Rediscovering the New World
Read by the Author
Tony Horwitz, Author
Audio Book (abridged): 7 compact discs, 9 hours
Published by Random House
ISBN 978-0-7393-1723-5
Retail Price $31.95
Tony Horwitz is a Pulitzer Prize winner in the category of journalism and an author of several bestselling books. The book I am reviewing, A Voyage Long and Strange, was released as an audiobook in an abridged format in 2008. This is the version that I am reviewing.
There are many reasons why people will buy a book. Some will make a purchase based upon other books read by the same author, and some on the author's reputation alone, some because it is a bestseller in the Christian world or secular world. As a bookseller with a webstore, as well as selling on multiple other sites, I will often make a purchase to find out if it something I would wish to stock in our inventory. Because I am very interested in American History, this seemed a good book to read--or in this case, hear.
The publicity blurb, about Mr. Horwitz going on an "epic quest" to re-discover the history of early America I supposed built some pre-hearing expectations in my mind. The readers of this review will have to be the judge regarding bias. I was expecting to read about history. This was not only early history he was telling about, but very early history--before the Mayflower landing. I must say I was thoroughly disappointed.
The history is there for the telling, most of what I listened to could not be said to be hard to find information. What the book is really about is Mr. Horwitz speaking about Mr. Horwitz--for a minimum of 50% of what is told is about Mr. Tony Horwitz. He is wonderful. He tells us so. He was educated in expensive schools. He was a history major. Though he has now performed his epic quest, from what I heard on the first three CDs (that is all I wished to hear), he may need to go on another quest--perhaps a super epic quest, for it seems to me that what he learned could not fill a book, and thus he had to add a lot that is not history.
The analogies and comparisons that this author makes are something of epic proportions in themselves. I honestly do not understand how anyone, when speaking of 15th and 16th century history, can compare what happened at that time to what goes on in the 21st century. Here are some examples.
Mr. Horwitz makes the statement that Christopher Columbus was not a champion of the common man. The reason, most likely this is true but also inappropriate is that at the time Columbus lived there was no notion of the concept--the common man. There was a social class caste system in place, and I doubt anyone even thought much about the regular guy. Regarding America and this term, the era of the common man is associated with the presidency of Andrew Jackson, over 200 years after Columbus went on his first voyage.
Another example is when Horwitz speaks about Ponce de León and his quest for the fountain of youth. For some reason the author finds it difficult to understand that a man with four children can actually lose his ability to procreate. As my husband, Rick, commented, "Just watch all those commercials that sell products to take care of this problem." Yet there is more. He then goes on to insult those who live in Florida. I am almost certain he though his comment sarcastically funny. I can tell Mr. Horwitz for a fact that as a Minnesotan, a state that in not warm for months every year, why many older American citizens move to Florida--and I believe them to be of very fine character indeed.
The first stop on this epic quest was Newfoundland. He complained about Newfoundland. His next stop was the Dominican Republic. He complained about the Dominican Republic. When I left the quest he was on his way to Florida. Guess what? (Please refer to paragraph above this one.) It is truly unfortunate that countries just don't have the same culture and living conditions that Tony Horwitz has where he lives in the United States of America and that they just don't bow to his every expectation. In an attempt to get the information he wanted, he then lied to an official by telling him that he thought very highly of his country. I am again certain that the author thought the lie insignificant. I don't.
If you like Tony Horwitz, then this is the book for you. If you appreciate American History, and particularly early history of America, this may not be the book you wish to purchase. If you mind repeatedly hearing the four-letter word that begins with f used in casual conversation, then this is not the book for you--however inconsequential to its other issues to the quality of this work that I have stated here.
Mary Katherine May is babamarusia, who with husband, Richard, own the webstore www.QualityMusicandBooks.com, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
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