It is easy to forget that many of the explorers for whom countries, cities, states, and rivers are named today suffered as much defeat as they did victory. Whatever drove many of them (aside from greed or religious devotion) remains unexplained. Perhaps today they are the people who go cliff diving or bungee jumping. At any rate, La Salle, according to this text, seems to have been moved primarily by the lust for adventure. He spent most of his life in debt, often failed in finding what he was seeking (i.e., the mouth of the Mississippi River), and made and lost a number of fortunes. Yet, without La Salle, as the book points out, the course of U.

S. history would have been changed. He explored the territory of the Louisiana Purchase and was the first discoverer to traverse the entire length of the Mississippi River. This book is lavishly illustrated and the text is clear and comprehensible. While praising La Salle, it also explores the reasons why he was not a great leader of men. Part of the "Great Explorers of the World" series., Children's Literature.