I love this book very much, as a first foray into many stories of exploration that I'd never known about before. I thought a lot about the difference between the nouns "exploration" and "migration." I wondered why we humans love stories of lone adventurers more than stories about people who pick up and leave as a community and populate brash new territories or clash or blend with those who are already there to achieve a brand new society. The topic of this book is so huge. It's kind of like the world's biggest tasting table. I'm looking forward to more books from this author and I hope the next books will focus more deeply on the stories he only had time to outline in an anecdote or two, this time around. I hope there is in fact more to be written about many of these adventures--I hope this isn't all that's left to be known about them. An enjoyable eye-opener.

Matthew Lockwood's Explorers: A New History is the latest in the Norton Shorts series. Books in this series are intended to present new perspectives and leading work in under two hundred pages aimed at the collegiate level.

Explorers takes the definition of the word as the root of the content. Well known explorers are described and detailed (exs. Marco Polo, Columbus, Humboldt), but Lockwood also provides brief bios and accomplishments of many lesser known historical figures.

In fact, Lockwood expands greatly on the understanding of an explorer. Moving beyond the Euro-centrist 'discovery' of the new world, Lockwood looks at it much more as an exchange with records of indigenous peoples both voluntarily or forced into servitude reactions to Europe. Lockwood based a lot of the content on records allowing the explorers or their witnesses to speak in their own words.

A concise but thorough overview of the notable or should be notable explorers and their crimes or contributions to humanity.

Recommended to readers of history (general) , world history, or travel writing.

Matthew Lockwood's Explorers is not really a revisionist history, but more of a supplement to the canonical stories of explorers who are largely white male Europeans. The overarching theme is that there is nothing special about Western culture that makes us want to explore, and the motivators of curiosity and imagination that cause us to seek new lands are part of what make us human.

Lockwood provides examples of: non-European voyages of discovery, the "discovered" peoples who then reciprocated by joining return voyages (this started with Columbus), indigenous guides (e.g. Sacajawea) who were as curious and crucial to success as the nominal mission leads, and Western women who infiltrated the Harems of Turkey and the Middle east. Each example Lockwood gives is pretty short, but there is a decent list of sources where we can find out more. I personally recommend Hampton Side's account of Mai - a Tahitian who returned with Captain Cook - in The Wide, Wide Sea (not in the list of sources), and Candace Millard's account (in The River of the Gods) of Sidi Mubarak Bombay who guided Richard Burton's search for the headwaters of the Nile (listed by Lockwood).

The point is perhaps a bit stretched when involuntary migrants (e.g. Russian Jews coming to America) are included as "Explorers". Why not include modern tourists? Nevertheless, this is a satisfying short read and a useful correction to the standard narratives.

Thanks to netgalley and Norton for providing a pre-release egalley for early review. This book has certainly piqued my interest in the Norton Shorts series. Tya Miles's Wild Girls: How the Outdoors Shaped the Women Who Challenged a Nation and Dennis Yi Tenen's Literary Theory for Robots: How Computers Learned to Write are going on my TBR list.

An interesting book about lesser-known explorers throughout history! It's not my usual topic of interest but I still found the facts interesting.

In "Explorers: A New History," Matthew Lockwood challenges our traditional understanding of "discovery," redefining it as a multifaceted process driven by curiosity, necessity, and the pursuit of knowledge rather than mere conquest.

Lockwood posits that exploration is a shared endeavor of cross-cultural exchange and collaboration. He argues that discovery is not just about encountering something new, but about how those encounters shape our perspectives and understanding of the world and ourselves. This fresh take on exploration highlights the contributions of lesser-known individuals from diverse backgrounds, whose knowledge and skills were often crucial to the success of more famous expeditions.

The book brings to light several unsung heroes of exploration. For instance, Tupaia, a Polynesian navigator, proved indispensable to Captain James Cook's 18th-century Pacific expeditions. Similarly, Matthew Henson, an African American explorer, played a pivotal role in Robert Peary's expedition to the North Pole in the early 20th century. These stories not only demonstrate the courage and determination of these individuals but also underscore the power of diversity in shaping our understanding of the world.

Lockwood's work is a quick read—I finished it in two short sessions—but it packs a powerful punch. He skillfully reframes our understanding of exploration, giving voice to underrepresented explorers whose contributions have been historically overlooked or erased. The author's approach is refreshing, though I sometimes wished for even more depth on some of the fascinating individuals he introduces.

If you're interested in exploration, particularly from non-traditional perspectives, I highly recommend this Norton Short. Lockwood's "Explorers: A New History" challenges our preconceptions and inspires us to reconsider the nature of discovery and the diverse voices that have shaped our understanding of the world.

This review is of an advance reader copy provided by W.W. Norton & Company and NetGalley. The publication date is October 15, 2024.

Fascinating and extremely informative read, one that sheds great light on the many in-betweens of exploration that our traditional western education initially taught us. For that reason alone I highly recommend this book—it's sobering, enlightening, adventurous, and rich. However, if you, like me, were expecting a more creative and immersive storytelling format versus a stronger scholarly bent then this book might not be for you.

Short but jam packed tale, full of interesting lives of fascinating people! More books should be told of these interesting individuals.