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Brutal Journey : the epic story of the first crossing of North America Cover Image

Brutal Journey : the epic story of the first crossing of North America / Paul Schneider.

Schneider, Paul, 1962- (Author).

Summary:

This book tells the story of an army of would-be conquerors who came to the New World on the heels of Cortés. Bound for glory, they landed in Florida in 1528. But only four of the four hundred would survive: eight years and a 5,000-mile journey later, three Spaniards and a black Moroccan wandered out of the wilderness to the north of the Rio Grande and into Mexico. The survivors brought nothing back other than their story, but what a tale it was. They had become killers and cannibals, torturers and torture victims, slavers and enslaved, faith healers, arms dealers, canoe thieves, and spider eaters--whatever it took to survive long enough to reach an outpost of the Spanish empire. Now, by combining the accounts of the explorers with findings of archaeologists and academic historians, Schneider offers an authentic narrative to replace a legend of North American exploration.--From publisher description.

Record details

ISBN: 080506835X
ISBN: 9780805068351
Physical Description: x, 366 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm
Edition: 1st ed.
Publisher: New York : H. Holt, 2006.

Content descriptions

General Note:	"A John McRae book."
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (pages 337-350) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	1 A Continent to Call His Own 7 -- 2 Company Gathers 22 -- 3 Across the Ocean Sea 35 -- 4 Into the Gulf 59 -- 5 Requirement 78 -- 6 In Tocobaga's Charnel House 88 -- 7 Leaving Safety Harbor 102 -- 8 Across the Withlacoochee 116 -- 9 Sound of Flutes 127 -- 10 In the Land of the Apalachee 140 -- 11 Chest-High in Hell 154 -- 12 Into the Gulf ... Again 166 -- 13 Father of Waters 175 -- 14 Castaways 190 -- 15 Isle of Bad Fortune 198 -- 16 Figueroa's Attempt 213 -- 17 News from Malhado 222 -- 18 Traveling Salesman 230 -- 19 Pecans and Prickly Pears 241 -- 20 Burning Bush 257 -- 21 Traveling Medicine Show 269 -- 22 Six Hundred Hearts of Deer 288 -- 23 Peace in the Valley 297 -- 24 Lost in the New World 314.