Author: Peter C. Newman. Published by Penquin Books, Ontario, Canada. 1985, 1st Edition. Flat Signed by the Author. Printed in Canada by T.H. Best. A Very Good Condition HARDCOVER Book, clean inside, tight spine. Good Condition Dust Jacket, with minor handling wear.
COMPANY OF ADVENTURERS, is a brilliant story that chronicles the unsung heroes of North American history. Shaping the destiny of Canada, the merchant founders of the Hudson's Bay Company tamed the wilderness as they built the world's largest private commercial empire.
"In many ways it is amazing that the Hudson's Bay Company survived. This book covers the HBC from its rather inauspicious beginnings in the mid 17th century to the threshold of modern times in the mid 19th century. It is difficult to imagine a more inhospitable geography, where trees were stunted if they grew at all, where brandy left in open air would turn to slush in 2 minutes and freeze solid in 5. Perhaps in a way that was a good thing, because for the most part the indigenous Indians helped the newcomers survive in exchange for such things as sewing needles, bronze cookpots and, of course, alcohol. But this is a story of more than the white man conquering a country. It is a story of survival and adventure, of learning to live with the land instead of on it, of the constant search for a mythical "Northwest Passage", of mapmaking and discovery. At once comprehensive and incomplete, this book presents an excellent introduction to the birth of what is now Canada." -Reviewed by Richard on Goodreads
