I thought this was really well written and I look forward to reading more from this author in the future. I think it will find readers at our library, so we will definitely be purchasing for the collection.

My thanks to NetGalley and the publisher William Morrow for an advance copy of this book that looks at American and world history through the travels and adventures of a group of diverse people who all shared a gift of not being able stay in one spot, always wondering what was waiting in the beyond.

Exploration is part of human nature. Babies explore their new world, finding stairs to fall down, dog beds to sleep in, even expensive items to make toys of. People quit jobs to explore new options, sometimes even quite a comfortable lifestyle to explore the world out there. Humans need to know things. From the physical to the metaphysical from around the corner to what lies in the stars. America has a habit though of making our explorers bigger than life, and predominantly white males, omitted from history the tales of many who came before, came along, or lead the way, be they black, women free from bondage, or just free thinkers. The Explorers: A New History of America in Ten Expeditions by Amanda Bellows, looks at a group of explorers some famous, some just known, some unknown, whose tales and achievements changed history, and brought new ways of thinking, many of which are still being discussed today.

The book is broken into ten essays with an introduction and a conclusion detailing many lost or misunderstood people, who should be deemed explorers in the grandest sense. Bellows discusses that in America most explorers are thought of as Daniel Boone types, rugged individualists who keep pushing the limits of frontiers whenever they would see the smoke of their neighbors houses. However there have always been others who went to the frontiers to see what was there for different reasons, To escape the life expected of them, the life that was forced on them, or to find a life that could be explored without exception. And this is who Bellows is discussing. Sacagawea, stolen from her home, who grew up a slave, traded into marriage, and yet without her the Lewis and Clark expedition of America might have ended in failure, or death. And yet Sacagawea was not rewarded for her work, and even her life and death after is unknown. James Beckworth, a mixed race mountain man, who traveled all over America, making a fortune outfitting prospectors in California, losing a fortune after making a road for settlers to cross. Along with these Bellows looks at the life of John Muir, Amelia Earhart, and Matthew Henson.

A history book that shows the grit that people have to do things that they have set their mind to, no matter the consequences. Bellows describes the lifes of these people, showing hardships, problems, and in one or two a lot of questionable behavior, but who excepted no limitations on their explorations. For women, for black men to travel, to set up businesses, in Henson's case go to the North Pole, is just extraordinary. As is the way there were all treated, even Muir in some cases by the press as crazy, as not acting like their kind should. And yet the persisted. Bellows has done a very good job of making all these characters from Sacagawea to Sally Ride come to life, and shares there stories and achievements quite well. Every page has a fact, a nugget of information that was new, or in some cases just a new way of thinking. Bellows has a nice style, and ability to describe boat travels on rivers, shuttle launches, even sleeping with llamas at high altitude with a sense of expertise and excitement. A really interesting history book, and one I really enjoyed.

There has been a trend in recent years of episodic books, or those books that break periods of history down into manageable, almost stand-alone pieces, that together make an entire narrative. This book does that by focusing on ten different expedition throught America's history. You could read these ten in any order, and at any time, which I believe is a strength of this book. It's well written and worth picking up.

I enjoyed this collection of stories of American exploration from the beginning of European settlement to space exploration. Each chapter tells a unique story, and overall this book gives a nice taste of history from a variety of people. I would have liked to see a little less details on the early childhood of the explorers, and a little more detail on their explorations and how they paved the way for the next explorer. Overall I enjoyed the book, and am thankful to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC in return for my review.