The Quest for America

by Geoffrey Ashe (editor/contributor)

Nine essays by prominent historians discussing the various theories of pre-Columbian voyages from Europe, the Far East & the Pacific Islands to the Americas. Includes 127 black & white plates, 28 color plates, 68 maps, charts & line drawings.
Preface
General Chronological Chart
Introduction
The Speculations of the Old World
Analysis of the legends/ Geoffrey Ashe
Ancient explorers/ J.V. Luce
Norse explorers/ Helge Ingstad
The Evidence of the New World
Isolationist or diffusionist?/ Thor Heyerdahl
Some points of controversy/ Birgitta L. Wallace
Norse sites at L'Anse aux Meadows/ Helge Ingstad
Bearded gods speak/ Thor Heyerdahl
Contacts from Asia/ Betty J. Meggers
The Historic discovery of America/ Geoffrey Ashe
Conclusion
Bibliography
List of Illustrations, Maps & Tables
Index

Genres: History

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1971

About the author

Geoffrey Thomas Leslie Ashe is a British cultural historian, a writer of non-fiction books and novels.

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a very nicely illustrated collection of more--and less-- speculative essays about possible pre-Columbian European explorations of the Americas. (Very incidentally: Thor Heyerdahl, one of the contributors, was once introduced to me by my mother--at the parking lot of his Kon Tiki museum in Oslo, Norway.)

[Graham · Rating 4 out of 5]

A month or so ago I read Steve Berry's 2012 novel "The Columbus Affair" and that piqued my interest in finding out more about how the Americas were populated. I found this book on one of my bookshelves, (I have no idea where it came from) and it looked like a good introduction to the subject, even more so when I saw that Thor Heyerdahl was one of the contributors. Heyerdahl's story of the Kon Tiki expedition was one of our assigned English Literature readings at Grammar School in Shropshire in the mid 1960's. The Quest was published in 1971 so the information is a little dated (DNA evidence is not mentioned) and there is a lot of writing about skeptical scientists who are blind to the evidence presented. Despite the shortcomings I still enjoyed the book, particularly the writings of Heyerdahl showing the possibilities of reed boat travel to the Caribbean from Africa and Helge Ingstad's discovery of Norse sites at L'Anse aux Meadows at the northern tip of Newfoundland. Next is to find some more recent writings on the populating of the Americas.