A Voyage Long and Strange : : on the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America

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Call Number: Adult Book / Nonfiction / Travel / Essays & Travelogues / Horwitz, Tony, 970.01 Ho
On Shelf At: Westgate Branch

Location & Checkout Length	Call Number	Checkout Length	Item Status
Westgate Adult Books 4-week checkout	Adult Book / Nonfiction / Travel / Essays & Travelogues / Horwitz, Tony	4-week checkout	On Shelf
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	970.01 Ho	4-week checkout	Due 05-15-2024
Downtown 2nd Floor 4-week checkout	970.01 Ho	4-week checkout	Due 05-16-2024

Originally published: New York : Henry Holt and Co., 2008.
List of maps ---- Prologue: The Lost Century ---- Part I. Discovery. 1. Vinland: First Contact --- 2. 1492: The Hidden Half of the Globe --- 3. Santo Domingo: The Columbus Jinx --- 4. Dominican Republic: You Think There Are Still Indians? ---- Part II. Conquest. 5. The Gulf Coast: Naked in the New World --- 6. The Southwest: To the Seven Cities of Stone --- 7. The Plains: Sea of Grass --- 8. The South: De Soto Does Dixie --- 9. The Mississippi: Conquistador's Last Stand ---- Part III. Settlement. 10. Florida: Fountain of Youth, River of Blood --- 11. Roanoke: Lost in the Lost Colony --- 12. Jamestown: The Captain and the Naturals --- 13. Plymouth: A Tale of Two Rocks.
"What happened in North America between Columbus's sail in 1492 and the Pilgrims' arrival in 1620? On a visit to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz realizes he doesn't have a clue, nor do most Americans. So he sets off across the continent to rediscover the wild era when Europeans first roamed the New World in quest of gold, glory, converts, and eternal youth. Horwitz tells the story of these brave and often crazed explorers while retracing their steps on his own epic trek--an odyssey that takes him inside an Indian sweat lodge in subarctic Canada, down the Mississippi in a canoe, on a road trip fueled by buffalo meat, and into sixty pounds of armor as a conquistador reenactor in Florida. A Voyage Long and Strange is a rich mix of scholarship and modern-day adventure that brings the forgotten first chapter of America's history vividly to life."--Back cover.

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COMMUNITY REVIEWS

Colonial History Done Right submitted by sdunav on July 15, 2023, 1:15pm This is an almost perfect mix of history (and history that is virtually unknown to most Americans, I think, despite the importance of this period) and modern storytelling. Horwitz looks at most of the major voyages of exploration and colonization before the Pilgrims came to Mass. in 1620: the Vikings in Newfoundland around 1000 AD; Columbus; then the Spanish in FL and the SE and the SW US (including Coronado going all the way up to Kansas in 1542, and Cabeza de Vaca's bizarre journey from FL all the way down to Mexico); the French Hugeunots in FL; then wrapping up with Roanoke Island and Jamestown and back to the Pilgrims.

The people that Horwitz talked to in New Mexico, in Kansas, in Georgia and Virginia - and what they say about history, what they do to re-enact it, what they believe in spite of all evidence to the contrary - it's just fascinating. And the actual history is pretty amazing, too. Combine the two (with a bit of Horwitz's personality thrown in for good measure) and you get a great book.

This is a wonderful introduction to US colonial history (or ethnohistory, if you're interested in the Native side of things) - and it's one of the most readable history books I've read in years. The chapters break up easily into nice sections, so it isn't overwhelming. It's fun. Although I learned more details in my classes on this stuff, I don't think I snorted and laughed so much.

Nice index and further sources section, too. And his ending - on what history means to us as Americans - ah, just a delight to read.