Brutal Journey: The Epic Story of the First Crossing of North America

by Paul Schneider

Book Overview

A gripping account of four explorers adrift in an unknown land and the harrowing journey that took them across North America 270 years before Lewis and Clark One part "Heart of Darkness," one part... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 080506835X
• Release Date: May 2006
• Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
• Length: 366 Pages
• Weight: 1.57 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.4" x 1.4" x 6.3"

Customer Reviews

Cabeza de Vaca

If you want to read one book on Cabeza de Vaca's travels this is probably the one. Cabeza de Vaca was one of four survivors of a Spanish expedition to the United States in 1528. Landing in what is now Florida the expedition seemed fated for doom from the beginning. Lack of food and hostile Indians plagued the Spanish. Giving up all hope of gold and glory they built boats and attempted to sail to the Spanish settlements in Mexico by following the Gulf Coast. They were ship-wrecked near where Galveston, Texas is today. Over the next few years Cabeza de Vaca and the other survivors lived with the Texas Indians and made their way toward the Spanish settlements in Mexico. In their wanderings the survivors crossed the continent before they finally encountered other Spanish on the Pacific Coast of Mexico. Cabeza de Vaca's account of his travels is the first -- and often the only -- report we have of the now vanished Indians living in Florida, Texas, and northern Mexico. "Brutal Journey" is highly readable and in sync with up-to-date scholarship on Cabeza de Vaca. Speculation about the route of the Spaniards has inspired much impassioned scholarship and flag-waving patriotism. Did C de V remain mostly in Texas or was his route through northern Mexico? The author reflects the best guesses by scholars. Smallchief

Great Reading for the Armchair Explorer

This is a story you want to read about as an armchair explorer. You certainly wouldn't want to live it. It is a tale of suffering. Starvation, torture, cannibalism, slavery, and dealing with various Indian tribes in addition to endurance survivors didn't realize they were capable of all were factors that had to be dealt with in this trip from Florida across the Gulf of Mexico, down the southeast coast of Texas and into Mexico. The author uses Cabeza de Vaca's journal as his primary source for his information, and admits that guesses have to be made at times in determining what may have occurred. Cabeza de Vaca's account of the trip was written some years following the trip in an attempt to acquire recognition and favors from the king of Spain and the public for his suffering, so this must be taken into account as well in determining how factual the account is. Of close to 400 people who started out on this trip only four survived. In addition to Cabeza de Vaca the only survivors were three others named Dorantes, Castillo, and a black Moroccan named Esteban. There are many excellent books involving exploration, especially those of Samuel Eliot Morison, and this one by author Paul Schneider provides us with a neglected subject regarding North American exploration.

Stellar, gripping adventure

Paul Schneider's third book is a delight from cover to cover. The Odyssey-like narrative is full of suspense, sublime characters, and indelible scenes that sound almost made up. The fact that this amazing, tragic and (brutal) journey happened right under today's strip malls and freeways along the Gulf Coast makes it even more amazing. The reader is transported like an archeologist straight into the rampaging egos, wild delusions and doomed strategies of the would be conquistadors. They traverse "their' thoroughly alien and violent territory with eyes wide shut, battered to and fro as if from one of the squalls that greet their arrival in the New World from the get-go. Schneider is a masterful writer, and the text is lean and full of sly wit. It's mercifully shorn of the unwieldy and tedious detail to which so many historians subject their readers. The structure is crisp and orderly, and moves swiftly. The author seems to enjoy peeling back the layers of this larger-than-life tale as much as the reader will, and we can thank Schneider for unveiling this vital piece of American history.

Incredible!

Amazing story of 400 Spanish explorers who walked into the bush of southern Florida in the 1520s and disappeared - eight years later four survivors showed up naked in Mexico with nothing but a few hundred friendly Indians in tow. In the intervening 8 years it was one page-turning adventure after the next, mostly dire tales of starvation, violence and exotic peoples, but also the spinning wheel of fortune from conquerer to slave and back again. They were the first to enter North America and cross it, encountering countless tribes and customs of the new world that within a century or two completely vanished. An otherwise little known story today, it was a classic best-seller in the 16th century, retold here with the latest scholarly findings. Note: the original story was by Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca called "Castaways" (1555) (also goes by other names) and is still highly readable and widely available in modern English translation, it is a classic of 16th century literature. National Geographic ranks Cabeza de Vaca's narrative #63 on their "100 Best Adventure Books" list. I have not read it and wonder how it compares with this modern retelling. Schneider's retelling is as good as "Over the Edge of the World" ("Brutal" takes place about 12 years after Magellan's expedition returned to Spain). Where Cabeza de Vaca's narrative has blank spots Schneider fills in from a lot of other sources. For the non-specialist this book is a synthesis of a lot of scholary research and discoveries, and also just a great adventure story.