Explorers Of The Mississippi

by Tim Severin

The Mississippi River has intrigued the footloose for centuries. Here, for the first time in paperback, are briskly told biographies of the chief protagonists in the drama, with Old Man River as the constant and invincible antagonist. From conquistadors to nineteenth-century gentlemen explorers, Severin depicts the disasters and adventures of familiar, but often misunderstood, figures in American history, as well as the chicanery of others, less well known, who used the river for their own purposes. "A first-rate piece of work, rich in period and personality. Severin considers the true elucidators of the river-Joliet, Marquette, La Salle, and Henry de Tonti-plus a smattering of frauds and dilettantes, among whom he includes Lieutenant Zebulon Pike." New Yorker " Traveling side by side with each of his intrepid voyagers, Severin will make every armchair Huck Finn yearn to sign up for the next trip." New York Times Book Review Historian Timothy Severin has made a career of retracing and writing about epic voyages. His myriad adventures include canoeing the Mississippi River from beginning to end, sailing in St. Brendan the Navigator's path across the Atlantic Ocean, and journeying on horseback in Mongolia in search of Gheghis Khan's heritage. He lives in Ireland

Genres: History, Nonfiction

320 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1967

About the author

Tim Severin was a British explorer, historian and writer. Severin is noted for his work in retracing the legendary journeys of historical figures. Severin was awarded both the Gold Medal of the Royal Geographical Society and the Livingstone Medal of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society. He received the Thomas Cook Travel Book Award for his 1982 book The Sindbad Voyage.

He was born Timothy Severin in Assam, India in 1940. Severin attended Tonbridge School and studied geography and history at Keble College, Oxford.

Severin has also written historical fiction along with non fiction. The Viking Series, first published in 2005, concerns a young Viking adventurer who travels the world. In 2007 he published The Adventures of Hector Lynch series set in the late 17th century about a 17-year-old Corsair.

Reviews

[Mike · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think that at the time it was written, it must have been fairly groundbreaking. The author actually traveled much of the routes he describes, which helps him convey the terrors these frontiers must have presented to the often woefully under-prepared explorers. I winced a lot at his descriptions of "savages" but to be fair he doesn't shy away from the fact that many, probably most, of the "explorers" were con-men at best and murderous ravagers at worst. He is not surprisingly a bit more sympathetic to the British and Anglo-Americans than to the French, Spanish, and native people, being British himself. I still enjoyed this quite a bit though, as many of the historical figures were relatively unknown to me and a few were kind of bad ass, like the Italian mercenary with an iron prosthetic hand. There were some good maps, though it could have used more, and some period illustrations which the author takes some pains to explain and fact-check.

[Cathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This early work by my hero, Tim Severin, was apparently hidden on my shelves for decades. Happily, I just found it, in a season where I have already been reading a great deal of American history as well as the history of exploration. It's too bad that this work, unlike his many great and grand books of travel/scholarship/maritime history/derring do (such as The Brendan Voyage, The Jason Voyage, The Ulysses Voyage, and so many more), is exclusively a work of scholarship instead of a knot-by-knot description of one of Severin's many personal recreations of famous and/or legendary voyages from the past. Even so, he is a fine scholar and a clear and often entertaining writer here, even when telling the stories of other, historic explorers. He does a particularly good job with poor La Salle, a fellow who endured one of the more grueling travels of anyone on record.

[Bonnye Reed]

Free from Endeavour Press and Author

[Eliot Boden · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really well-organized and engagingly written history of some of the better- and lesser-known explorers of the Mississippi. The only complaint I have is that the book definitely shows it age when it comes to language - Europeans are always "daring" and "courageous" "men," while Indians are always "semi-civilized" "savages." What makes this the more startling is that apart from nomenclature the author does not hesitate to point out the flaws of some Europeans.

[Tyler · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tim Severin has many books where he summarizes most of the important attempts to explore certain regions. Really helpful for someone like me, who wants a fairly through and expert description of the subject but doesn't want to read a book on each explorer. Severin is no doubt an expert on the subject matter too. He was actually planning on doing one of his own exploration books but his canoe broke up and he ran out of time.

[Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

8/10

[April · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was disappointed that the author did not include more from his own trip down the Mississippi. An overall fascinating perspective of the "discovery" and exploration of the Mississippi from the perspective of an Englishman - at least fascinating to someone whose entire life has been lived is states bordering the Mississippi.

[Jim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great read.