Synopses & Reviews
High adventure and grand history from a master of the craft in a beautifully illustrated volume.
With characteristic flair, Felipe Ferná ndez-Armesto gives us an entertaining and insightful history of world exploration. Presenting the subject for the first time on a truly global scale, Ferná ndez-Armesto tracks the pathfinders who, over the last five millennia, lay down the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world. From the maritime expeditions connecting Queen Hatshepsut's Egypt to the exotic land of Punt in the second millennium BCE, through the merchants and missionaries of the ancient Silk Roads and the great Iberian explorers of the fifteenth century, to the nineteenth-century explorations of the polar regions, interior Africa, North America, and the South Pacific, Ferná ndez-Armesto spins a grand narrative full of character and story. Deftly embedding these explorations in the cultures, politics, and technologies of their times, he creates a history with unusual depth and breadth. Here is an intellectual adventure as rewarding as it is thrilling. 16 pages of color; 48 maps; 44 illustrations.
Synopsis
Greeted with coast-to-coast acclaim on publication, Fernández-Armesto's ambitious history of world exploration sets a new standard. Presenting the subject for the first time on a truly global scale, Fernández-Armesto tracks the pathfinders who, over the past five millennia, lay down the routes of contact that have drawn together the farthest reaches of the world. calls it "impressive...a huge story [told] with gusto and panache." To the is propelled by an Argonaut of an author, indefatigable and daring. It's a wild ride." And in a front-page review, the hails its "tart and elegant presentation...full of surprises. Fernández-Armesto's lively mind, pithy phrasing, and stunningly thorough and diverse knowledge are a constant pleasure."A plenitude of illustrations and maps in color and black and white augment this rich history. In we have a definitive treatment of a grand subject.
Synopsis
"A brilliant and readable book...a rich study of humankind's restless spirit."--Candice Millard,
About the Author
Felipe Fernández-Armesto, the William P. Reynolds Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, is the author of Pathfinders: A Global History of Exploration and Our America: A Hispanic History of the United States. He lives in South Bend, Indiana, and London.