Introduction : Zebulon Montgomery Pike in American memory / Matthew L. Harris -- Pike as a forgotten and misunderstood explorer / Jay H. Buckley -- Pike and empire / James P. Ronda -- Pike and American science / John Logan Allen -- Jeffersonian explorers in the trans-Mississippi West : Zebulon Pike in perspective / Jay H. Buckley -- An empire and ecology of liberty / Jared Orsi -- Enemies and friends : Pike and Melgares in the competition for the Great Plains / Leo E. Oliva -- James Wilkinson : Pike's mentor and Jefferson's capricious point man in the West / William E. Foley.