Books in Brief: Samuel de Champlain: Father of New France

Samuel de Champlain: Father of New France, by Samuel Eliot Morison (Atlantic-Little, Brown, 299 pp., $10). Not very much is known about the founder of Quebec and Port-Royal, explorer of Maine and Cape Cod, victor over the Iroquois at Ticonderoga, Richelieu’s lieutenant in New France. Admiral Morison has neither intended to add, nor added, greatly to our knowledge: but he has written a charming and affectionate memoir, embellished with handsome reproductions of Champlain’s own maps, and centering (as might be expected) on his explorations of the New England coast. This is, in fact, a maritime history of Samuel de Champlain, and the subtitle, while it accurately describes the hero, does not accurately describe the book: there is no substantial discussion here of the steps Champlain took to solve the problems involved in founding New France. But this is pleasant narrative history nonetheless, enlivened by the author’s appreciation both of Champlain’s seamanship and of his evident humanity, and we need—I suspect—to be reminded that there are others strand in northern North American history than English and Indian.