A Dog's History of America: How Our Best Friend Explored, Conquered, and Settled a Continent

Derr (Dog's Best Friend) takes a dog's-eye view of American history, beginning with speculations on the dog's first appearance in the Americas tens of thousands of years ago. Derr discusses the conquistadors and the use of dogs against natives, mentioning Panfilo de Narvaez and his crew, explorers who went to Florida dreaming of wealth, only to be starved out by the natives and""forced to consume many of their own dogs."" While readers learn about the often grim roles of dogs in""settling"" America ( used very often to hunt Native Americans, and later, slaves), few strong personalities, dog or human, emerge in this book, which sometimes reads like a chronological compendium of facts. Derr explains Washington's remark about his""Tarrier""; follows Lewis and Clark with Seaman, the famous Newfoundland who accompanied them west, and notes that Lewis had an odd appetite for eating dog along the journey; explains how dogs were both used in and victims of the colonizing of America and during the civil rights era. He then rushes on to the next major event in American history, making little meaning out of his material. This book is nevertheless a solid history of dogs in America.