- Best yet book overall on Champlain because of story format
- helpful footnotes and maps, well researched
- a bit thin on the Georgian Bay Watershed and its Aboriginal occupants in coverage of the trunchements and Champlain himself
- nice inclusions of Francais with English explanations ( )

Fascinating study of a man in challenging circumstances, as well as a new perspective on colonial history. ( )

Everything popular history should be. ( )

Now well known for his Pulitzer Prize winning history, Washington's Crossing, in Champlain's Dream, David Hackett Fischer tackles the father of New France, explorer and colonizer Samuel de Champlain.

Although the volume veers slightly toward hagiography (despite the author's protestations to the contrary), Champlain's Dream is an exhaustive and detailed look at Champlain and his world. Starting with the sociopolitical and religious milieu of southwestern France in the 16th century, and continuing through the book, Fischer gives us an education on the environment in which Champlain grew up. I learned more about 16th and 17th century in this one volume than I have in an entire college course on European history.

The detail on Champlain the man and his actions and history is also similarly comprehensive. Although his admiration for Champlain comes through on every page, Fischer does try to give a balanced look at Champlain and his works. Fischer's thesis is that Champlain, raised in the cosmopolitan town of Brouage, carried a philosophy of tolerance and propensity to America in his relations with the Native American tribes. This multiculturalism and ethos is presented in stark contrast to the experiences of English and especially Spanish America.

Even given the author's obvious admiration for the subject, the biography is very well written, with a command of the language I could only wish was in modern high school and college textbooks. You won't be bored to tears reading about Champlain's adventures as a spy in Spanish colonies, or his explorations of the St. Lawrence Valley, or his attempts to continue to secure funding against competing interests in the Court of the French Kings.

Appendixes to the main text include copious footnotes, a discussion of the true age of Champlain (not clear cut, given the lack of records in the time period), and a discussion of how the biographies and view of Champlain have changed over time.

I enjoyed the volume quite a bit, and strongly recommend this book to all history buffs. ( )

A Masterpiece of Historical Writing

In this incredible biography of one of Canada's founders, Samuel de Champlain, Pulitzer Prize winning author David Hackett Fischer produces yet another textual masterpiece. "Champlain's Dream" combines a stirring narrative with a dizzying array of historical sources which results in the rare kind of history book that will be read for many generations to come.

First off, Fischer's ability to put together source material into a coherent and compelling narrative is nothing short of brilliant. The book reads like a novel with Champlain as the central character. Yes, at times, you can sense a bit of Stockholm syndrome, hero worship, but the writing is so fluid and exciting that anyone can appreciate it regardless of its historiographical content.

As for the content, Fischer's major point is to show that Champlain was a visionary. A man who could see what others couldn't. A man who knew what he wanted and went for it. Deeply disturbed by the religious strife in France, Champlain felt that he could establish New France as a bastion of religious pluralism, a place for Huguenots and Catholics alike could put down roots. Champlain's own faith is of major discussion here. Born as a Catholic, most likely converted to Protestantism, and re-affirmed a Catholic later in life. All throughout, however, Champlain had a deep sense of personal piety, Christian values, which governed his dealings with others, and most notably with the natives.

As mentioned above, despite Champlain's mostly altruism towards the natives, his faith informed much of his inherent ethnocentrism, writing that "they [Huron] adore and believe in no God nor in any such thing, but live like brute beasts." (p. 340). So while, Champlain respected the natives' traditions, he could look beyond their lack of moral law and monotheistic faith. Paternalism certainly figured into his intentions in helping to "christianize" the natives. If there is any criticism of Fischer, it is that he is dismissive of such condescension. Perhaps, it is anachronistic to polemicize these colonial attitudes, but at the same time it is equally anachronistic to trivialize them.

The part of the book that I enjoyed the most were the cultural aspects after the colonies of Quebec and Acadia were firmly established after the critical take-off years of 1633-35. Fischer does a great job outlining and explaining the nuances of language evolution in colonial New France. The sections on the Acadiens or Cajuns, and the Metis were especially well done. Fischer's insight combined with source material has excellent breadth and depth.

One of the major themes of "Champlain's Dream" is to emphasis the differences between New France and the settlements of the British in New England and Virginia. Fischer writes: "These Frenchmen did not try to conquer the Indians and copel them to work, as in New Spain. They did not abuse them as in Virginia, or drive them away as in New England. In the region that they began to call Canada, from 1603 to 1635, small colonies of Frenchmen and large Indian nations lived close to one another in a spirit of amite and concorde. They formed a mutual respect for each other's vital interests, and built a relationship of trust that endured for many years." (p. 528).

If all of the above was not enough to convince a serious historian why this book is so significant, then you'll be happy to know that Fischer includes a compilation of almost 400 pages of primary and secondary source material as Appendixes. There are excerpts of Champlain's writings (he was a historian of his day), cartographies, photographs, and much more. Throughout the book, Fischer includes many relevant primary source photographs and documents. All of this rich information alone is reason enough to buy this book.

Fischer is an old-school historian. You won't find much post-colonial theory, or sociological analysis. He explicitly states that he is happy that the decades of revisionism, postmodernism, historical relativism are mostly behind and that historiography is going back to its roots: to write about the world and the great men who created it.

Overall, I can see no reason why anyone would not want to purchase this book. It is a fantastic piece of writing, of history, of fantasy becomes reality. I think Fischer has another award-winning book on his hands, and he deserves it. ( )