THE EUROPEAN DISCOVERY OF AMERICA - Volume 1 -- Morison

Here is The Northern Voyages, the first of two volumes in this fascinating work.

The late Samuel Eliot Morison, a former U.S. Navy admiral, was also one of America's premier historians. Combining a first-hand knowledge of the sea and transatlantic travel with a brilliantly readable narrative style, he produced what has become nothing less than the definitive account of the great age of European exploration. In his riveting and richly illustrated saga, Morison offers a comprehensive account of all the known voyages by Europeans to the New World from 500 A.D. to the seventeenth century.

Together, the two volumes of The European Discovery of America tell the compelling stories of the many intrepid explorers who made what was then a journey frought with danger - figures as diverse as Leif Ericsson, Columbus, John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, Martin Frobisher, Magellan, Sir Walter Raleigh, and Sir Francis Drake to name but a few.

They also follow the adventures of lesser-known but no less interesting mariners and offer a detailed look at those who set them forth on their travels.

In this first volume, The Northern Voyages - winner of the prestigious Bancroft Prize for History - Morison re-creates the lives and perilous times of those who claimed to have seen the shores of North America in the 600 years after the Norsemen first landed. He brings to his account a rare immediacy, making the drama and unpredictability of their voyages as significant in relation to the people of their era as the astronauts' journeys have been for our own times.

Morison also offers a fascinating look at the imaginary lands reported by early travelers (such mythical places as Antilia and the Seven Cities, the glorious Kingdoms of Norumbega and Saguenay, and Hy-Brasil the Isle of the Blest) and examines as well the alleged discoverers of these lands. With warmth and wit he distinguishes fact from fiction, and imaginary explorers and their exploits from actual men and events.

This volume brims with contemporary illustrations, maps (many of them specially drawn for this history) and photographs (often taken by Morison himself as he flew at low altitude along the coastal routes of explorers), which together identify virtually every allusion to land and sea made by the great European navigators in their ship logs and their later accounts.

Anyone interested in the history of America, indeed, in the history of Western Civilization, will find these volumes absolutely essential.

712 pages of great reading, maps, and nice pictures!

My late father had collected many fine books - this is one from his estate. It has been highlighted and annotated. He often clipped newspaper articles about books in his collection or their authors, and kept them in the book - some are included in this book.

A Book-of-the-Month Club selection.