Odyssey by Homer (725-675 BCE)

This ancient Greek epic follows the adventures of Odysseus, King of Ithaca, after his success in the Trojan War. Lost at sea for 10 years, Odysseus must survive on foreign shores mostly by his wits.

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Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe (1719)

In this novel based on the memoirs of the marooned sailor Alexander Selkirk, Defoe explores the industry and ingenuity of a European shipwreck survivor who manages to colonize the landscape and convert an Indigenous man to Christianity.

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The Moor’s Account by Laila Lalami (2015)

This fictional memoir of Estevanico, one of the surviving members of the Narváez expedition, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize.

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A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas (1552)

This Spanish Dominican friar’s account for the Spanish Prince Phillip II of the atrocities perpetrated against the Indigenous peoples of the Americas juxtaposes the inhumane behavior of conquistadors with the innate goodness of the Indigenous population for rhetorical effect.

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“Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez (ca.