Raising the Flag: America's First Envoys in Faraway Lands

Introduction -- 1. For Tea and Country: Samuel Shaw and the First American Contacts with China -- 2. To the Shores of Tripoli: James Cathcart, William Eaton, and the First Barbary War -- 3. Diplomacy in New Orleans: The Intriguing Career of Daniel Clark -- 4. Inventing Interventionism: Joel Poinsett in Argentina, Chile, and Mexico -- 5. Cochin China, Siam, and Muscat: The Remarkable Travels of Edmund Roberts -- 6. The Commodore as Diplomat: David Porter at the Sublime Porte -- 7. Adventures in Paradise: Jacques-Antoine Moerenhout, Samuel Blackler, and the Occupation of Tahiti -- 8. The Land of Gold: Thomas Larkin, William Leidesdorff, and the Americanization of California -- 9. Shimoda and the Shogun: Townshend Harris and the Opening of Japan -- Afterword.