Laut, Agnes Christina. [Vikings of the Pacific.] **$2. Macmillan.
Volume 1, of “The pathfinders of the West” series. The adventures of the explorers who came from the West, eastward; Bering, the Dane; the outlaw hunters of Russia; Benyowsky, the Polish pirate; Cook and Vancouver, the English navigators; Gray of Boston, discoverer of the Columbia; Drake, Ledyard and other soldiers of fortune on the west coast of America are presented in an interesting fashion, and the volume is freely and well illustrated.
“In matters of detail the author is fairly accurate; though there are a few errors which argue a lack of familiarity with the best secondary authorities within her field. After making all necessary deductions, it may still be said that the book will furnish to the discriminating student a considerable fund of information not so conveniently accessible elsewhere.” Joseph Schafer.
+ + – Am. Hist. R. 11: 680. Ap. ’06. 370w.
“The attractive title of the volume is scarcely justified by its contents.”
– Ath. 1906, 1: 635. My. 26, ’06. 360w. + Critic. 48: 478. My. ’06. 80w.
“Miss Laut possesses the happy faculty of seizing upon the element of human interest that lie buried in even the dryest of historical documents, enfolding them in a glamour of romance without destroying their historical value, and presenting them to the reader with the combined fidelity and skill of historian and novelist.”
+ + Dial. 41: 166. S. 16, ’06. 650w.
“A splendid piece of work.”