With Thanksgiving just around the corner, it's only fitting that I should spend a little thought on our country's forebearers, the birth of our nation, why we gorge ourselves on turkey and pumpkin pie, etc., etc. . . And so you can imagine my complete delight when, while at the library to pick up a DVD for my students, I stumbled upon Tony Horwitz's newest book and New York Times Bestseller, A Voyage Long and Strange: On the Trail of Vikings, Conquistadors, Lost Colonists, and Other Adventures in Early America.
Any small embarrasment I might have ordinarily felt in checking out the book (it was shelved in a display section with books of Mental Health and Bodice Ripper genres - go figure the logic of combining those two - all of which in Large Print) was quickly pushed aside by just saying the book's title outloud. I mean, hello, this is not your ordinary history book. It's just bursting with that giddy preamble and impending catastrophe that, in the end, always seems to work itself out just right. It was exactly the type of feeling that you find in the tales of Lake Wobegone by Garrisn Keillor. And the best part of all is, because it's all a historical account, the whole thing is true! I had to check it out.
I was so glad that I did. Horwitz does a superb job of educating you on the sly. With this book, learning happens organically, as part of the story and not in the didactical, beat- you- over- the- head sense. The historical accounts he digs up - and he is very mindful of trying to portray both sides of the story (the conquered and the conquerors) - constantly made me question how I viewed my own historical background, and how I have been viewing the many cultures which have shaped this land. Did you know that the Pilgrims weren't the first Englishmen to land in the MA area? I know, I was just as shocked as you! And, just for the record, Ponce de Leon never even heard of a fountain of youth in what is now Florida. Though, I must say, Disney will certainly make a profit of it in the upcoming (and I can't wait for it) 4th installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean series. (Johnny Depp...sigh...)
His voice is comedic, and at approrpiate times, nostalgic and even reverential. In his journey across North America, you get the sense that his, and consequently your own voyage, is just as strange and long as those of the vikings, conquistadors, and colonists of whom he is writing. But at journey's end, though a long and sometimes frustrating road in getting there, the result turns out to be sweet and satisfying. You actually wish you could go for more. Like a good Thanksgiving dinner oughta be.
And most satisfying of all, the message of the book is just like the family mantra heard from exasperated parents to their mutinous children in hundreds of American automobiles during summer vacations, "Getting there is part of the trip. We'll get there when we get there!" Which, after reading Horwitz's fantastic, true adventure, you come to realize, just like most everything else we American's take for granted, isn't a phrase of modern coinage, but probably something Columbus said, and it's been handed down ever since. Tradition. It's what's been passed on, taken into the collective identity, that truly helps us merge our understanding of History with the Present, and gives us an idea of what we can expect in the future.
Bravo to Horwitz for taking the time to plot and log his journey, and for taking us along on the ride!