Tony Horwitz

You consider yourself a history buff: Quick, give me an idea of what was happening in America between 1492 and 1620. It's a puzzler, isn't it? We know Columbus "discovered" America in 1492 -- after Leif Eriksson discovered it a couple centuries earlier, and the people known as Native Americans migrated here a few thousand years before him -- and the Pilgrims landed on Plymouth Rock in 1620, but what happened in between Vikings and Pilgrims? Author Tony Horwitz wondered, too, and then he wandered. Journeying across the country to revisit the places the many discoverers landed (or in Columbus' case, didn't land -- he never set foot on America proper), Horwitz discovered the truth about what we know of our country's early days and what we've forgotten. He recounts his adventure and his newfound knowledge in the book A Voyage Long and Strange. Horwitz discusses his book at 7 p.m. at St. Louis County Library Headquarters. Admission is free, and Robert Duffy (editor of the St. Louis Beacon) will do Master of Ceremony honors.
Wed., May 13, 7 p.m., 2009