I’ll be appearing at Powell’s Books at 7 p.m. tonight, in conversation with historian Amanda Bellows, talking about her new book, The Explorers.
The Explorers is a retelling of America’s exploratory history with women, people of color, and immigrants foregrounded. Among the figures focused on are: Sacagawea, Black mountain man James Beckwourth, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Black polar explorer Matthew Henson, early pilot Amelia Earhart, and astronaut Sally Ride. The book is a great read and a welcome update to history as most of us have been taught it.
One of the things I like most about the book is how refreshing it is to see history through the eyes of someone other than white men. For example, in the chapter on Sacagawea, Bellows tells us she longed to see the Pacific Ocean but Lewis and Clark didn’t include her in the first group that went there from Fort Clatsop. She had to insist on going with a later group. This tells us more about her as an individual and helps to bring her more vividly to life.
It should be a stimulating discussion. I hope to see you there.