The volume is organized into six parts with 40 chapters prepared by numerous specialists. The first and last parts present the context and conclusions, while the remainder deals specifically with the ship La Belle and its contents. La Belle, discovered in 1995 in Matagorda Bay, Texas, was one of four ships used in Robert Cavelier, Sieur de LaSalle's failed attempt, in 1685, to establish a French crown colony at the mouth of the Mississippi River. Two of these vessels were lost in Texas—La Belle and L'Amiable. Only the former vessel has been identified and excavated archaeologically.

Texas has been the setting for two of the most important archaeological investigations of colonial-period shipwrecks, the first being the excavation and publication of the 1554 Spanish flota lost off of South Padre Island. The coauthor of that report was the same individual who located La Belle in 1995 utilizing geophysical means—J. Barto Arnold III, former State Marine Archaeologist for the Texas Antiquities Commission.

Subsequent to that discovery, the Texas Historical Commission mobilized an ambitious project of complete recovery of the remains of La Belle. Under the direction of the principal editor, James E. Bruseth, the research utilized a novel de-watering cofferdam to completely excavate a formerly submerged shipwreck, using methods from both “shipwreck” and “terrestrial” archaeology. The result was the recovery of all the remaining fabric of the ship and 1.8 million artifacts. This volume details the analyses and conclusions of the study of these varied elements of a seventeenth-century shipwreck.

This volume is not a history per se of the French attempt to reorder the geopolitical world of seventeenth-century North America. That, however, is the reason for the larger relevance of La Belle beyond just being an exemplar of the archaeology of a small French warship. La Salle failed and died in the attempt, much like his famous Spanish predecessor, Hernando de Soto, over a century earlier, near the same Mississippi River. No history of the European exploration of the New World is complete without the stories of both these men. Both De Soto and La Salle were larger-than-life figures and anything archaeologically associated with them merits attention.

Ships like La Belle were the vehicles for exploration and colonization. Thousands of vessels plied the waters of the Atlantic, Caribbean, and Gulf of Mexico, and hundreds were lost over the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries while colonial empires dominated the New World. Very few of these shipwrecks have been relocated and excavated in a manner such as that of La Belle. The only other example from the French colonial period is that of the Parks Canada excavation of the 1760 shipwreck of La Machault.

The overall quality of the chapters is a compliment to the four editors. No edited volume is perfect in that regard. Neither is this volume, but the scholarship is praiseworthy. The sheer complexity and volume of finds from La Belle ranged from two human skeletons to nearly 800,000 glass beads. Add nearly another million items of material goods—weapons, clothing, foods, trade goods, etc.—and the challenge facing the researchers can be better appreciated.

The quality of the publication is excellent. Texas A&M University Press has produced more than just an attractive coffee table book. It is a first-rate scholarly treatise. The editors allowed the contributors free rein in their discussion of their results. This is best exemplified in chapters five and six—the longest, with the exception of chapter 38, Domestic Goods (58 pages). The authors of chapters five and six disagree, diametrically, on the details of the construction of the ship itself. Other contributions are less intellectually adversarial. Chapter length is roughly proportional to the amount of materials described. La Belle was depauperate in fine ceramics (five faience vessels), having been loaded with utilitarian and coarsewares. By contrast, the chapters on small arms and domestic goods (with the exception of ceramics or glass) are extensive and well done. The editors have presented both debate and detail for the readers to judge for themselves. La Belle: The Archaeology of a Seventeenth-Century Vessel of New World Colonization is important for any serious study of the archaeology of this period in New World history.