Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #107 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-29
• Released on: 2008-04-29
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 464 pages

The New York Times Book Review
"Funny and lively. . . Popular history of the most accessible sort.... The stories Horwitz tells are full of vivid characters and wild detail."

Review

"Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Horwitz has presented what could be described as a guide for those who are historically ignorant of the “lost century” between the first voyage of Columbus and the establishment of Jamestown in 1607. In this informative, whimsical, and thoroughly enjoyable account, Horwitz describes the exploits of various explorers and conquistadores and enriches the stories with his own experiences when visiting some of the lands they “discovered.” Horwitz writes in a breezy, engaging style, so this combination of popular history and travelogue will be ideal for general readers.—Booklist (starred review)

“Irreverent, effervescent… accessible to all ages, hands-on and immensely readable, this book invites readers to search out America ’s story for themselves.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Popular history of the most accessible sort…Horwitz knows how to quick cut between historical narrative and a breezy account of his own travels. It’s the same method he used in Confederates in the Attic, deployed with the same success, and unlike many other less journalistic histories, in which the material is displayed at a curator’s remove, it has the immense value of injecting the past into the present – showing us history as an element of contemporary life, something that surrounds us and presses in on us, whether we know it or not.”—New York Times Book Review

“Horwitz, author of the bestselling Confederates in the Attic, skillfully combines history and travel in this entertaining, insightful account of his road trip into America's past.”—Christian Science Monitor

“Horwitz’s charm, smarts, impeccable research and curiosity make this a voyage worth taking.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer

Kirkus Reviews
"Accessible to all ages, hands-on and immensely readable, this book invites readers to search out America's story for themselves."

Customer Reviews

Excellent Historical Travel Logue: Re-Eploring America First Hand
Another interesting book historical travelogue by Horwitz as he looks and resteps the paths of the early explorers and settlers of America and looks at what the sites are like today. Horwitz's starts each subject with readable, well researched historical summaries as he personally visits the sites and attempts to accurately follow their trail in the present day world and while trying to solve the mysteries along the way. What is unique about Horwitz is that he interviews local historians, park rangers, qualified historians and authorities on the subject including the local folk who have their own insight and opinions, adding the local flavor. That's the attraction of Horwitz's style, he gives you the interesting history and its controversies with a touch of humor as he also meets some interesting characters while running into some unique situations. And he dosen't just see the easy tourist stop such as when he went looking for the remains of an Indian village he unexpectedly ends up in a swamp, requiring a hasty retreat. He gets the real history and quite often the local legends are challenged, most aggressively in historical St. Augustine where the alleged fountain of youth is peddled right next to authentic historical sites. The author starts with an initially under whelmed visit to Plymouth Rock that has been suggested as the historical start of America but he then follows the first paths of all the known first Europeans to make it to American from the Vikings in Newfoundland, Columbus, Conquistadors (from Cortez, Desoto to Ponce de Leon), the French in Florida, the Spanish in St. Augustine, the late coming English in Roanoke Island, Jamestown and Plymouth Rock returning again where his travels started. Following the conquistadors seems the most trying aside the Columbus and the heat in the Caribbean, but you will find Horwitz's travels quite interesting particularly if you not only enjoy history but also actually standing on sites of historical significance, regardless what urban development has done in the present. Fortunately, much of the country that Horwitz encounters is either remote or reasonably protected. I particularly enjoyed reading of the extended travels of Desoto who continued to chase the dream of gold that he could never find, for four years! Exploring endless unknown interior of America while his troop strength eroded and his forcefulness with the Native Americans became weaker and more aggressively challenged until he becomes the victim. Horwitz provides appropriate attention to the most depressing aspect of American history, the harsh treatment of Native Americans that seems most severe by the Conquistadors but it reoccurs with the English settlers as well. The exposure of the white man's diseases to the natives and its devastating impact is astonishing virtually eliminating complete tribes literally easing the Pilgrim's ability to settle in pre-cleared Indian lands. The failed Roanoke colony's abandonment is fascinating as always but many other early soldiers, slaves, hunter and etc. were left behind with no knowledge of what happened to them as well and the author tells you about them. Aside from the history summarized or seen first hand, Horwitz provides nicely detailed descriptions of the towns and people he meets, the various places he stays, that obviously vary in quality, even a sweat lodge in Newfoundland that almost does him in. Entertaining and quite frequently Horwitz's rye sense of humor and observations give you a chuckle. In closing, his references are nicely detailed so if a subject fascinates you, you have the resource to read more. With his references, I found an excellent book, the right book, on Desoto's relentess and devastating exploration.

Fascinating and vivid
When a history book describes Plymouth Rock as looking like a "fossilized potato" and Florida's capitol building as "The Big D...," you know you're in for something unusual. Having gone to college in Tallahassee, I can attest to the reasons for the capitol's nickname -- its "towering shaft flanked by gonadlike domes," as author Tony Horwitz puts it. He writes with equal wit throughout "A Voyage Long and Strange," a smart, funny book that skewers traditional views of our nation's past. I couldn't put it down.

The book explores the lusty, violent period in American history between Columbus and Jamestown. Horwitz embarks on a journey of his own, exploring the modern-day places where our country began. Along the way he uncovers some strange truths -- Columbus never saw or set foot on any land that became U.S. soil; Pocahontas was only 10 years old when she met John Smith and they were never romantic; Ponce de Leon was looking not for the Fountain of Youth but rather gold, just like so many others. The overall picture is cruel, hilarious, messy, unfair and always fascinating.

Over a dozen maps and many historical black and white illustrations are scattered through the book.

Here's the chapter list:

Part 1: 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

Long, Strange, and a Ball of Laughs
Who could have guessed that history (and current events) could be so much fun. Horwitz, whose previous triumphs have included books about Civil War reenactments, travels in the Middle East, and a retracing of Captain Cook's voyages in the South Pacific, turns his gimlet eye on the first European forays into the New World. "Washing up" in Plymouth, Massachusetts one day on a New England road trip, he buys a beer at the Myles Standish Liquor store, beds down at the William Bradford inn, and then mocks (in his mind) the clueless tourists at Plymouth Rock. But as he mulls over his experience, he realizes how little (even as a history major) he knows about the origins of the land that became America. The rest, as they say, is history, and history of a most witty and enlightening kind. Who knew, for instance, that Juan Ponce de Leon came to Florida looking for gold and slaves like everyone else, and not for the Fountain of Youth? or that the man for whom the DeSoto touring car was named was a butcher of unequaled savagery? The first feast in the New World that might appropriately be called Thanksgiving took place in St. Augustine and probably consisted of a stew of salt pork and garbanzo beans. (And there is some contention between Floridians and "the powdered wig" states over who should get credit for the national holiday.) A Voyage Long and Strange is a ball of laughs and a veil of tears--the offhand executions of women and children play out in the same text as deliberations upon whether moose is kosher and whether one should ride the "Trolley of the Doomed" in St. Tourist Trap, Florida. Horwitz goofs some stuff up--he thinks Mormons believe themselves to be descendants of the Nephites--but on the whole this is a fascinating, impossible-to-put-down look at where we came from and what we have become.