This one took a while to get through, not because of any weakness in the book but because I insisted on leaving it in the bathroom (where I do my best reading), so it was read 4 or 5 pages at a time over a month or so. I am trying to read more North American history, especially American history so I can understand our cousins south of the border a little better.
Tony didn’t start out trying to write a comprehensive history of pre-Mayflower, he left out quite a few of the well known ones, including the frozen explorer on a stick Hudson after whom Hudson Bay is named. Also the Portugese got left out which was a little bit of a disappointment. But he did hit the highlights, De Soto (crazed indian killer), Coronado (a small spanish boatman adrift on an ocean of prairie grass), Columbus (so poor a navigator that he once suspected that the Earth was in fact pear shaped), John Smith (famous Disney character) and of course the Inquisition (nobody expected that).
Horowitz has done a great job of making history accessible. I enjoy history written in this way, designed for folks to wade through instead of drowning in. He has a great sense of humour and tries his best to laugh his way through some pretty heavy material, syphillis, genocide, rape, plunder, mo’ rape and slavery. One thing that I did find rather odd was the fact that English explorers met Indians in New England who were well acquainted with Europeans due to Basque fishermen fishing the cod fisheries for generations before the Pilgrims staggered across the Atlantic. The author only touches briefly on this factoid, I wish I knew more. I believe Google is my friend here.
Tags: Books
