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Editor's picks

• 

  Columbus: The Four Voyages

  Book (Viking Adult)
  

  Rating (14 reviews):

  (4.2/5)

  

  Balanced and informative, perhaps definitive

  I'm a little bit of a fan of Christopher Columbus. The challenges he faced in his life, especially in the first voyage he took across the Atlantic, were tremendous, and he faced them down with what appears to be considerable fortitude, viewed across 5 centuries. The ships he and other explorers sailed in were so small that today they'd probably be termed "boats" instead; the navigational instruments he had were hilariously primitive; his weaponry was not that much further advanced than that of the natives he met; and of course he was hampered by court politics and the fact that he wasn't even Spanish, yet sailed for the Spanish Crown. In spite of all of this, he accomplished a lot more than you'd expect, finding a host of islands in the New World, and founding the first settlement there. Of course, he never really got over the idea that India and China were just across the horizon, a few day's journey away, so his legacy is one of accomplishment rather than theoretical discovery, but... 5/5 David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews, October 4, 2011

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  Readable and Comprehensive: The Complicated Journeys of Christopher Columbus

  Laurence Bergreen has made a habit of crafting well-told modern historical narratives about some of history's greatest explorers. Bergreen went world-wide with an exploration of the great world navigator himself, Ferdinand Magellen in "Over the Edge of the World". Then he took readers East to follow Marco Polo on his travels in "Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu". And now Bergreen comes closer to home as he travels from Spain to the New World with Christopher Columbus in "Columbus: The Four Voyages".All of these books synthesize a wealth of contemporary sources and modern references to build out something more than just 'the story' of discovery. Bergreen constructs a view into their exploits through historic and modern lenses that ultimately shines a broad beam of light across the entirety of their adventures.Moving from Marco Polo to Christopher Columbus is not such a long leap for Bergreen. Columbus carried a well-worn copy of Polo's "Travels" during all his... 4/5 Jason Golomb (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews, October 7, 2011

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  Scholarship, yes; entertainment, not so much

  Two sorts of readers may be attracted to this book. One is the Columbus scholar, who values every historical detail and wants to know the latest findings. The other sort are people like me, who are simply attracted to the exciting story of Columbus in order to enjoy a good read. Mr. Bergreen's very thorough biography is recommended for the first sort of reader, but not necessarily for the second.A great deal of time in dusty libraries must have been required to produce this book. It has everything that the type-one reader will need--the level of detail is simply immense. Clearly it is a valuable contribution to our store of knowledge, if perhaps a bit much for the more casual reader.But unfortunately, the quality of the writing fails to match the depth of the research. There are indeed some patches of good writing, and the book finally comes to life in the excitement of Columbus' ill-fated final voyage. But too often one has the impression that it has... 4/5 Michael Kohlhaas (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Columbus: The Four Voyages (Hardcover) Two sorts of readers may be attracted to this book. One is the Columbus scholar, who values every historical detail and wants to know the latest findings. The other sort are people like me, who are simply attracted to the exciting story of Columbus in order to enjoy a good read. Mr. Bergreen's very thorough biography is recommended for the first sort of reader, but not necessarily for the second.A great deal of time in dusty libraries must have been required to produce this book. It has everything that the type-one reader will need--the level of detail is simply immense. Clearly it is a valuable contribution to our store of knowledge, if perhaps a bit much for the more casual reader.But unfortunately, the quality of the writing fails to match the depth of the research. There are indeed some patches of good writing, and the book finally comes to life in the excitement of Columbus' ill-fated final voyage. But too often one has the impression that it has... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , November 5, 2011

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  List Price: $35.00
  

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• 

  The Life of Columbus From His Own Letters and Journals and Other Documents of His Time

  Book (tredition)
  

  Rating (2 reviews):

  (4.5/5)

  

  Great Info

  You didn't learn this in school. I was pleased with the purchase. It was a download on my Kindle and you can't beat the price. 5/5 L. Abboud "LA" (Texas, United States) - See all my reviews, December 8, 2011

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  Columbus

  I did enjoy using this as a Columbus history reference. I particularly enjoyed it during this past year while in Panama. Knowing that Columbus complained about the weather in November 1502 in Portobello made it much easier to tolerate 24 hour rains while anchored there in November 2010. 4/5 Elaine M. Ackerman "avid reader" (Upper Michigan) - See all my reviews, February 18, 2010

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  List Price: $19.99
  

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• 

  Columbus: The Four Voyages

  eBooks (VIKING ADULT)
  

  Rating (14 reviews):

  (4.2/5)

  

  Balanced and informative, perhaps definitive

  I'm a little bit of a fan of Christopher Columbus. The challenges he faced in his life, especially in the first voyage he took across the Atlantic, were tremendous, and he faced them down with what appears to be considerable fortitude, viewed across 5 centuries. The ships he and other explorers sailed in were so small that today they'd probably be termed "boats" instead; the navigational instruments he had were hilariously primitive; his weaponry was not that much further advanced than that of the natives he met; and of course he was hampered by court politics and the fact that he wasn't even Spanish, yet sailed for the Spanish Crown. In spite of all of this, he accomplished a lot more than you'd expect, finding a host of islands in the New World, and founding the first settlement there. Of course, he never really got over the idea that India and China were just across the horizon, a few day's journey away, so his legacy is one of accomplishment rather than theoretical discovery, but... 5/5 David W. Nicholas (Van Nuys, CA USA) - See all my reviews, October 4, 2011

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  Readable and Comprehensive: The Complicated Journeys of Christopher Columbus

  Laurence Bergreen has made a habit of crafting well-told modern historical narratives about some of history's greatest explorers. Bergreen went world-wide with an exploration of the great world navigator himself, Ferdinand Magellen in "Over the Edge of the World". Then he took readers East to follow Marco Polo on his travels in "Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu". And now Bergreen comes closer to home as he travels from Spain to the New World with Christopher Columbus in "Columbus: The Four Voyages".All of these books synthesize a wealth of contemporary sources and modern references to build out something more than just 'the story' of discovery. Bergreen constructs a view into their exploits through historic and modern lenses that ultimately shines a broad beam of light across the entirety of their adventures.Moving from Marco Polo to Christopher Columbus is not such a long leap for Bergreen. Columbus carried a well-worn copy of Polo's "Travels" during all his... 4/5 Jason Golomb (Northern Virginia) - See all my reviews, October 7, 2011

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  Scholarship, yes; entertainment, not so much

  Two sorts of readers may be attracted to this book. One is the Columbus scholar, who values every historical detail and wants to know the latest findings. The other sort are people like me, who are simply attracted to the exciting story of Columbus in order to enjoy a good read. Mr. Bergreen's very thorough biography is recommended for the first sort of reader, but not necessarily for the second.A great deal of time in dusty libraries must have been required to produce this book. It has everything that the type-one reader will need--the level of detail is simply immense. Clearly it is a valuable contribution to our store of knowledge, if perhaps a bit much for the more casual reader.But unfortunately, the quality of the writing fails to match the depth of the research. There are indeed some patches of good writing, and the book finally comes to life in the excitement of Columbus' ill-fated final voyage. But too often one has the impression that it has... 4/5 Michael Kohlhaas (Santa Fe, NM) - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Columbus: The Four Voyages (Hardcover) Two sorts of readers may be attracted to this book. One is the Columbus scholar, who values every historical detail and wants to know the latest findings. The other sort are people like me, who are simply attracted to the exciting story of Columbus in order to enjoy a good read. Mr. Bergreen's very thorough biography is recommended for the first sort of reader, but not necessarily for the second.A great deal of time in dusty libraries must have been required to produce this book. It has everything that the type-one reader will need--the level of detail is simply immense. Clearly it is a valuable contribution to our store of knowledge, if perhaps a bit much for the more casual reader.But unfortunately, the quality of the writing fails to match the depth of the research. There are indeed some patches of good writing, and the book finally comes to life in the excitement of Columbus' ill-fated final voyage. But too often one has the impression that it has... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , November 5, 2011

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  List Price: $35.00
  

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• 

  The Columbus Affair: A Novel

  Book (Ballantine Books)
  

  Rating (44 reviews):

  (4.3/5)

  

  A Non-Stop, Fast-Paced, Action-Filled Thriller

  I'm thinking Steve Berry has a hit with THE COLUMBUS AFFAIR. I think so, because the postman delivered this book to me at around 3:30. I opened the package, read the first paragraph to see if I was going to like it, then I sat down and read till 7:00. I only stopped because I'd skipped lunch and my stomach was screaming.After a quick sandwich, I sat back down and read till Midnight-thirty. Then I went to bed and dreamt of caves and jungles. I couldn't read in the morning, because I had to go to work but when I got off and got home, I picked up the book and finished it. Wow! This is a high tension thriller with enough history thrown in to really make you wonder.And now, three weeks later, after having read the book a second time, I'm still wondering just who Columbus was. Does anybody really know. Steve Berry may or may not know, but he present an awfully good hypothesis in this book.In new world, Jamaica to be exact, Columbus hid something... 5/5 Karen Holtz "NJ Book Girl" (Woodside, New Jersey) - See all my reviews, March 29, 2012

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  A Steve Berry book without Cotton Malone

  This is a stand alone novel from Mr. Berry that does not include his usual protagonist Cotton Malone, although there are some references to the organization involved with Mr. Malone. We have in this book a wrongly disgraced world famous reporter who is at the end of his rope when he discovers that his daughter has been kidnaped and he must help the kidnappers or she will be killed. That's the beginning of a very suspenseful ride through history, and the story of Columbus and the "discovery' of the New World. The author postulate some really unusual wrinkles to the Columbus life story, including his supposed real name and what he really was doing sailing West Across the Atlantic in 1492. Red herrings abound in this book, and we get the usual world travelogue as the action goes from the United States, to Austria, the Czech Republic, and Jamaica. Along the way we meet many different characters, all of whom appear to be fully drawn, and with sufficient back story to make them... 5/5 Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews, April 2, 2012

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  Fast Paced Thriller Based of the Mystery of Columbus

  Tom Sagan, previously a star reporter, is ready to blow his brains out. He knows he was betrayed by some of his sources who furnished invalid information. He ran with the story and lost his job and his standing as a prime reporter, but he can't find anyone to clear his name. Life no longer seems worth it. Suddenly, a man, Zachariah Simon, appears at his house holding a picture of his daughter, Alle. He shows Sagan a video of her tied to a bed being molested. Sagan and his daughter are estranged, but she is his daughter. He can't help but respond.Simon is looking for a treasure related to the voyages of Columbus. He thinks Sagan has some clue to where it is. According to legend, Columbus brought a valuable treasure to the New World, but what was it? Indeed, who was Columbus? These questions are at the heart of the danger stalking Sagan and his daughter.Berry does an excellent job of inserting historical detail into the fictional narrative. In fact, it is... 5/5 Nancy Famolari (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews, April 1, 2012

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  List Price: $27.00
  

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• 

  Columbus

  Book (Beautiful Feet Bks)
  

  Rating (6 reviews):

  (4.5/5)

  

  A bit depressing at the end, but an excellent book!

  Since I've been planning a 3rd grade curriculum for my daughter, I've been reading lots of children's books about Christopher Columbus. So I can safely say that this is definitely one of the most interesting, absorbing books I've read. Even I found it very interesting to read it, and get pulled into his story as if it was a novel. It is historically accurate from Columbus' point of view; some may argue that it is not fair to the Indians, but I disagree. It is a great idea to take this book and read it and then discuss the moral implications of Columbus' actions and the way that they viewed the Indians.Regardless, the book is extremely interesting, has awesome pictures to go along with the enthralling story, and is a wonderful, historical book. My only complaint against it is that the end gets very depressing as it details how Columbus was treated at the end of his life... but that IS what happened, so it's not really a complaint, just a comment on the fact that it's,... 5/5 N. Porter (Midwest) - See all my reviews, December 14, 2010

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  We enjoyed this book very much.

  This book was used with my daughter's American History curriculum. It held her interest and provided her with more than just date recall. I will use it again with my other child. 5/5 Kaye Fink (Mansfield, TX) - See all my reviews This review is from: Columbus (Paperback) This book was used with my daughter's American History curriculum. It held her interest and provided her with more than just date recall. I will use it again with my other child. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 26, 1999

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  Exceptional Story by an Exceptional Couple

  The D'Aulaires' give the child (and adult reader) a deep understanding of Columbus from the time of his youth through his old age. The details, like what the cover illustration means, draw children in and transforms Columbus from a name of a holiday to a flesh-and-blood man of discovery. If an era ever needed heroes of inspiration for young children, ours is it and the D'Aulaires' deliver. 5/5 doublefueltanker - See all my reviews Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?) This review is from: Columbus (Paperback) The D'Aulaires' give the child (and adult reader) a deep understanding of Columbus from the time of his youth through his old age. The details, like what the cover illustration means, draw children in and transforms Columbus from a name of a holiday to a flesh-and-blood man of discovery. If an era ever needed heroes of inspiration for young children, ours is it and the D'Aulaires' deliver. Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , July 5, 2010

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  List Price: $17.95
  

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• 

  The Life of Columbus From His Own Letters and Journals and Other Documents of His Time

  eBooks (Public Domain Books)
  

  Rating (2 reviews):

  (4.5/5)

  

  Great Info

  You didn't learn this in school. I was pleased with the purchase. It was a download on my Kindle and you can't beat the price. 5/5 L. Abboud "LA" (Texas, United States) - See all my reviews, December 8, 2011

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  Columbus

  I did enjoy using this as a Columbus history reference. I particularly enjoyed it during this past year while in Panama. Knowing that Columbus complained about the weather in November 1502 in Portobello made it much easier to tolerate 24 hour rains while anchored there in November 2010. 4/5 Elaine M. Ackerman "avid reader" (Upper Michigan) - See all my reviews, February 18, 2010

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  List Price: $0.00
  

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• 

  1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created

  Book (Knopf)
  

  Rating (107 reviews):

  (4.4/5)

  

  Kept me up past my bedtime

  Charles Mann has a knack for making the details of history into fascinating reading, and this book did, indeed, keep me up reading past my bedtime. The book combines the results of his prodigious reading, his own travels and personal experiences, and his conversations with some of the leading scholars in the field.On the heels of his earlier success (1491), Mann now turns to the post-Columbian world, and shows how Columbus's voyages brought about what Mann calls (rather inelegantly, perhaps) the "Homogenocene Age." We're all living in one world now, like it or not, and he explores how it got that way. The book doesn't attempt to be exhaustive, but goes into detail about some of the more interesting aspects of what scholars are now calling the "Columbian Exchange": a massive swap of plants, microorganisms, and animals (including humans). The period after Columbus brought about some of the most radical (and often surprising) changes in the nature of the world.In... 5/5 Phelps Gates (Chapel Hill, NC USA) - See all my reviews, August 1, 2011

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  Ecological history

  Charles Mann knows how to write. He also knows how to make history interesting and come alive.The title "1493" refers to all that time since Christopher Columbus, for whom Mann has had a fascination with, first discovered the new world. With that new discovery came changes and exchanges that have transferred the world. The great trade routes that developed from the new American continent to Europe and Asia--The Columbian Exchange-- created both beneficial and devastating results and altered what people ate around the world.The changes most of us learned about in high school social studies classes: new diseases were introduced into the indigenous peoples of the Americas and many died. Columbus came looking for gold and silver but found also sugar, corn, tobacco, beans, tomatoes and so much more. Coffee, chocolate, rubber all followed. The Spaniards in turn brought in the horse and sheep and we all know the legend of the horse in the American West... 5/5 CGScammell (Cochise County, AZ) - See all my reviews, August 4, 2011

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  Fascinating and Very Informative

  Worms and parasites, slaves and masters, greed and commerce, tobacco and guano - all have radically shaped today's world, and continue to do so. The Columbian Exchange united, both for better and for worse, this earth in ways that Columbus could never have dreamed.The author's writing is well organized, researched, illustrated, and annotated. Given that, it still could have been boring but it wasn't. Charles Mann kept me entertained and interested through every word, remarkable considering how much information he was able to impart in the roughly 400 pages of text. I knew bits and pieces of this story, but never the bigger picture as he was able to show me. He did this without becoming pedantic, condescending, or proselytizing. I highly recommend this book to anyone at all interested in the history and future of this planet. 5/5 Just My Op (Arizona) - See all my reviews, August 7, 2011

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  List Price: $30.50
  

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• 

  Christopher Columbus, Complete

  Book (CreateSpace)
  

  Rating (1 reviews):

  (4.0/5)

  

  A portrait of a flawed explorer in a flawed Kindle book

  While the "Go to Location" has the Table of Contents option grayed out, there is a table of contents hidden in the early part of the book. This table of contents indicates this book will cover the life and all the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Unfortunately, the book actually ends sooner than the table of contents indicates when Columbus returns from his first voyage to Portugal and petitions the king for safe passage back to Castile. The author credits the work of numerous historians before him, gives a sense of how vast the material is that he has condensed into his account and then proceeds to create an image of the life of Columbus before the voyage that is rich in pictures from the imagination of the author (since apparently so little is actually known) and then settles into a much more engaging account of the first voyage of Columbus, which is no doubt more vivid due to access to Columbus' own journal as quoted in a surviving work by Las Casas.While the author... 4/5 Daniel J. McGill - See all my reviews, January 1, 2011

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  List Price: $15.99
  

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• 

  The Columbus Affair: A Novel

  eBooks (Ballantine Books)
  

  Rating (44 reviews):

  (4.3/5)

  

  A Non-Stop, Fast-Paced, Action-Filled Thriller

  I'm thinking Steve Berry has a hit with THE COLUMBUS AFFAIR. I think so, because the postman delivered this book to me at around 3:30. I opened the package, read the first paragraph to see if I was going to like it, then I sat down and read till 7:00. I only stopped because I'd skipped lunch and my stomach was screaming.After a quick sandwich, I sat back down and read till Midnight-thirty. Then I went to bed and dreamt of caves and jungles. I couldn't read in the morning, because I had to go to work but when I got off and got home, I picked up the book and finished it. Wow! This is a high tension thriller with enough history thrown in to really make you wonder.And now, three weeks later, after having read the book a second time, I'm still wondering just who Columbus was. Does anybody really know. Steve Berry may or may not know, but he present an awfully good hypothesis in this book.In new world, Jamaica to be exact, Columbus hid something... 5/5 Karen Holtz "NJ Book Girl" (Woodside, New Jersey) - See all my reviews, March 29, 2012

  ---

  A Steve Berry book without Cotton Malone

  This is a stand alone novel from Mr. Berry that does not include his usual protagonist Cotton Malone, although there are some references to the organization involved with Mr. Malone. We have in this book a wrongly disgraced world famous reporter who is at the end of his rope when he discovers that his daughter has been kidnaped and he must help the kidnappers or she will be killed. That's the beginning of a very suspenseful ride through history, and the story of Columbus and the "discovery' of the New World. The author postulate some really unusual wrinkles to the Columbus life story, including his supposed real name and what he really was doing sailing West Across the Atlantic in 1492. Red herrings abound in this book, and we get the usual world travelogue as the action goes from the United States, to Austria, the Czech Republic, and Jamaica. Along the way we meet many different characters, all of whom appear to be fully drawn, and with sufficient back story to make them... 5/5 Frank J. Konopka (Shamokin, PA) - See all my reviews, April 2, 2012

  ---

  Fast Paced Thriller Based of the Mystery of Columbus

  Tom Sagan, previously a star reporter, is ready to blow his brains out. He knows he was betrayed by some of his sources who furnished invalid information. He ran with the story and lost his job and his standing as a prime reporter, but he can't find anyone to clear his name. Life no longer seems worth it. Suddenly, a man, Zachariah Simon, appears at his house holding a picture of his daughter, Alle. He shows Sagan a video of her tied to a bed being molested. Sagan and his daughter are estranged, but she is his daughter. He can't help but respond.Simon is looking for a treasure related to the voyages of Columbus. He thinks Sagan has some clue to where it is. According to legend, Columbus brought a valuable treasure to the New World, but what was it? Indeed, who was Columbus? These questions are at the heart of the danger stalking Sagan and his daughter.Berry does an excellent job of inserting historical detail into the fictional narrative. In fact, it is... 5/5 Nancy Famolari (Pennsylvania, USA) - See all my reviews, April 1, 2012

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  List Price: $27.00
  

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• 

  1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus

  Book (Vintage)
  

  Rating (325 reviews):

  (4.3/5)

  

  New Possibilites for Pre-Columbian Life in the Americas

  Mann gives the reader a comprehensive overview of the new theories concerning native American societies before the colonial period. The story is intriguing, and the fascinating narrative will hold the reader's complete attention. The assertions made are too numerous and complex to go into in any detail here, but in brief: we are told that the Western Hemisphere was actually much more populous than anyone had imagined previously. Most of the inhabitants were wiped out by plagues brought by the Europeans. Far from being either brutal and child-like, or "noble savages", the native Americans had established sophisticated societies which served large and growing populations, and which had great impact on their natural environments. No small Indian tribes living in a vast, untamed wilderness! To the contrary, fire was used repeatedly to burn off weeds and undergrowth, extensive mounds and other structures were raised to provide crop land and ponds for fish breeding, and cultivation was... 4/5 From the Oregon Country - See all my reviews This review is from: 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (Hardcover) Mann gives the reader a comprehensive overview of the new theories concerning native American societies before the colonial period. The story is intriguing, and the fascinating narrative will hold the reader's complete attention. The assertions made are too numerous and complex to go into in any detail here, but in brief: we are told that the Western Hemisphere was actually much more populous than anyone had imagined previously. Most of the inhabitants were wiped out by plagues brought by the Europeans. Far from being either brutal and child-like, or "noble savages", the native Americans had established sophisticated societies which served large and growing populations, and which had great impact on their natural environments. No small Indian tribes living in a vast, untamed wilderness! To the contrary, fire was used repeatedly to burn off weeds and undergrowth, extensive mounds and other structures were raised to provide crop land and ponds for fish breeding, and cultivation was... Read more Help other customers find the most helpful reviews  Was this review helpful to you? , October 30, 2005

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  An excellent update on the current academic understanding of pre-Columbian America

  Although recent years have yielded significant progress in understanding how "Indians" lived throughout the Americas before 1492 and Columbus, only isolated bits of the story have reached the popular press. Far too many people still hold to one of two myths of the Indians, or have little conception at all of pre-Columbian America.The first popular myth is that the Indians were a bunch of primitive savages just keeping the land warm until superior Europeans showed up. It's sad to read reviews here that assert that because Indians used stone tools they were therefore "stone age", with the implication that their culture was no further advanced than that early period.The second myth makes the Indians into proto-flower-children, naively and simply in tune with their environment.Both myths are based on stereotyping and are condescending to the pre-Colombians. How could people spread over two continents and many millennia be briefly summarized? They can't... 5/5 Ursiform (Torrance, CA USA) - See all my reviews, November 15, 2005

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  An Intriguing New Look

  Charles C. Mann has taken much of what we thought we knew about the Native Americans and their world and thrown it out the window. In a pleasantly informal yet highly professional style, Mann recounts tales of his own studies and travels, as well as those of many archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists past and present throughout the Americas.If your knowledge of the Native Americans begins and ends with what you learned in school years ago, or with the stereotypes perpetuated by Hollywood, you are in for quite a shock. To begin with, the Native Americans have been "natives" here for far longer than any one suspected. Next, their cultures were heterogeneous and quite advanced, in many ways far outdoing their counterparts in Europe. And in what may be the most controversial sections, Mann maintains that the Native Americans were neither primitive savages who left no mark on their world, nor dreamy proto-environmentalists who lived as one with nature, but rather... 5/5 John D. Cofield - See all my reviews, September 13, 2005

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  List Price: $16.95
  

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