A Voyage Long and Strange

Bestselling reporter and adventurer Tony Horwitz loves to pull back the curtain on neglected stories. In CONFEDERATES IN THE ATTIC he wrote about men and women who like to dress up in uniforms and reenact the Civil War. Horwitz stumbled upon his latest quest with a chance visit to Plymouth Rock. The underwhelming exhibit there got Horwitz thinking about the time between Columbus's visit to the New World and the Pilgrims' settlement led by John Smith. Narrator John Mayer navigates the 120-year span between the two iconic men, allowing his pacing to quicken as history lessons dovetail with Horwitz's visits to outlandish roadside attractions populated by backwoods characters. Listeners learn a good deal about Columbus and Smith, but even more about America in the 21st century. R.O. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine


What happened in America between Columbus's voyages in 1492 and the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620? Tony Horwitz took a journey around the continent to find out, tracking down Norse and Huguenot settlements (among others) and the stories behind them. Horwitz's voice doesn't have the polish of a professional narrator and can even sound monotonous, but he uses that to advantage, emphasizing his dry humor with his understated delivery. Horwitz's travels not only bring out the facts behind historical stories, but they also provide a portrait of the people he meets along the way. The deft combination of travelogue and historical essay is entertaining as well as informative. J.A.S. (c) AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine