In Explorers, Lockwood doesn’t simply deconstruct myths—he rebuilds the story of exploration as a deeply human, often painful, and undeniably fascinating process. The result is an eye-opening meditation on empire, cultural exchange, ambition, and the moral price of curiosity.
Rating: 🌟🌟🌟🌟
Genre: Non-Fiction, History, Adventure, Indigenous Rights, Indigenous History.
Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
Review in one word: Fascinating
Thankfully, this is not a conventional and one-sided tale of flags, maps and glorious conquest at the hands of colonial conquerers. Or else I would never have read it! Matthew Lockwood’s Explorers strips away the veneer of romantic adventurism and lays bare the true, often messy and brutal, nature of global exploration. With compelling storytelling and scholarly precision, he reframes the so-called “Age of Discovery” through the voices of those forgotten or overlooked—enslaved people, Indigenous communities, women, and the landscape itself. Rather than casting explorers as lone heroic figures, he shows them as complex agents entangled in commerce, violence, and survival.
Lockwood doesn’t simply deconstruct myths—he rebuilds the story of exploration as a deeply human, often painful, and undeniably fascinating process. The result is an eye-opening meditation on empire, cultural exchange, ambition, and the moral price of curiosity. The writing is swift, smart, and clear-eyed, making this a brisk but profound read.
Explorers is the perfect antidote to nationalist nostalgia. It invites us to sit with the uncomfortable truths of how the modern world was stitched together—often with blood. This is essential reading. It asks: who writes history, and what voices have been silenced in the telling?
Content Catnip 