David Hackett Fischer is rapidly becoming my favorite historical author. He always writes with passion, scholarly insight, and exhaustive research. This book is no exception. It is clear that Hackett cares deeply about the subject matter and the importance of this particular figure on North American history. Hackett never loses sight of the "big picture" while supplying the reader with rich and fascinating details about...
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After reading a couple of good newspaper reviews, I bought this book for my mother for Christmas. I am french-canadian and Champlain was important in our history book. To say that she likes this book is a huge understatement; she says that a good book like this one is a rare find, she doesn't how to reciprocate, she keeps asking me how did I come accross such a fortunate discovery. She is revisiting her history with an enlightened...
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This is a biography of epic cultural and geographic sweep. It entwines itself into the histories of France, England and North America, illuminating by countless fascinating details while never losing the thread of its larger narrative. The subject is Samuel de Champlain (~1570 to 1635), soldier, explorer, colonizer, diplomat and leader of men. In recounting the facts and deeds of Champlain's life, Fischer finds a theme...
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This is a critical book for anyone who is interested in getting a different view from the typical Anglo-American viewpoint of the history of North America. Fischer is a very passionate and considerate writer who approaches his history from a passion for the man who really went on to create New France. We get to see and read the view of Champlians upbringing, the things that shaped this marvelous individual. He was ahead...
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This year - 2008 - marks the 400th anniversary of the founding of Quebec or New France, as it was called then. There is an exhibition in Quebec commemorating the founding called Champlain's Dream, appropriately named after this book, an excellent biography of the founding father. David Hackett Fischer is an historian who, though not exactly popular, is widely read outside academia. His most famous work is Albion's Seed:...
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