Henry Hudson: Seeking the Northwest Passage

John Abbott is a professor of history at Laurentian University’s Algoma University College. He is the co-author of The Border at Sault Ste Marie and The History of Fort St. Joseph.

Whereas such 19th-century authors as G.A. Henty used the illustrative
power of the word to galvanize the mind’s eye and populate the
child’s world with famous men whose ventures made a difference in the
world, the authors of these four richly illustrated volumes superimpose
more carefully modulated accounts of the explorers’ lives and times on
vivid pictorial backgrounds.

The books are organized according to an editorial formula for effective
learning. The explorers are introduced on a page with their timelines in
right-hand sidebars. Accounts of the expeditions, terrestrial or
maritime, follow, with descriptions of a sailor’s life at sea, or the
fauna encountered, and references to the impact that the explorers’
activities had on indigenous peoples. Finally, the explorers’ legacies
are examined.

The authors treat history as a discipline. The explorers are complex in
motivation and action. Evidence is respected. When historians disagree
on significant questions, or the evidence is not in, readers are
informed. Information is presented clearly and fairly, without lashings
of political correctness.

The authors’ language is that of intelligent adults addressing
promising learners. Terms are explained in a glossary at the back of
each book. They present enough detail to awaken curiosity, but not so
much as to bog readers down. Illustrations are relevant to the text,
well-drawn, carefully sited on the page, and coloured. For those who
wish to experience the food of the time and place (a ship’s biscuit,
perhaps), there are simple recipes. Although repetition and
chronological disjunction flaw all the books (the decision to emphasize
social-scientific topicality has serious consequences for chronology, a
shortcoming mitigated only by the timelines), all four volumes are
nevertheless highly recommended.