A Voyage Long and Strange
November 19th 2008 23:53
A bit of a change of pace today from the fantasy and teen-aimed books I've been mostly reviewing this year. I have an endless stack of books in my home that are marked 'to be read', in my mind I constantly imagine what the next 3 to 4 books I am going to read will be, and I slowly nibble away at this endless stack. Every now and again during my work as a bookseller my eye will be caught by something that intrigues me and I will throw caution into the wind and buy a new book and fasttrack it to the front of my endless stack. This book is one such book, which I would never have even known about had I not seen a copy that a customer had ordered in. I read the back of their copy and decided that I would order myself a copy as well.
Too often I pick up historically-minded books like this only to find that they are the most boring pieces of turgid fact-mongering I could possibly have waded into. Either that, or the author turns out to be a really annoying narrator. Thankfully, Tony Horowitz is a talented writer of easygoing wit and the book is an astounding mix of travel writing and what appears to be an infinite amount of meticulous research.
A Voyage Long and Strange is a book designed to fill the gap in American history. The author has ambitiously set out to chronicle the various European expeditions to North America prior to the landing of the pilgrims at Plymouth Rock (something which has become the starting block of official American history). The book isn't without controversy, as Horowitz debunks a lot of long-held myths through a mixture of investigative journalism, hardnosed research and chummying up with those in the know. When you read this book there can no doubt in your mind that you are getting the facts, as Horowitz is never anything less than well-balanced and fair towards what is, what could've been, and what clearly isn't. It's really quite a read.
The book is divided into three large sections - the first deals with the Viking expeditions in the 11th century and Columbus' discovery of the Americas, the second with the various attempts at exploration and conquest throughout the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors, and the third with early attempts at colonisation (the spanish and french attempts, the forgotten english colony, and eventually the two more famous settlements: Jamestown and Plymouth). While Horowitz is keen to point out that this 500-page journey is nowhere near a complete account it is however quite exhaustive and inspirational in the amount of detail he has managed to gleam about these shrouded pieces of history.
The biggest and most impressive part of this book is that Horowitz has personally travelled to all these places. He intercuts his history lessons with his own travelogue as he retraces the footsteps of each pioneer, explorer, colonist and would-be tyrant. He speaks to descendents of Native Americans wherever possible to get the 'home' perspective, visits landmarks connected to these events, and talks to officials, historians, detractors and all kinds of quirky real-life characters who have light to shed on the unofficial history of the world's most powerful country.
The highlight for me is probably Horowitz's trip to the Dominican Republic, the place where Columbus first landed when he discovered the Americas. The author's misadventures in this small third world country and his descriptions of it's biggest folly, the massive man-made landmark known as the Faro, had me amused and amazed. This is a building that took the coutry's dictator some 12 years to build and when it is lit up you can see the lights in the sky from as far away as Puerto Rico. The only problem is, when they turn the lights on for this would-be world-famous icon it plunges the entire Dominican Republic into a blackout!
This isn't a book just for Americans - it's a book for anyone interested in history or travel writing. It's one of the most easy and pleasant reads I've ever had, and I came out of it feeling damn well educated.
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