EUGENE,
Ore. -- (April 22, 2009) - On a trip to Plymouth Rock, Tony Horwitz realized he
had no idea what happened between the time Columbus landed in North America in
1492 and the arrival of the Pilgrims in 1620. So the best-selling and Pulitzer
Prize-winning author set out to rediscover a time when Europeans roamed the New
World and find out happened during the 128 years few Americans learned or
remember from history class.

Horwitz's
book, "A Voyage Long and Strange," not only delves into the history
that starts long before Columbus, but is also a tale of his own exploration
into the past. He visited an Indian sweat lodge in subarctic Canada, traveled
down the Mississippi in a canoe and wore 60 pounds of armor as a conquistador
reenactor in Florida.

Horwitz
will discuss his book and journey during "HiSTORYtelling: Reviving the
Past" at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 7, at the University of Oregon. He is the
2009 speaker for the Johnston Lecture offered by the UO School of Journalism
and Communication. The lecture is in room 177 of Lawrence Hall, 1190 Franklin
Blvd., and will be followed by a book signing.

In
addition to "A Voyage Long and Strange," which will be released April
28 by Macmillan, Horwitz has written "Baghdad Without a Map,"
"Confederates in the Attic," and "Blue Latitudes." He has
worked as a war correspondent for the Wall Street Journal and as a staff writer
for The New Yorker. He won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting for a
series about working conditions in low-wage America.

"Tony
Horwitz is, in a word, brilliant," said Lauren Kessler, literary
nonfiction director at UO School of Journalism and Communication. "His
best-selling books are deeply, thoughtfully, insightfully researched. And, as
if that's not enough, they are also wild, rollicking reads...a pleasure from
cover to cover, the kind of books that both make you smarter and make you
laugh. And make you marvel at the skill of the storyteller."

The Richard W. Johnston Memorial Project

The
program honors Dick Johnston, a magazine editor, writer and war correspondent
who dedicated his life to quality journalism. The program was started with donations
from Johnston's widow, Laurie, George E. Jones of U.S. News and Word Report,
and the Correspondents Fund. Johnston was a 1936 graduate of the UO School of
Journalism and Communication and began his career working as a news reporter
for the Register Guard and the Eugene Daily News during the Great Depression.
He went to Portland with United Press and during WWII had a distinguished
career as a correspondent in the Pacific theater. He is best known for founding
and shaping Sports Illustrated, where he served as executive editor until his
death in 1981.

The project
brings professionals to the SOJC for lectures, workshops and collaborative
discussions with students, faculty members and community members.

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