci\u003eThe Traveller\u003c\/i\u003e thrillingly revives the forgotten life of this “liberal thinker far ahead of his time.\" Wulf writes movingly\u003c\/b\u003e about Forster’s unconventional marriage and his unconventional politics ... \u003cb\u003ea lively new book that hums with her characteristic verve \u003c\/b\u003e -- Jennifer Szalai * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA revelatory account of the life of George Forster, whose rejection of racial hierarchies stood out amongst his peers \u003c\/b\u003e... At a time when racism pervaded public opinion as well as the philosophical texts of luminaries such as Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Immanuel Kant, Forster moved brazenly to critique and correct them. How he was able to transcend the conventional beliefs of his day is the central question of Andrea Wulf’s new book. \u003cb\u003eThe richness of Wulf’s research .... injects a novelistic specificity\u003c\/b\u003e into the scenes she reconstructs. It also allows the author to \u003cb\u003emove from closely narrating the events of Forster’s life, as if perched on his shoulder, to inhabiting his interior voice as he experiences the world in real time\u003c\/b\u003e -- Nick Bartlett * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFascinating ... a compelling life [that] presages our present-day attitudes to global difference, race and diversity. \u003c\/b\u003eWulf cleaves closely to archival verities, avoiding any tendency towards overembellished writing -- Robert Mayhew * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePowerful \u003c\/b\u003e...\u003cb\u003e exemplary ...\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eAndrea Wulf draws on Forster’s publications and personal archives to reconstruct the trajectory of this remarkable, compellingly humane, figure\u003c\/b\u003e -- Sudhir Hazareesingh * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003eThe \u003cb\u003esingular and spectacular\u003c\/b\u003e trajectory of George Forster [offers] an exemplary tour of the High Enlightenment .... In this l\u003cb\u003eucent, affectionate\u003c\/b\u003e retelling of his life, Andrea Wulf makes a convincing case for George as a thinker who has too long been dismissed or ignored ... There is a briskness to her prose and a simplicity to her structure ... She shares his sense of wonder at the beauty of emerald islands like Tahiti as well as his outrage at the violence perpetrated by the sailors who were taking part in what was clearly a colonial project ... \u003cb\u003eAn irresistible biography\u003c\/b\u003e -- Peter Moore * Literary Review *\u003cbr\u003eWulf’s\u003cb\u003e beautifully written \u003c\/b\u003eaccount of the voyage, following Forster’s captivating record, is \u003cb\u003ecarefully attentive to historical and cultural circumstances \u003c\/b\u003e… Wulf tells Forster’s story with sympathy underpinned by detached analysis. As well as tracking him through libraries and archives, she followed his trail across Europe and the South Pacific, her travels adding depth to his striking impressions. Her text brings every scene to life, from Tahitian shores to London alleys, from the dusty library of Vilnius to the hectic streets of Paris ... \u003cb\u003ean exhilarating work of historical imaginatio\u003c\/b\u003en, recording the life of an extraordinary traveler, writer, and revolutionary figure with rare vitality and power -- Jenny Uglow * New York Review of Books *\u003cbr\u003eFor vacationers and staycationers alike comes the saga of George Forster, the eighteenth-century German-British globetrotter whose life embodied seismic changes in travel, technology, and government. The acclaimed author of \u003ci\u003eThe Invention of Nature\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003cb\u003eAndrea Wulf brings erudition and flair to Forster’s peripatetic career \u003c\/b\u003eas teenaged crewman on Captain Cook’s global voyage. He later studied the French Revolution up close and advocated for human rights as monarchies faltered and capitalism began its steady conquest of the world. \u003cb\u003eWulf pays overdue homage to an intellectual titan and forefather of linguistics and natural history\u003c\/b\u003e * Time Magazine, Best Books of Summer *","brand":"Andrea Wulf","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":49241062539481,"sku":"9780241711217","price":85.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0502\/9530\/8441\/files\/9780241711217.jpg?v=1789264504","url":"https:\/\/www.arielbooks.com.au\/products\/the-traveller-the-revolutionary-life-of-george-forster-and-his-search-for-humanity-9780241711217","provider":"Ariel","version":"1.0","type":"link"}