Discussion of “Brutal Journey” by Paul Schneider; reviewed By John Neukamm.

From the New York Times:

A gripping survival epic, Brutal Journey tells the story of an army of would-be conquerors, bound for glory, who landed in Florida in 1528. But only four of the four hundred would survive: eight years and some five thousand miles later, three Spaniards and a black Moroccan wandered out of the wilderness to the north of the Rio Grande and into Cortes’s gold-drenched Mexico. The survivors of the Narváez expedition brought nothing back other than their story, but what a tale it was. They had become killers and cannibals, torturers and torture victims, slavers and enslaved. They became faith healers, arms dealers, canoe thieves, spider eaters. They became, in other words, whatever it took to stay alive.

The History Center Book Group is free and open to the public. Come early and enjoy a cup of coffee prior to the discussion. Book Group members receive a 10% discount in the Museum Store.