La Salle: Explorer of the North American Frontier

Although I've lived in Canada for quite some time, all I knew about La Salle before reading this book was that he was one of the early French explorers of North America and that there are a few places in Canada named after him (like the suburb in Montreal). After reading this well-written and very clearlt set out account of La Salle's life and explorations, I'm a lot wiser. It's clearly written, easy to follow, well-written and interesting. Not at all a dry academic account which so many books like this unfortunately are. Amazing voyages through the Great Lakes and down the length of the Mississippi by canoe. And on top of that he built forts and established settlements along the way. Many north americans don't have any idea just how far into the interior the French explored and settled back 400 years ago. This book really does give you an idea of what happened, how tough it was and how things could go disastorously wrong (such as happened on La Salle's last voyage where he attempted to find the mouth the of Mississippi from the seaward side and ended up landing in what is now Texas instead). Riveting book. Some good illustrations too.

This was a very readable account of LaSalle's journeys. It's truly amazing the conditions that people could survive back then as a matter of course. The language seems stilted sometimes, I believe because it was translated from French, but there is also an interesting slant, in that this is a european writing about our country, and our neighbor to the north. Keep an atlas handy to help track the story, and be prepared to be impressed. There is just enough well-researched information to bring the story alive, but not get too bogged down.

Well written and well documented, this book justifies France's North American claims like no other has. It is a very compelling account of one of North America's greatest explorers.

A lot of people know that La Salle discovered the mouth of the Mississippi in 1682. Would they know that was probably his easiest trip? Anka Muhlstein gives you an intimate experience of real life in French America of the 1670s. Priests, civil administrators, trappers, and explorers fighting each other fiercely but living in peace with the Indians. Frenchmen in bark canoes with skate blades on the keel racing down a frozen river. It's the story about mosquitos, Iroquois attacks, shipwrecks, desertions and treachery and about the man who astonished both Indian and Frenchman with his perserverence and adaptation to each reverse and travail. This history reads like a good novel and would make a great movie.