I found this book to be a very indepth resource about a virtually unknown American explorer/adventurer. The author's inexhaustive research into the subject is astounding and enlightening. William Darby made considerable contributions to the early mapping of the state of Louisiana as well as many other regions including Pennsylvania. His work was used by other unscrupulous editors and mapmakers, who gave themselves credit for Darbys work. Anyone interested in early geography and mapping of the Uinted States will find this book a goldmine.

Kennedy's work is the best I've read on writers and Paris. Each of his close readings of what Paris comes to mean to key twentieth century American writers--Stein, Hemingway, Miller, Fitzgerald,Barnes--goes to the heart of their works, unraveling the mysterious impact of place on art. For that is his theme, the effect of place on who one is and what one writes. He also knows that it is not to the city of Paris only but to the "city of writing" writers long to belong. Kennedy traces well each writer's vision of Paris and its expression of both artistic identity and desire.

A brilliant and extremely readable book.

In this novel I had the same feeling I used to have watching or reading Treasure Island. It is one of the best adventure novels I have ever read.

It speaks about an adventure seeker, a Mr. A. Gordon Pym. He tries to leave the luxury of his little city Nantucket, where he used to live with his father. One friend of his convinces him to travel. The first voyage was a total disaster. But he did not quit his dream. He went on yet another ... Man, it was the most chilling experience I ever had. It is not like anything you dream, it is even stranger. No goblins nor trolls appear hear, yet still, Poe can really bring the horror to your heart.

A mutiny is added to the singular experience Pym had, and then Cannibalism. And after you thought the story finished, you see that Poe starts a new story which not as impressive as the first, yet turns the attention to some other direction.

The end was a bit shaky. I did not like it at all. I usually do not like open endings. That was the only reason I gave 4 instead of 5 stars.

Overall, I would recommend you to read it in the middle of the night (if you do not have anything else to do), with a cup of tea, and with no one else around! You would enjoy it even more.

This story, Poe's only novel, is an endurance test for both reader and characters. I believe it was originally serialized, and reads like a collection of incidents rather than a complete story. However, it is a captivating tale, astounding in it's detail and casual horror. Arthur Gordon Pym was born under an unlucky star. He survives in the most inconceivable circumstances, from a drifting, overturned hulk to the frozen waters of the Antarctic. Each page turned piles more horror in his path, described with a growing clinical distance. Pym himself becomes more desensitized to each incident, until he views the irrational with a casual curiosity. The language is beautifully detailed, and some feel this story is the inspiration for "Moby Dick."

Altogether, a delightfully disturbing story. One of the best I have read.

At 150 pages or so, Arthur Gordon Pym is the closest Poe came to a novel. Rife with his characteristic polarization and dreamscape plots, this stands, in my opinion, as one of Poe's best. The short stories included only add to the mainstay, and it's a great value.