Sort of an odd format for a book. Horowitz decides he needs to learn more about the interval between the arrival of Columbus and the arrival of the Pilgrims, so sets off on a series of trips. The book reads somewhat like a travelogue and somewhat like a history text, which is a little odd, but makes for a fairly enjoyable light read. I'm not sure I really learned a whole lot, and I occasionally got frustrated by the digressions (is a detailed description of time in a sweat lodge in Newfoundland really pertinent?), but enjoyable enough. Plus it devotes quite a lot of pages to Pedro Menendez de Aviles, who may be an ancestor of mine, so that's always good.