Publishers Weekly, 2/26/2007
Henry Hudson: Dreams and Obsession
Corey Sandler. Kensington/Citadel, $23.95 (448p) ISBN 978-0-8065-2818-X
Historian and travel writer Sandler gives us an account of the life and legacy of the early 17th-century English explorer for whom the Hudson River is named. Not much is known about Hudson's early life; he made his mark on the historical record when he took charge of a 1607 expedition for the Muscovy Company.
He's most famous, however, for the 1609 expedition in which he explored New York Harbor and the eponymous river. Still, Hudson was not an unmitigated success: four of his expeditions failed, and arguably his leadership sparked three mutinies, the last culminating in his mysterious death. Although Sandler admits that "we know very little about Hudson," he has stitched together a rich book, situating the adventurer's exploits in a larger story about politics and imperialism, underscoring the economic motives behind Hudson's daring quests.
Sandler traveled to the places Hudson discovered and describes how those locales developed in the ensuing centuries; for example, he investigates the pollution of the Hudson with PCBs and other substances by General Electric. Indeed, this isn't a biography of a man so much as a biography of the landscapes he explored, creating a quirky and satisfying blend of history, reporting and travel writing. B&w illus., maps.
Schenectady Gazette, 4/29/07
Writer presents a lively picture of Henry Hudson's main voyages
BYJACK RIGHTMYER
Corey Sandler has combined two of my favorite genres, history and travel writing, to tell the story of Henry Hudson, one of the world's great navigators.
The author, who lives in Nantucket and has published more than 100 travel books, traveled the 25,000-mile path of Henry Hudson's four major journeys from England to the North Pole, deep into the Canadian wilderness areas accessible only by boat, and up the Hudson River to Albany.
As Sandler writes, "Hudson made four trips in three different small wooden ships that were dependent on the winds and the currents, and all but defenseless against the unforgiving ice that blocked the Northeast and Northwest passages. He had only the most primitive of navigational instruments and charts and almost no knowledge of the scattered groups of people he met in North America."
In contrast, Sandler made his trips by jumbo jet, luxury cruise ship, Spartan ice-breaker, cold and wet inflatable raft, freighter canoe, shallow draft riverboat, twin-engine bush plane, car, ferry, train, bus, subway, taxi, and in the back seat of a police paddy wagon.
GREAT DESPITE FAILURE
The author argues that Hudson was one of the world's great explorers even though every one of his voyages failed to meet their common goal of finding a northern route from England and Europe to China and Asia.
"He had four voyages as master," writes Sandler, "and at least three mutinies, the last of which resulted in his abandonment and probable death in a small boat in the icy waters of James Bay."
I found it interesting as I read this book that one of the world's greatest rivers and one of its largest bays bears his name, but we really know very little about Henry Hudson. We don't know what he looked like or where he actually died. Portraits of him in museums and in books, according to the author, are based on the imaginations of artists.
Hudson's first trip in 1607 took him to the frigid wilds of Spitsbergen, Greenland and on to Canada's far north. In 1608 he traveled to the bleak Novaya Zemlya and across the top of northern Russia. In 1609 he went back to the same area, but then made an abrupt U-turn across the Atlantic for a tour of the North American coast. He eventually made a hopeful but unsuccessful voyage 150 miles up the Hudson River hoping for a shortcut to Asia.
I enjoyed everything about this book. Sandler brings alive Hudson's voyages by reproducing his daily logs. Like any good writer, he has the ability to make a reader feel like they're on the wooden ship traveling in unexpected waters.
I also loved Sandler's travel writing when he visited modern day Svalbard, Norway and Novaya Zemlya in Russia. He does an excellent job describing the places and their histories. He got me so intrigued I even went to the computer and began looking them up on the Internet.
REPLICATING JOURNEYS
One of my favorite parts of the book was Sandler's trip up the Hudson River aboard both the Half Moon, a replica of Henry Hudson's Dutch boat, and the Grande Caribe, a 100-passenger cruise ship that sails from Rhode Island up the Hudson River near the Statue of Liberty and all the way to Waterford, just north of Albany.
One of Sandler's writing strengths is his ability to interview people. I especially enjoyed his interview with musician and peace activist Pete Seeger about his attempts to clean up the Hudson River.
The conclusion of the book follows Hudson's fourth journey in 1610 to northern Canada through the icy Hudson Strait above Labrador and into the massive Hudson Bay, where he met a grisly and untimely death at the hands of his own crew. No one really knows what actually happened to Henry Hudson, but I loved the speculations the author made.
This is a fun book to read. It's not too academic and Sandler has done an excellent job bringing both the past and the present to life.
Nantucket Independent. June 20, 2007
Henry Hudson: Great explorer or failure?
Island writer Corey Sandler retraced his steps to find out
BY MARLI GUZZETTA INDEPENDENT ARTS EDITOR
American explorer Henry Hudson is one of history's most enigmatic men.
|
)
"I decided to write about Henry Hudson when I realized how little most of us - myself included - knew about him," said Nantucket travel and business writer Corey Sandler, who released "Henry Hudson: Dreams and Obsession" in April. Publisher's Weekly called Sandler's first historic work "a rich book" and a "quirky blend of history, reporting and travel writing."
A former Gannett and Associated Press newsman, Sandler has also appeared on NBC's "Today" show, the Travel Channel, andNational Public Radio, and has been profiled on CNN. He also wrote "Watching Baseball" with Jerry Remy, and the two are collaborating on another baseball book.
|
)
"But they miss the rest of the story."
First of all, Sandler stated, "He was English, not Dutch."
He was also not making any claims of possession anywhere he went. He worked as a private citizen in a private navy paid for by the East India Trading Company - "like the Haliburton of its time," Sandler said.
Using Hudson's journals and logbooks, Sandler became an explorer himself, retracing Hudson's steps on four voyages made between 1607 and 1610.
The first two voyages led Hudson into the ice near the North Pole before a third "stumbled into history when his ship sailed up what we now call the Hudson River," according to Sandler.
The fourth voyage was less auspicious, leading to "a dead end in the ice of northern Canada ... and murder at the hands of his crew."
At the end of his life, some saw him as a heroic explorer, others saw him as a failure.
Trekking 25,000 miles in one year to learn more about the man he considers to be the "New World's least understood explorer," Sandler journeyed through New England, the Canadian wilderness, London, Norway and, of course, the North Pole.
"I ventured by jumbo jet, luxury cruise ship, Spartan icebreaker, cold and wet inflatable raft, freighter, canoe, shallow-draft riverboat, twin-engine bush plane, car, ferry, train, bus, subway, taxi and in the backseat of a police paddy wagon."
What happened in the paddy wagon?
"When I was traveling in James Bay, I was visiting some remote communities and reached the 55th latitude, which is the southernmost Inuit community and northernmost Cree community, and the two communities lived in uneasy peace," Sandler remembered. "There are three police forces in this town: Quebec provincial, Cree and Inuit. I ended my sailing of the icebreaker in this town. I got off the ship, walked on the beach - only about 300 people lived there - and I was looking for this Anglican minister who bridged the three communities. I was waving down everyone who walked by and finally flagged a police car, whose driver turned out to be the minister's son."
Sandler's trip through the Canadian arctic, being among the Inuit and Cree, was the most "spiritually fulfilling" aspect of the trip, he said. "This small group of people - ignored by the British and French governments - has held on to its original beliefs for centuries," Sandler said. "It was an extraordinary experience to be there."
The most beautiful image left in Sandler's mind is Svalbard - the last piece of unoccupied land remaining at the north pole. "It is literally the end of the earth, with three months of total daylight and three months of total darkness," Sandler said. "An extraordinary place with extraordinary people. Like no where else on this planet."
Though it meant little to the overall story, Hudson put some Nantucket wind in his sails on at least one occasion. "On August 6, 1609, the 'Half Moon' passed off the south shore of Nantucket, carefully tacking through the shoals that lie off today's Surfside Beach," according to Sandler.
So, was Hudson a great explorer, the world's worst captain or an accidental tourist?
Sandler eventually decided that Hudson was all three. "He never made a dime for himself or any money for his sponsors. He had at least four mutinies," Sandler said. "But everywhere he went ended up having a spectacular moment in history."
For more on the book, go to www.hudsondreams.com.
HENRY HUDSON: Dreams and Obsession. By Corey Sandler. Citadel Press, 431 pages, $23.95, hardcover. |
Exploring with Henry Hudson
John Davis
Special to THE DAILY DECATUR
Decatur, Alabama
Americans know the mighty Hudson River, which flows past New York City. Canadians know Hudson Bay, the mammoth body of water located in the far north of that country. But who was Henry Hudson, the great explorer who discovered and after whom these and many other places were named?
Corey Sandler, a prolific, insightful and conscientious travel writer, often consulted on television, shows how Hudson was not only a larger-than-life explorer, but also a human being with many foibles. Henry Hudson seemed to be a mystery, not only to history, but even in his day. His skills as a leader led to many conflicts with his Dutch masters and English ships’ crews. Yet he went on and commanded four major travels of discovery. How all of this contradiction came about is the wonder of Sandler’s remarkable study, and a compelling contribution to our understanding of Hudson in history.
The 16th century is perhaps most remarkable for its long and dangerous voyages of discovery. None could match those efforts made possible by the Dutch mapmakers, the English, Portuguese, Spanish and Netherlands governments, and the men who manned and commanded those voyages. Yet it was an unusual combination that brought us Henry Hudson. To better understand Hudson, Sandler literally followed his subject’s life path. That is to say, he traveled more than 20,000 miles in his search for the answers to many of the questions left adrift in this most incredible of tragic lives.
Hudson visited lands as far away as Spitsbergen and Greenland. Sandler shows how Hudson was caught up in the quest for a commercial route, to find that ephemeral Northwest Passage, which would be the gateway to the treasures of the Far East. He never found it, yet travel he did on his quest. His ships went far north of the Arctic Circle, only to find more and more ice. When he entered the great bay that looks on a map like a gigantic hand’s palm, fringed with frigid fingers of what is now Canada, he engendered a mutiny. It was not the only one in his colorful career.
Sandler studied countless documents about the man. He seems at once dreamer, and yet a practical collator of men, money and missions. But was he?
Sandler follows in Hudson’s wake in the most interesting ways. We find Sandler at once contemplating Hudson’s longago confrontations while describing what there is to see today, yet also telling us what has not changed since those most distant times.
In using such a literary device, where the modern traveler follows literally the sailing routes and footsteps of that long ago discoverer, Sandler excels. He puts us there with Hudson and his men.
With Sandler’s book I’ve read one of the most interesting accounts of another era I’ve ever had the pleasure to enjoy.