EXPLORATION INTO NORTH AMERICA

One in a series of British imports that explore the history of a world region before and after European exploration, this title is brief and riddled with problems. The discussion is limited to Canada and the US, because ``culturally [Mexico] is part of Latin America,'' and therefore included in another book in the series. Generalizations include this terse and misleading summary of North American geography and climate: ``The North is frozen for most of the year and the South is largely desert.'' Elsewhere, the authors state: ``The earliest human fossil remains found in North America are of Homo sapiens, ancestors of ours who lived about 200,000 years ago.'' Other sources place the oldest fossil findings—called ``Meadowcroft''—in North America near Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, dated to 19,000 years ago. Throughout, deceptive period paintings and full-color photos are included that may reinforce anachronistic images young readers already carry around from cartoons and comic books, e.g., ``A nineteenth century engraving of an imaginary mammoth hunt'' shows naked warriors in a grassy, tree-lined field using modern bows and arrows to kill a contemporary African elephant. (chronology, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-12)