The Explorers: A New History of America in Ten Expeditions

A fascinating new work of narrative nonfiction, this history of America is told through the stories of a diverse cast of ten extraordinary―and often overlooked―adventurers, from Sacagawea to Matthew Henson to Sally Ride, who pushed the boundaries of discovery and determined our national destiny.

"Brilliantly imaginative, beautifully written." ―David Blight, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom

"A considerable undertaking. … [Bellows's] keen sense of story and her appreciation of her individual subjects tell us much that is new, and vividly." ―Wall Street Journal

The archetype of the American explorer, a rugged white man, has dominated our popular culture and the story of US history since the late eighteenth century, when Daniel Boone’s autobiography captivated readers with tales of treacherous journeys. But our commonly held ideas about the American frontier do not tell the whole story―far from it.

The Explorers rediscovers a diverse group of Americans central to the story of westward expansion who went to the frontier and beyond, traversing the farthest reaches of the globe and even penetrating outer space in their endeavor to find the unknown. This compelling collection of historical biographies reveals how many escaped from lives circumscribed by racism, sexism, poverty, and discrimination as they took on great risk in unfamiliar territory. Born into slavery, James Beckwourth found freedom as a mountain man and became one of the great entrepreneurs of Gold Rush California. In a powerful story from Black history, Matthew Henson, the son of African American sharecroppers, left rural Maryland behind to seek the North Pole. Women like Harriet Chalmers Adams ascended Peruvian mountains to gain geographic knowledge while pioneering women explorers like Amelia Earhart and Sally Ride shattered glass ceilings by pushing the limits of flight.

In The Explorers, readers will travel across the vast Great Plains and into the heights of the Sierra Nevada mountains; they will traverse the frozen Arctic Ocean and descend into the jungles of South America; they will journey by canoe and horseback, train and dogsled, airplane and space shuttle. Readers will experience the exhilarating history of American exploration alongside the men and women who shared a deep drive to discover the unknown.

Across two centuries and many thousands of miles of terrain, Amanda Bellows offers an ode to our country’s most intrepid adventurers―and reveals the history of America in the process.

This meticulously researched work of American history reframes our understanding of the nation’s story by revealing:

• Overlooked History: Go beyond Daniel Boone to uncover the forgotten contributions of the women, Black, and Indigenous explorers who shaped the nation.
• In-Depth Historical Biographies: Follow the lives of ten remarkable individuals, including Sacagawea, the indispensable navigator for the Lewis and Clark expedition, and John Muir, the father of the conservation movement.
• Pioneers and Trailblazers: Journey alongside adventurers like James Beckwourth, a mountain man born into slavery who found freedom on the frontier, and Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
• A New Look at US History: Travel from the Gold Rush and the settlement of the Great Plains to the race for the North Pole and the dawn of the Space Age, seeing America's destiny through a new lens.

Amanda Bellows is a historian of the United States and teaches undergraduates at the New School. She received her PhD from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Bellows served as a Project Historian for the New-York Historical Society’s major exhibit Black Citizenship in the Jim Crow Era, supported by a significant National Endowment for the Humanities grant, and has published writing in the New York Times, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, and elsewhere. She is the author of American Slavery and Russian Serfdom in the Post-Emancipation Imagination, published by UNC Press.