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Summary: Scientific Exploration in the Andes during the 18th Century
Review: A century after Galileo had been forced to publicly recant his heliocentric model of the solar system, Western Europe was engaged in frenzy of global exploration and scientific investigation. Explorers urgently needed better maps and navigational systems. Scientists were competing to accurately determine the shape of the Earth. Add in a little political intrigue and you have the subject of The Mapmaker's Wife: a 1735 French mapmaking expedition to Peru that lasted a decade. The European Enlightenment was an extraordinary time for all intellectuals. France was the center of scientific research: Spain concentrated on exploring - and occupying - the new world. When French scientists suggested a journey to the Andes to measure the lines of latitude and longitude there and settle the question of the shape of the Earth, King Louis XV saw a chance to get information on the closely guarded Spanish empire. Robert Whitaker has won acclaim for his scientific journalism and he brings all his skills to The Mapmaker's Wife. The real story of 18th century mapmaking is more exciting than any fiction and the characters involved are full of life. As part of his research for the book, the author traveled to South America. Although he doesn't mention his own travels in the book, the detailed descriptions of what travelers encountered could only have been written by someone who knew the region. The mapmaker's wife only appears towards the end of the book. Isobel Godin was a Peruvian who had married one of the younger members of the mapmaking expedition. After waiting twenty years for him to return, she set out east across the Amazon jungle to find him. Her journey became one of the great survivor stories of the century and nicely complements the experiences of the French mapmakers in their journey west.
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Summary: Reads like a college textbook
Review: I bought this book based on the New Yorker Magazine review and the Amazon.com review. What is billed as an adventure novel with all the juicy attributes of "Love, Murder and Survival" in the Amazon jungle ended up far from it. Basically the book is a scientific, cronological and historical textbook account of an expedition seeking to determine the mathematical latitude and longitude at the equator. Unless you are interested in such things or want to return to the classroom, forget it. BORING and not as billed. Certainly contains none of the "adventure juice" the subtitle implies.
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Summary: stereotypes!
Review: It's a shame the author didn't read a bit more about Spain and Spanish America. He resurrects the Black Legend about the Spanish and makes Peruvians sound like mindless robots who follow the Crown/Church orders. Anyone with historical background will want to throw this at the wall at times. Too bad.
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Summary: Historically Thorough Adventure
Review: Note to fellow reviewers: this is not a Sidney Sheldon novel. Whitaker uses the "true tale of love, murder and survival in the Amazon" as an excuse to delve deeply into the history of the study of the shape of the earth, socio-political conditions of the day (the 16th Century), and the motivations of the principles and their nations, leaving very few tangents un-investigated. While this may frustrate those readers expecting romance and intrigue, rest assured that this book is by no means boring. Instead, it is a thoroughly-researched window into the past where, by the time Whitaker finally gets around to the "survival" part of the story, the reader is deeply immersed in the mindset of the times, placing everything that happens into proper perspective.
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