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Champlain's Dream

by David Hackett Fischer

4.06 · rating details · 178 ratings · 53 reviews

In this sweeping, enthralling biography, acclaimed historian David Hackett Fischer brings to life the remarkable Samuel de Champlain -- soldier, spy, master mariner, explorer, cartographer, artist, and Father of New France.

Born on France's Atlantic coast, Champlain grew to manhood in a country riven by religious warfare. The historical record is unclear on whether

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In this sweeping, enthralling biography, acclaimed historian David Hackett Fischer brings to life the remarkable Samuel de Champlain -- soldier, spy, master mariner, explorer, cartographer, artist, and Father of New France.

Born on France's Atlantic coast, Champlain grew to manhood in a country riven by religious warfare. The historical record is unclear on whether Champlain was baptized Protestant or Catholic, but he fought in France's religious wars for the man who would become Henri IV, one of France's greatest kings, and like Henri, he was religiously tolerant in an age of murderous sectarianism. Champlain was also a brilliant navigator. He went to sea as a boy and over time acquired the skills that allowed him to make twenty-seven Atlantic crossings without losing a ship.

But we remember Champlain mainly as a great explorer. On foot and by ship and canoe, he traveled through what are now six Canadian provinces and five American states. Over more than thirty years he founded, colonized, and administered French settlements in North America. Sailing frequently between France and Canada, he maneuvered through court intrigue in Paris and negotiated among more than a dozen Indian nations in North America to establish New France. Champlain had early support from Henri IV and later Louis XIII, but the Queen Regent Marie de Medici and Cardinal Richelieu opposed his efforts. Despite much resistance and many defeats, Champlain, by his astonishing dedication and stamina, finally established France's New World colony. He tried constantly to maintain peace among Indian nations that were sometimes at war with one another, but when he had to, he took up arms and forcefully imposed a new balance of power, proving himself a formidable strategist and warrior.

Throughout his three decades in North America, Champlain remained committed to a remarkable vision, a Grand Design for France's colony. He encouraged intermarriage among the French colonists and the natives, and he insisted on tolerance for Protestants. He was a visionary leader, especially when compared to his English and Spanish contemporaries -- a man who dreamed of humanity and peace in a world of cruelty and violence.

This superb biography, the first in decades, is as dramatic and exciting as the life it portrays. Deeply researched, it is illustrated throughout with many contemporary images and maps, including several drawn by Champlain himself.

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Paperback, 848 pages

Published October 14th 2008 by Simon & Schuster

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Jul 27, 2011

Ubalstecha added it · review of another edition

Rumoured to be the illegitimate son of the king, Samuel de Champlain grew up in a middle class family, Following his father (real or adopted) to the sea, Champlain quickly became a well respected navigator and captain. He also saw much of the world and learned a great deal.

Champlain used this knowledge when he turned his eye to colonizing New France. He did not repeat the mistakes of the Spanish by trying to enslave the native population, nor try and push them off their land as the English di...more

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Feb 04, 2012

Brian rated it

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Shelves: american-history-colonial

David Hackett Fischer's latest masterpiece focuses on the life of Samuel Champlain and efforts he undertook to create new France. It is a tumultuous tale that is painstakingly researched due to a very scattered array of primary sources. Fischer blends together the ethnographies, documents, archeology and popular myths that surround this time period in North America. It is a fascinating tale of a man who learned from colonial disasters to create the city of Quebec and shape the outlook of early m...more

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Feb 13, 2011

Scott Taylor rated it

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Unexpectedly great. It illuminates a period of North American history in a way that I found entirely compelling.

Champlain, a historical figure I knew little about, was well served by this account. His life is covered from cradle to grave. Not only is his entire life covered, but the book sets up the historical context of Champlain's time period both before, during and after his lifetime. And later provides a perspective on all the influence that he directly had on language, cult...more

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May 30, 2009

jcg rated it

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Excellent history. Puts Champlain in the frame of his time. I have done quite a bit of research on Champlain and soon found, after reading lots of conflicting information, that some people writing about Champlain hadn't bothered to go back and actually read his works, but relied entirely on secondary and tertiary sources resulting in repeated misinformation. Fisher sets this record of confusion straight.

A couple of things I would have liked to have seen was more on the Huguenot influ...more

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Jan 08, 2009

Bookmarks Magazine rated it

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Regarding the history of European settlement in North America, David Hackett Fischer has been around the block. It is no surprise, then, that Champlain�s Dream speaks with authority on the relatively unknown biography of one of the period�s leading figures. Fischer�s solid, comprehensive�and ultimately sympathetic�portrayal of the enigmatic Champlain rekindles the consequences of European settlement in the Americas. Throughout, the author maintains a professional interest in separating fact from...more

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Aug 06, 2009

Gordon rated it

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The Sieur de Champlain was the biggest historical figure in my part of the world when I was growing up in Quebec and attending French Catholic schools. Every year in elementary school, we would study Champlain. He was the George Washington of French Canada, the man who had founded the City of Quebec in 1608, and who was considered the father of his people. Needless to say, this saint-like portrayal didn't make him terribly compelling for an eight-year old boy.

I am glad to report that...moreThe Sieur de Champlain was the biggest historical figure in my part of the world when I was growing up in Quebec and attending French Catholic schools. Every year in elementary school, we would study Champlain. He was the George Washington of French Canada, the man who had founded the City of Quebec in 1608, and who was considered the father of his people. Needless to say, this saint-like portrayal didn't make him terribly compelling for an eight-year old boy.

I am glad to report that David Hackett Fischer's biography of Champlain makes the man come alive, although it does indeed seem as if he really did have a lot of saintly qualities. In stunning contrast to, for example, his Spanish conquistador contemporaries in the New World, he was a man of faith who kept his word, worked tirelessly to bring about his vision, built strong alliances with (most of) the Indian tribes, and applied justice with a strong sense of fairness. It's a good thing he was a flop as a husband, otherwise we would seem too good to be true -- although the fact that he married a 12-year-old girl when he was a man of 40 didn't exactly bode well for a happy relationship.

He was also an extraordinarily talented Renaissance man who mastered many disciplines. He was a writer who published multiple books about his travels and his experiences in building colonies in the wilderness. He was a navigator and map-maker who charted a good part of the north-eastern part of North America. He was a soldier who fought in the wars of religion in France in the late sixteenth century and who also led military expeditions against the Iroquois. Most importantly, he was a founder of new colonies, who created French communities in Acadia and Quebec which form the core of what is today the French presence in North America.

As I am so fond of doing when reading historical literature, I read this book while traveling in the places where Champlain once roamed, particularly Quebec City. It adds a whole new dimension to travel, needless to say. I think I now have a much deeper appreciation not only of Champlain the man, but of Quebec the province where I grew up.(less)

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Oct 14, 2011

John rated it

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This held my attention really well, and I think anyone who wants details about the story of early Quebec and New France would like it. It even goes beyond that a little, and provides some interesting background on France and religious conflicts there in the sixteenth century, and Champlain's early voyages to New Spain and to what would become Nova Scotia and Maine. There's a great story here about Champlain exploring Mt. Desert Island and meeting the Penobscots, then heading up to Bangor for a l...more

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Aug 14, 2011

Jbachelder rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction

I've been to Quebec City a few times, but I really didn't know anything of its history or the man responsible for colonizing it, Samuel Champlain (of Lake Champlain fame). He had a dream of creating a tolerant and peaceful society in the new world, and spent 30 years building the foundation of the city and the province we know today. Not easy when you have to battle famine, hostile Indians, the English, the whims of the French aristocracy and Cardinal Richelieu, and dozens of dangerous Atlanti...more

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Dec 05, 2009

Diane rated it

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Biography of Samuel Champlain, explorer, soldier, and colonial leader. The book also contains an extensive history of Champlain's time, particularly focusing on Champlain's childhood in France, and the ways in which French politics influenced Champlain's experiences in the New World. I learned a lot about Champlain's times, and particularly about French history.

Hackett Fischer places Champlain in a long line of North American "wise men" who shared a desire to create a pol...more

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May 11, 2011

Sharon Colquhoun rated it

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Shelves: read-in-2011

I LOVE David Hackett Fischer's books! They're history made interesting enough for everyone. He included sarcastic comments, funny stories and just enough controversy to keep the book moving along. I particularly loved his books on Paul Reve and Washington's Crossing. He tells us stories we never heard before from history classes. Before the Battle of Trenton, the Hessian Commander was "delayed" by a young widow of a doctor. Fisher thinks it may have been Betsy Ross! Who knew the ...more

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Dec 29, 2009

Jon Manchester rated it

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Shelves: non-fiction, history

This was a must-read for a boy who grew up just miles from Lake Champlain in the Champlain Valley of Vermont and went to Champlain Valley High School. World leaders could learn a lot from Samuel de Champlain with regards to his appreciation and understanding of other cultures (Native Americans). The book was fascinating, long (531 pages before all the footnotes and additional material), and provided a lot of history on the process of settling in the New World. If only relations between the India...more

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Jan 02, 2009

Raully rated it

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Shelves: history

Fischer ties together many things I had often wondered about: the comparative Native American policies of Spain, Britain and France; the connection between the French Wars of Religion and French settlements in the New World; and, finally, why the French appeared so lackadaisical about the New World. Fischer's writing is a good combination of scholarly and popular history, with good attention paid to archeology as well as the written sources. Only warning: Fischer is perhaps a bit too enamored ...more

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Dec 10, 2008

Dad rated it

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I read Washington's Crossing and really liked it, so I picked up Fischer's latest, which is a biography of Samuel Champlain for whom Lake Champlain is named and who founded Quebec. The book is quite dry and repetitious. How many meetings with Indians can you cover before your eyes start to glaze over. Champlain's dream was to found a colony where religious freedom and peace could reign, but since that seems to be impossible even today it was not possible in a land of many Indian tribes th...more

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Mar 12, 2011

Matthew rated it

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Shelves: biography, history, history-american

The life of Champlain is a very interesting one. This book, however, though thoroughly researched, is not. It reads like a dry doctoral thesis and, at times, almost as if each chapter was a separate scholarly article. While the facts and linear narrative of Champlain's life do make for good reading, on the whole the author's prose falls short of delivering a compelling story. Nor does his writing convey with conviction his two primary points: that Champlain was a great leader and that Champl...more

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Dec 07, 2011

Ubalstecha rated it

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Shelves: 2010-reads, canadian-history

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Dec 18, 2011

James Murphy rated it

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Champlain's dream is biography so big it edges over into history. It might be more corect to say the life related was so big that it enormously affected history. I personally had a double-edged reaction to it, liking it but not liking it.

Samuel Champlain was the French soldier, mariner, and explorer who was along for some of the earliest voyages of discovery to what is now Canada's Maritime coast and the St. Lawrence Valley. He helped found Quebec and other settlements along the r...moreChamplain's dream is biography so big it edges over into history. It might be more corect to say the life related was so big that it enormously affected history. I personally had a double-edged reaction to it, liking it but not liking it.

Samuel Champlain was the French soldier, mariner, and explorer who was along for some of the earliest voyages of discovery to what is now Canada's Maritime coast and the St. Lawrence Valley. He helped found Quebec and other settlements along the river. He traveled extensively throughout the region establishing diplomatic and trade relations with the various American Indian groups. He was constantly busy making maps of wherever he traveled, often the first European there. An important man in France, too, he had connections at court as well as business roles in several corporations funding the settlement of what was called New France. Eventually he was named as the head of the colony, the representative of Crown and Cardinal Richelieu.

My problems with the book are that it doesn't seem to realistically portray the historical events. Though the events seem to be factually accurate, I define the problem as a lack of cynicism on the part of the author, David Hackett Fischer. Because everything is depicted in a rosy light the book reads as if it was more suitable for younger readers. The book is so enthusiastically positive in relating Champlain's deeds and responses to what he saw that I began to wonder if history could be so ideal. Sometimes I thought the book gushed. And I began to think it was giving a false impression and that there was no true description of the lives lived. The Canadian light is always bright. Indians sing to everyone's delight and pleasure. Relations are all extravagant generosity and splendid displays. I began to see maybe the fault wasn't that Fischer didn't see the less than rosy side of Champlain. He may have been exactly what Fischer says he was. It may be that he didn't see the less than rosy side of the world around Champlain.

This enormous moment in history must have been as shocking to Europeans as it was to the Native Americans. The wonder of such a huge land so full of promise and bounty compared to the smaller, cramped Europe, often war-torn, its society always circumscribed by centuries of established economies and class, must have produced true wonder, maybe even a sense of disbelief. Both Indians and Europeans must have functioned in states of amazement. As full as Fischer's story is, it's still too sketchy to adequately convey this.

I also thought that Champlain is taken out of the broad history of North American exploration and Old World expansion. He gives us a Champlain too different from John Smith or Cortez or Sir Walter Raleigh. He shines too brightly and stands apart from them when in fact he was one of them. He may have been better at it and his intentions may have included the very best for the Native Americans. Nevertheless he was part of the movement in which the leading edge of the globe's most advanced economy and technology overwhelms the primitive. Fischer's failure to recogize Champlain in that way makes his book about a paragon rather than a man.

The final chapters do provide better history. Fischer tells the story of the most important voyageurs who traveled the Great Lakes and intricate inland waterways exploring, mapping, and trading. And he describes the settlement of the Maritime coast and what came to be known as Acadia. Their history is so finely told that I was reminded of what an interesting writer of history Fischer can be. His book might have been better as a history of the broad nationalistic sweep of France into the political vacuum that was the New World rather than the lifetime dream of one man.

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Jul 25, 2009

Adrian added it · review of another edition

Prof Fischer has produced what will be probably be the enduring work on the great French explorer. He uncovers a wealth of detail about SC's early life and shows how conditions there formed the man. Fischer is a clear and positive writer but he doesn't sugar coat the great man's failings. Not that there were many of them.
Champlain had a personality that made him as effective as an administrator as he was a soldier. His Indian policy was far in advance of many who followed him. Fischer exp...more

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Jan 11, 2010

Judy rated it

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Shelves: history, favorites, chunksters

Although long, this book kept my interest through its entirety. The author brings Champlain to life, warts and all. His lukewarm (at best) marriage to a much younger wife, the possibility that he was the illegitimate son of a king, his resourcefulness,loyalty,teachability and respect for the Indians kept me glued to the pages.

Anyone who is interested in the history of the Northeastern USA and Canada will find this book fascinating especially since its not what we were taught in scho...more

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Mar 14, 2010

Ben rated it

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Shelves: history

Champlain was the founder of Quebec, and an incredibly influential leader of New France from around 1600 - 35. He was also a prolific author. But we don't know that much about the actual person.

Maybe that is why Fisher avoids a narrative structure, and includes a lot of historiography and analysis. Normally, that makes a pretty dull book, but the author writes well enough to keep it interesting and the story moving along.

Really only of interest for readers interest...more

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Jan 16, 2010

Patrick rated it

· review of another edition

This was a very detailed telling of the explorer's life that I considered giving up on at several points, primarily because it took me so long to finish. However, Champlain comes off as such an impressive person that I felt obligated to him to finish it. I definitely learned a lot about Champlain, and as in his other books, the author consistently reinforces the overall theme of the book- that Champlain was an extraordinarily unique leader whose goal of creating a colony where Europeans lived ...more

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Mar 02, 2011

Suzanne rated it

· review of another edition

David Hackett Fischer is a master biographer. This scholarly work of 800 pages is most comprehensive, and holds the reader's interest with rich ethnographic detail. I enjoyed seeing a glimpse of life--in living color--as it was 30 years before my ancestors left France for Quebec. Champlain accomplished a great deal. His business model and apparently lower level of ethnocentricity would be great topics for discussion. I highly recommend this title as a reference, or for an interesting journey. ...more

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Mar 08, 2011

Adrian Moran rated it

· review of another edition

Champlain's Dream is a facinating history from the founding days of New France. I didn't know much about this chapter of early European settlement in North America. Champlain's method of cooperation with the native populations seems to be so different from most of the conflict-driven history that we usually hear.

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May 13, 2011

Sarah Johnson rated it

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Shelves: extreme-survival, otherworldly-escapes

I love anything David Hackett Fischer writes, even it if it is an 800 page biography of Samuel Champlain. I started this as a "read before bed in order to fall asleep" book but ended up staying awake more often than not. Just a first rate, fascinating history of the early days of New France.

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Jan 16, 2012

Rose Paluch rated it

· review of another edition

Yes, I am biased due to the author. However, teaching US and European history, I was able to satiate both interests. I also think my great-grandma's family may have come with Champlain, which was a personal interest attraction for me. 1/4 French Canadian Langlois is the name.

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Dec 17, 2011

Cindy rated it

· review of another edition

Well-researched, detailed biography with quite a case for Champlain's greatness and as a man of principle. Well-done even without grand rhetorical flourishes - much like the subject? Interesting survey of alternative biographies at end. Helpful maps.

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Aug 04, 2011

Kathryn Lilly added it · review of another edition

It was nice to see that all the European Explorers were not awful to the indians. I missed this history finding of North America. It amazed me how many times he crossed the Atlantic ocean and never lost a ship. I really enjoyed this book.

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Oct 11, 2011

Andrés rated it

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The writing was poor and the style was purely hagiographic. The only thing that made the book readable was its extensive appendices and the books they suggested for further reading. Overall, this book was a disappointment.

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Aug 05, 2011

Lesley added it · review of another edition

Excellent book! How many times have you come across such a detailed & informative account that's such an easy read. I enjoyed it very much.

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Jul 01, 2011

Heather777 rated it

· review of another edition

This was a great book! I loved learning about Champlain it was an amazing story. The history was never dry. I loved learning about king Henry V of France.

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Jan 11, 2009

Kristine rated it

· review of another edition

We went to the Philadelphia library tonight to hear a lecture by this author. He was very interesting and talked about the different cultures that influenced this country. Finally finished. I never paid much attention to Champlain so finding out all that he did was informative. I never realized that he made so many trips to Canada, sometimes taking 2 months to get to American, staying a few weeks and then returning to France. His relationships with the Natives was so different than all the ...more

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About David Hackett Fischer

David Hackett Fischer is University Professor and Earl Warren Professor of History at Brandeis University. His major works have tackled everything from large macroeconomic and cultural trends (Albion's Seed, The Great Wave) to narrative histories of significant events (Paul Revere's Ride, Washington's Crossing) to explorations of historiography (Historians' Fallacies, in which he coined the term H...more

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