The late Samuel Eliot Morison was one of the most eminent American historians of the 20th century. The Great Explorers, an abridgement of his two-volume magnum opus, The European Discovery of America, vividly describes the early voyages that led to the discovery of the New World. Based on Morison's own trips, by plane, to the places the early discoverers landed, and on massive research into their maps, travelogues, and means of navigation, it tells, as no other book does, what the experience of these early explorers was. Morison describes their fear of sailing uncharted waters, their encounters with natives, their joy--and surprise--at discovering new land, and enriches his story with the photographs and maps he made while retracing the great voyages.