Champlain's Dream

By David Hackett Fischer

In this sweeping, enthralling biography, acclaimed Pulitzer Prize–winner David Hackett Fischer magnificently brings to life the visionary adventurer who has straddled our history for 400 years. Champlain’s Dream reveals, with rare immediacy and drama, the story of a remarkable man: a leader who dreamed of humanity and peace in a world riven by violence; a man of his own time who nevertheless strove to build a settlement in Canada that would be founded on harmony and respect.  

With consummate narrative skill and comprehensive scholarship, Fischer unfolds a life shrouded in mystery, a complex, elusive man among many colorful characters. Born on France’s Atlantic coast, Samuel de Champlain grew up in a country bitterly divided by religious wars. But, like Henry IV, one of France’s greatest kings whose illegitimate son he may have been and who supported his travels from the Spanish Empire in Mexico to the St. Lawrence and the unknown territories, Champlain was religiously tolerant in an age of murderous sectarianism. Soldier, spy, master mariner, explorer, cartographer, and artist, he maneuvered his way through court intrigues in Paris, supported by Henri IV and, later, Louis XIII, though bitterly opposed by the Queen Regent Marie de Medici and the wily Cardinal Richelieu. But his astonishing dedication and stamina triumphed….

Champlain was an excellent navigator. He went to sea as a boy, acquiring the skills that allowed him to make 27 Atlantic crossings between France and Canada, enduring raging storms without losing a ship, and finally bringing with him into the wilderness his young wife, whom he had married in middle age. In the place he called Quebec, on the beautiful north shore of the St. Lawrence, he founded the first European settlement in Canada, where he dreamed that Europeans and First Nations would cooperate for mutual benefit. There he played a role in starting the growth of three populations — Québécois, Acadian, and Métis — from which millions descend.

Through three decades, on foot and by ship and canoe, Champlain traveled through what are now six Canadian provinces and five American states, negotiating with more than a dozen Indian nations, encouraging intermarriage among the French colonists and the natives, and insisting, as a Catholic, on tolerance for Protestants. A brilliant politician as well as a soldier, he tried constantly to maintain a balance of power among the Indian nations and his Indian allies, but, when he had to, he took up arms with them and against them, proving himself a formidable strategist and warrior in ferocious wars.

Drawing on Champlain’s own diaries and accounts, as well as his exquisite drawings and maps, Fischer shows him to have been a keen observer of a vanished world: an artist and cartographer who drew and wrote vividly, publishing four invaluable books on the life he saw around him.
               
This superb biography (the first full-scale biography in decades) by a great historian is as dramatic and richly exciting as the life it portrays. Deeply researched, it is illustrated throughout with 110 contemporary images and 37 maps, including several drawn by Champlain himself.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Nov 3, 2009
• ISBN: 9780307373014

David Hackett Fischer

David Hackett Fischer is a University Professor and Warren Professor of History emeritus at Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He is the author of numerous books, including the 2005 Pulitzer Prize winner Washington’s Crossing and Champlain’s Dream. In 2015, he received the Pritzker Literature Award for Lifetime Achievement in Military Writing.

Reviews for Champlain's Dream

[charlie68_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A vivid portrayal of this time, I felt like I was with the explorers seeing North America wilderness for the first time, meeting tribes of Indians. And meeting this extraordinary man who brought it aĺl off.

[ibkennedy · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fascinating

[bruchu_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Masterpiece of Historical WritingIn 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.

[asyouknow_bob · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Everything popular history should be.

[lynnb_64 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a great book! Author David Hackett Fisher has done an amazing job in bringing us the story of Samuel de Champlain. The research he cites is comprehensive and well documented. He's also provided several annexes that explore related topics such as the unresolved issue of Champlain's birth date, the type of money used in Champlain's time, and much more.Not only is this a thorough history, it is simply great writing. At times, it reads like a novel (I mean that as a compliment...it's engaging.) If only my sons' high school text books were this compelling! I was particularly interested in Champlain's relationship with the Indians of what is now Quebec and New England, and couldn't help but wonder how different life in Canada may have been had that kind of nation-to-nation perspective endured.The author is obviously a fan of Champlain's and the book paints him in a very favourable way. Champlain's humanity and vision shine through it all. Is that a completey accurate portrait? Who knows, but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of this book.

[kukulaj · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book maybe five years ago but it has stuck with me. The stories of Champlain's interactions with the native people are so rich and were certainly nothing I had expected. The sophistication of the Huron people versus the bare bones lives of the Micmac people. Seriously anybody with any interest in North America should read this book!

[smb45 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This was a wonderful book. If Champlain wasn't the most important explorer ever to land on our shores, I don't know who was. He was an absolutely incredible man. Great story telling, and it makes driving up and down the Ottawa River so much more interesting.

[pmerriam_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Outstanding! Probably too detailed for a casual reader, but excellent for anyone with an intense interest in the contact period.

[williamallen_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

- 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

[robertkearney · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Interesting biography of Champlain which portrays him as a businessman and sympathetic to the native people. The author makes the point that much of Champlain work was to arrange financing to support the colony and this resulting in him crossing the Atlantic very frequently. Quite readable but what is missing is any attempt to describe to what extent, if any, Quebec was a successful investment.

[jbreedlove_6 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A rare 5 star rating for one of the most informative books I have ever read. This book filled a gap in my understanding of northeastern North America at this period in history. Not only was I informed of the redoubtable Champlain's adventures but also the activity in this region at this time after Columbus and of the forces in Europe that propelled French exploration in the Americas. I am from Bangor, Maine and I know exactly where Champlain's meeting w the Penobscots took place in September of 1604 thanks to Fischer. I can only imagine.