France and England in North America, Part III: La Salle, Discovery of The Great West

About the book

Francis Parkman follows La Salle's attempts to establish a western enterprise through the Great Lakes and Mississippi country, placing his journeys among missionary activity, the fur trade, and French colonial politics. Joliet, Marquette, Hennepin, and Tonty enter a narrative of competing claims, difficult travel, uncertain reports, and fragile alliances. The historian repeatedly considers the evidence behind disputed discoveries, while shaping La Salle into a commanding figure of endurance and ambition. Parkman's dramatic descriptions and character judgments make the expeditions vivid, but his nineteenth-century imperial and racial assumptions remain part of the account. This volume stands as the third part of his larger history of France and England in North America, concentrating on the expansion of French projects into the continental interior.

• Exploration and empire
• Ambition and endurance
• Evidence and historical narrative

Why read it

Parkman combines an energetic expedition narrative with visible disputes over the documents and claims behind it.

English text of the 1908 Little, Brown edition; Part Third of France and England in North America