Pulitzer Prize-winning author Tony Horwitz will discuss his latest book, A Voyage Long and Strange: Rediscovering the New World, at the Chilmark Public Library on Thursday, Sept. 11, 5 to 6 p.m.

The book recounts Mr. Horwitz’s journey of rediscovery, following in the footsteps of the many Europeans who preceded the Pilgrims to America. The talk is free and all are welcome.

Mr. Horwitz, a native of Washington, D.C., and a graduate of Brown University and Columbia University’s graduate school of journalism, lives in Vineyard Haven. He worked for many years as a reporter, first in Indiana and then during a decade overseas in Australia, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, mostly covering wars and conflicts as a foreign correspondent for The Wall Street Journal. After returning to the States, he won the Pulitzer Prize for national reporting and worked as a staff writer for The New Yorker before becoming a full-time author.

His books include Baghdad Without a Map, a national bestseller about the Middle East; Confederates in the Attic, a national and New York Times bestseller about the Civil War; and Blue Latitudes, a national and New York Times bestseller about the Pacific voyages of Captain James Cook.

A blend of history, myth and misadventure, A Voyage Long and Strange captures the wonder and drama of first contact. Vikings, conquistadors, French voyageurs — these and many others roamed an unknown continent in quest of grapes, gold, converts, even a cure for syphilis. Though most failed, their remarkable exploits left an enduring mark on the land and people encountered by late-arriving English settlers.

Tracing this legacy with his own epic trek — from Florida’s Fountain of Youth to Plymouth’s sacred Rock, from desert pueblos to subarctic sweat lodges — Tony Horwitz explores the revealing gap between what we enshrine and what we forget. Displaying his trademark talent for humor, narrative, and historical insight, A Voyage Long and Strange allows us to rediscover the New World for ourselves.

The lecture is sponsored by the Friends of the Chilmark Public Library. For details, call 508-645-3360.