Conquering the Pacific

ANDRÉS RESÉNDEZ’s most recent book, The Other Slavery: The Uncovered Story of Indian Enslavement in America, was a finalist for the National Book Award and the winner of the 2017 Bancroft Prize. He is a professor of history at the University of California, Davis, a current Carnegie fellow, and an avid sailor.

“A historian, sailor, and master storyteller, Andrés Reséndez pilots us brilliantly through the intricacies of long-distance Pacific navigation during the last decades of the Age of Discovery. His mesmerizing account of momentous deep-water voyages involving weeks out of sight of land is a masterpiece of detailed historical inquiry and writing. I couldn’t put it down.” — Brian Fagan, author of The Little Ice Age and Beyond the Blue Horizon“A pacey account [of] a triumph of seamanship over wind and water. And credit for it, Mr. Reséndez shows persuasively, rests with a brilliant pilot whose role has long been neglected.” — Wall Street Journal“Riveting...Enlivened by lucid explanations of navigational techniques, larger-than-life characters, and colorful anecdotes from the age of exploration, this is a rip-roaring maritime adventure.”  — Publishers Weekly (starred review)“[Reséndez] makes the details fascinating and compelling. Readers of sailing and adventure stories will find this true account both enlightening and exciting.” — Booklist (starred review)“Andrés Reséndez’s Conquering the Pacific is a masterwork of narrative and conception. Reséndez magically transforms dogged archival research into a sweeping vision of the past, capturing the grandest of epochs—of sail, of discovery, of conquest, of slavery and the beginning of globalization—in the thrilling life of a heretofore anonymous master and commander.  A riveting tour-de-force.” — Greg Grandin, Pultizer Prize-winning author of The End of the Myth and Empire's Workshop“At once learned and lively, Conquering the Pacific is a remarkable journey of discovery. Conquering the Pacific has it all: a covert mission, mutiny and swordplay on the high seas, and a dynamic lead role in Lope Martín, the courageous and heroic Afro-Portuguese navigator. The crisp narrative whirls like a gyre, transporting readers to previously unknown seas and shores. A vital, captivating read.”  — Buddy Levy, author of Labyrinth of Ice“[A] taut reconstruction of the first recorded west-to-east crossing of the Pacific.” — New Yorker