A complicated portrait of a complex man

“As an explorer, the Admiral of the Ocean Sea is widely seen as an opportunist who made his great discovery without ever acknowledging it for what it was, and proceeded to enslave the populace he found, encourage genocide, and pollute relations between peoples who were previously unknown to each other. He was even assumed to have carried syphilis back to Europe with him to torment Europe for centuries thereafter. He excused his behavior, and his legacy, by saying that he merely acted as God’s instrument, even as he beseeched his Sovereigns, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, to enrich him and his family. Historians have long argued that Columbus merely rediscovered the Americas, that the Vikings, the Celts, and American Indians arrived in the 'New World' long before his cautious landfall. But Columbus’s voyages to the New World differed from all the earlier events in the scope of its human drama and ecological impact. Before him, the Old World and the New remained separate and distinct continents, ecosystems, and societies; ever since, their fates have been bound together, for better or worse.”

Columbus: The Four Voyages by Laurence Bergreen begins exactly where you want it to begin: with the sighting of land. Bergreen saves Columbus's struggle to find funding for his dream until chapter two, which lets the reader get into the first meetings between Europeans and the Indians. Throughout the book, Bergreen weaves three significant primary sources that give us three unique perspectives: Columbus's own logs and letters during the voyages; his son Ferdinand's recollections in defense of the family legacy; and, the incisive and devastating history of Fr. Bartolomé de las Casas, who accompanied Columbus but later grew horrified at the Indians' treatment by Europeans.

The first voyage is the one that is so full of promise, and this part is a real joy. The Indians and the Europeans don't know what to make of each other, and, for the most part, interactions are peaceful, if confused, and on the whole respectful. But Columbus betrays conflicting opinions of the Indians in his logs, writing in the same breath that Indians are incredible, noble people with whom Spain can partner and to whom they can preach the Gospel, and that they would make good servants and slaves.

The second voyage is heartbreaking, starting off on the right foot but soon descending into violence and subjugation. The Indians are subjected to such harsh demands for gold that they have no time to feed themselves, and tens of thousands commit suicide rather than submit themselves to European rule. The other voyages are no better as Columbus has to contend with rebelling Spaniards (the 3rd) and getting marooned on Jamaica for a year (the 4th).

Bergreen paints a fair portrait of Columbus, saving readers from any vitriolic rhetoric so that they may evaluate Columbus for themselves. And the picture painted is one of a complicated human being: a brilliant navigator at sea, but a harsh ruler on land; a courageous explorer of the unknown, but unwilling to see beyond his assumptions; a man of great faith in God, but unable to see that the Indians are his neighbors, much less worth loving.

If you'd like to get beyond the annual October debates about whether Columbus is either hero or Hitler, Bergreen's narrative history of the four voyages will give you much to ponder.

AUDIBLE 20 REVIEW SWEEPSTAKES ENTRY

5 people found this helpful

Very Petty and frankly flat out dishonest

I loved the orator. unfortunately the author takes great liberties to make baseless and completely fabricated statements about columbus motives and "real intentions. These baseless fabrication go on throughout the entire book and get more extreme as the book goes on.

your much better off reading the source information. Especially Columbus journals to avoid the bias and extreme skew put on by the author here.

4 people found this helpful

Terrible narration

.. at least my wife and I thought so. We liked Bergreen's Marco Polo but this book's narration was unlistenable and we gave up after an hour or so. Can't comment on the content. I'd recommend giving its sample a listen before committing.

3 people found this helpful

Does exactly what you want

An excellent survey of Columbus's career, and particularly interesting in the way it devotes attention to all four voyages, rather than focusing on the famous one that started it all. The narrative enables to appreciate Columbus's admirable qualities (his brilliance as a navigator) as well as his flaws (terrible people skills!). You will feel alternately impressed by, horrified at, and sympathetic toward the man.

No problems with the narrator.

3 people found this helpful

Lousy book rife with pot shots at the subject

A man whose greatest life accomplishment is writing a book about Columbus spends the entire book criticizing one of the most influential men in history. I got about 1/4 of the way through and couldn’t take it anymore.

2 people found this helpful

Some interesting points

Some interesting points but not a spell binding read. Overall it was a good read but one that will not keep you up all night.

2 people found this helpful

I found it very disrespectful to Columbus himself

I John did very disrespectful to Columbus and his crew and the christians that have been defamed by the mediator

4 people found this helpful

Overall, an interesting book

The subject matter was well researched and when the author stuck to the facts of the journey, this was a great book. Unfortunately, the author frequently disparages Columbus’ beliefs on where he was based upon the author’s 21st century knowledge of geography. A fact Columbus simply did not have in the late 15th century and early 16th century.

1 person found this helpful

More than I even needed to know

What did you like best about Columbus? What did you like least?

Ton's of information, well preformed and interesting. At times the information was difficult to follow. The book bridges a fine line between historical periodical and a story about this tremendously important historical figure. My personal opinion of Columbus was improved by reading this epic tale. Thanks to the author.

What was the most interesting aspect of this story? The least interesting?

Gaining an understanding of the effort that went into the voyages

Have you listened to any of Tim Jerome’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not that I am aware of but this performance was good!

Could you see Columbus being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

At first no, but now that I think of it there is enough richness in the details for a screenwriter to simplify and organize the book into mini stories. I could totally see a John Malkovich type as Columbus.

1 person found this helpful

Well read and very interesting

What you leaned in history class is not the whole story by any measure.
I found this very to be a very good book. I the narrator's voice was enjoyable. Seems like the author has captured Europe's world view and mentality.

1 person found this helpful