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lisaeirene's review against another edition
4.0
I have mixed feelings about this book, mostly because it made me question my opinion about Columbus.
I wanted to read about Columbus after reading the book about Queen Isabella. The book is good, drags a little toward the last 25%, but overall very fascinating and informative. Instead of a biography covering Columbus's life, it focuses on his four voyages to the New World.
My history was a little foggy. Basically, Columbus "discovered" Cuba, Jamaica, Dominic Republic and probably Puerto Rico...not "America". I learned a lot from this book. Columbus has been vilified for a long time. He definitely did some questionable things. I think most of his issues were greed and obsession with finding gold in the new world. And he was also focused on converting the Indians to Christianity. He did kidnap a lot of Indians as slaves (horrific) to take back to Spain. A lot of the genocide/rape etc of the Indian people came from his men. It's well documented that Columbus was not the greatest leader and he dealt with a lot of mutinies from his men. Not surprising considering most of the men on his fleets were criminals who were offered clemency if they helped sail with Columbus. So not the top notch people you'd want...
Columbus's life is in part a tragedy. He had to deal with a lot of horrible people trying to ruin him, double cross him, steal from him, ruin his name in Spain, etc. I'm in no way saying that Columbus was innocent, but I think he did try, at first, to be kind to the Indians and learn about their "strange ways."
So like a lot of things in history and life, it isn't black and white. There's some gray area.
I wanted to read about Columbus after reading the book about Queen Isabella. The book is good, drags a little toward the last 25%, but overall very fascinating and informative. Instead of a biography covering Columbus's life, it focuses on his four voyages to the New World.
My history was a little foggy. Basically, Columbus "discovered" Cuba, Jamaica, Dominic Republic and probably Puerto Rico...not "America". I learned a lot from this book. Columbus has been vilified for a long time. He definitely did some questionable things. I think most of his issues were greed and obsession with finding gold in the new world. And he was also focused on converting the Indians to Christianity. He did kidnap a lot of Indians as slaves (horrific) to take back to Spain. A lot of the genocide/rape etc of the Indian people came from his men. It's well documented that Columbus was not the greatest leader and he dealt with a lot of mutinies from his men. Not surprising considering most of the men on his fleets were criminals who were offered clemency if they helped sail with Columbus. So not the top notch people you'd want...
Columbus's life is in part a tragedy. He had to deal with a lot of horrible people trying to ruin him, double cross him, steal from him, ruin his name in Spain, etc. I'm in no way saying that Columbus was innocent, but I think he did try, at first, to be kind to the Indians and learn about their "strange ways."
So like a lot of things in history and life, it isn't black and white. There's some gray area.
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