A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World
, by Tony Horwitz, who you might recognize as the bestselling author of Blue Latitudes, Confederates in the Attic, and Baghdad Without a Map. He is also a Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist who has worked for The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker.
A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World – Henry Holt & Company, Incorporated, ISBN-13: 9780805076035, 464pp
Horwitz’s book uses a dichotomy not often seen in the realm of history writers. He takes the reader not only on a “journey” through time, but also his own personal journey as he dictates his experiences exploring the geographical paths taken by the explorers he studied. For more on this, see this short video clip featuring Horwitz.
The book is divided into three Parts:
1. Discovery
2. Conquest
3. Settlement
Each is superbly written. Horwitz weaves his two narratives, using one and then the other, and takes us on a magical journey through the heartland of North America. He has a wit and sense of humor that he incorporates into his writing, delivering a wonderful reading experience!
My favorite chapters dealt with the European discovery of the continent, and Coronado’s journey from Mexico to what is today Southwestern U.S.
As a high school history teacher I like to read material that will provide me with interesting facts, funny and alluring historical characters, and comedic and entertainment events. In this, A Voyage Long and Strange delivers!
These details of history help me keep my students interested. All of these are included in Horwitz’s book to keep you the reader interested. I found myself laughing out loud often.
For example, this gem will be incorporated into my class next year:
“The Pilgrims arrived in Massachusetts eighteen years later had a very different experience. Samoset, the first Indian they met at Plymouth, greeted the settles in English. The first thing he asked for was beer.”
Funny and interesting anecdotes like these always deliver with high school age students.
This book is a must read for any high school or middle school teacher and will help you be a better teacher with the knowledge gained and insights from which to tell a better and far more interesting story of North American history.
At the bottom of page 239 in “A Voyage Long and Strange”, Mr. Horwitz states, “…the massacre at Mavila…rivals the Civil War battle of Antietam as the deadliest day of combat ever recorded on U.S. soil.” Twenty-five hundred to three thousand dead at Mavila hardly compares to 23,000 at Antietam. And this author previously wrote a book about the civil war???