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In 1703 the Baron Lahontan (Louis-Armand, le Baron de Lahontan et Heslèche, a French aristocrat, writer, and explorer who served in the French military in Canada) published New Voyages to North America, which contained an account of his search for an inland passage between New France and the Pacific Ocean in 1688-1689, during which he canoed up the “Long River” (Missouri River) seeking its source. Scholars have almost universally discounted his work as largely fictitious and branded the baron a liar. In this book, a distinguished group of scholars familiar with the central Great Plains and the Platte River exposes the many major flaws in Lahontan’s critics’ judgements and demonstrates the truthfulness of the baron’s journal, including descriptions of Native peoples who had never encountered a European prior to Lahontan. The authors applied anthropology, archaeology, ethnohistory, and physical geography, all supported by French and Spanish documents, to carry out this extensive reexamination of Lahontan’s narrative. They believe that the baron should rank among the great explorers of North America.

“One would look in vain in the honor roll of the explorers and discoverers of the Great Lakes and the Mississippi Valley for the name of the Baron de Lahontan. Not a single monument has been erected in his memory, not a single tablet inscribed in his honor. Yet, if the forgotten baron had his desserts, his name would stand beside those of Marquette and Jolliet and La Salle in the history of the Father of Waters.” --Stephen Leacock, PhD, Canadian, 1933 Steven G. Baker earned his BA in anthropology from the University of Kansas and his MA in American History from the University of South Carolina. Baker was an independent locally focused Colorado scholar who has worked as an archaeologist and ethnohistorian for nearly 60 years. He worked in Canada for Parks Canada in the 1960s and gained experience in French Canadian colonial history and archaeology. He was the founder and president of Centuries Research, Inc. of Montrose, Colorado, one of the first cultural resource management firms established in the United States. His most recent significant contributions within a long bibliography extending back to 1967 are Juan Rivera’s Colorado, 1765: The First Spaniards Among the Ute and Paiute Indians on the Trails to Teguayo and My Name Is Pacomio: The Life and Works of Colorado’s Sheepherder and Master Artist of Nature’s Canvases, both in new editions from Sunstone Press.

George W. Gill earned his BA with Honors in zoology from the University of Kansas. He entered military service as a U.S. Army Combat Ranger from which he received an honorable discharge as a Captain. He earned his PhD in anthropology with a fellowship from the University of Kansas in 1971 and joined the anthropology faculty at the University of Wyoming where he taught physical anthropology and researched until his recent retirement and award of emeritus status.

W. Raymond Wood earned his BA and MA in anthropology at the University of Nebraska and his PhD in anthropology from the University of Oregon in 1960. He taught anthropology at the University of Missouri from 1963 to 2001 and then retired as a member of the Emeritus Faculty. After his retirement he remained deeply involved in archaeological and ethnohistorical research in Missouri and in each of the states that touch the Missouri River. He became a renowned ethnohistorian and highly respected voice in the archaeology of the Great Plains.

Rick Hendricks (BA, PhD), Editor and Author of Foreword, was the New Mexico state historian and now is the Director of the State Records Center and Archives. He is a professional historian, editor, and Spanish translator trained in history and Ibero American Studies. For many years he was an editor of the Vargas Project at the University of New Mexico. His many published works on the history of the American Southwest and Mexico include co-authoring the award-winning book, The Witches of Abiquiu, 1750–1766.

Claude J. Fouillade, Translator, was a native of Paris, France. He was first educated at the Sorbonne and then served as an officer and English instructor in the French Air Force before completing his PhD in Romance Languages (Medieval French Literature) at the University of New Mexico. Fouillade taught language studies at the University level for over fifty years, including the last thirty-five years at New Mexico State University, where he served for years as Chair of the Language Department.

Hardcover:
8.5 x 11 illustrated
ISBN: 978-1-63293-768-1
324 pp.,$65.00

Softcover:
8.5 x 11 illustrated
ISBN: 978-1-63293-720-9
324 pp.,$50.00