A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventurers in Early America (Paperback)

~ (Author)
Key Phrases: landing day, René de Laudonnière, history fest, Cabeza de Vaca, Santo Domingo, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Wonderfully written, and heroically researched...Horwitz unearths whole chapters of American history that have been ignored."--The Boston Globe

"Poignant and hilarious . . . Riveting."--The Seattle Times

"History of the most accessible sort . . . full of vivid characters and wild detail."--The New York Times

"Entertaining, insightful . . . Rich with reading pleasure."--The Christian Science Monitor

 

 

Product Description

W hat 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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 464 pages
• Publisher: Picador; Reprint edition (April 28, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312428324
• ISBN-13: 978-0312428327
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #14,599 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The Trail of Faded Footsteps, May 18, 2009

By	Mr. Richard D. Coreno "Mr. C" (Berea, Ohio USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

There are around 40 counties, towns and cities in the United States that are named after Christopher Columbus, an explorer who never set foot in what is today the U.S.

Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Horwitz uses that fact to launch an exploration into the early adventurers on that vast landscape - including conquistadors, missionaries, pirates and brigands - through impeccable scholarship, humor and unique storytelling bolstered by his walking many of the areas that contain these faded footsteps in the dusty afterthought of history.

The first European who should be feted for the feat "awarded" to Columbus is Ponce de Leon, who landed in Florida in 1513. And it was French Huguenots who were the first Protestants to escape religious persecution in Europe by landing near what is now Jacksonville, Florida, and building a fort.

It certainly was a long and strange trip and one that has the twists and turns of incredible richness and drama. Horwitz brings those times back to life with vivid colors on a rich canvas that sheds light on the true facts and incredible fiction that continues to shape the debate on early America.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Easy and informative, June 4, 2009

By	A. Rehm "enjoys having opinions about things" (Boston) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Some people get turned off by Horwitz's light, popular style; he mixes his history with his own travelogues as he follows its trail, which means that parts of his books are about crappy hotel rooms and weirdos. All that fluff conceals a careful, sober researcher, though; when you're done breezing through one of his books, you'll realize that you learned quite a bit after all.

"A Voyage Long and Strange" covers the murky epoch between the original "discovery" of America and the 1620 Plymouth settlement, when men like Hernando de Soto and Cabeza de Vaca were wandering lost and starving through America, looking for gold and shooting everything else. Fascinating stuff.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another great effort from Horwitz, June 26, 2009

By	pushkins "pushkins" (Greenville, MS USA) - See all my reviews

My deep and abiding love for Mel Gibson and all things Bounty inspired me to buy Horwitz's Blue Latitudes. I soon forgot my initial misconception that the blue was MG's eyes and became engrossed in a fascinating story. So when I saw this new book about the exploration and colonization of America I gave it a try, even though frankly this is not a subject I yearned to know more about.
I really enjoyed it. The format is the same as Blue Latitudes, history interspersed with anecdotes about the modern-day aftermath - the museums, the gift shops and reenactors, the descendants and survivors. I love anything that has "case studies" and anecdotes mixed into it. Horwitz does a great job. His own voice is not condescending or tiresome, he meets a lot of interesting people, and he has done his research - you learn a lot.
If you liked Blue Latitudes, you will like this, too.
If you like this, go back and try Blue Latitudes.
Tony Horwitz is going on my short list of authors whose new books I will try regardless of subject.