The Hernando de Soto Expedition: History, Historiography, and "Discovery" in the Southeast

The Hernando de Sota Expedition: History, Historiography, and "Discovery" in the Southeast. Ed. by Patricia Galloway. (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1997. xvi, 457 pp. $60.00, ISBN 0-8032-2157-6.)

This collection of analytical essays, edited by Patricia Galloway and published by the University of Nebraska Press, offers the best examination of the Soto expedition currently available. While thoughtful and scholarly, its most important contribution is a critical look at the Soto sources too long accepted as accurate accounts of the conquistador's expedition through the Southeast. As a consequence of the essayists' scrutiny, much of the Soto history remains in doubt. And, whatever else scholars and students of colonial history learn from this valuable historiographic study, they will never again read heroic and personal...