What We Are Reading Today: ‘The Louisiana Purchase’ by Alexander Mikaberidze

Alexander Mikaberidze’s “The Louisiana Purchase” examines what lay behind what eventually became one of the costliest undertakings in American history and looks beyond the period’s diplomatic wranglings and delves into a broader story of European colonialism to illuminate why Louisiana was passed around, from France to Spain, then back to France‚ before the US purchase, and offering answers to the question of how did it go from being a burden to a prize.