Delno C. West

This book gives us a look at some of the people that explored North America. The book is split into three sections, each dealing with a different group of explorers. This first section tals about the earliest explorers, namely the Vikings, the second deals with John and Sebastian Cabbot, ant the third with the French. It is great that this book spends the time talking about these groups, since many people forget that Columbus did not deiscover North Aamerica. There is also detail into the technology that they had to work with, from viking longships and navagational aids, to the primative maps shown in the illustrations. There is mention of even earlier explorers , such as the Irish, Chinese, and Arabs, but not much detail is given as they are not the foucus of this book. This book would be usable for a middle school class, since it covers much while not going into too much detail. Students will still have to check facts in order to study each topic. Since this book was published, much of what it talks about has now been brought up in history books and documentaries. It is in need of an updated edition.… (meer)