( 8 reviews )
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Posted: May 22 2009
My quick summary of Morison's Columbus... Politician -- useless Administrator -- dismal Navigator and Seaman -- heroic I tried to tackle this book in chunks, which made it much longer to read. But it gave me the time to really read it. Morison set out to resail the Columbus voyages in 2 boats very similar in draft and tonnage to what Columbus used. He pinpointed the bays, harbors, and landfalls as described in Columbus's journals (and the letters and journals of others who sailed with COlumbus), and as a result, the book is entirely credible on the sailing portions of the book. Morison's admiration for Columbus's feats of navigation seems boundless. There is quite a lot of sailing terminology to absorb throughout the book, and it takes time. Morison has included excellent maps for each Voyage, as well as coastline maps that illustrate very well what Columbus accomplished. The book makes clear that, while Columbus was a plain genius on the sea, in port was entirely another story. His attempts at administering New World colonies was disastrous (for natives and Spaniards, alike), and his efforts to win favor at Court first in Portugal and then in Spain were lame. Morison likens Columbus to the Biblical David trying to please Saul and always falling further into disfavor (p. 516). The beginning of the book (about Columbus's origins and early years) addresses controversies about the man that I didn't even know existed. Morison essentially pooh-poohs rumors about Columbus's origins, effectively pins his family down in Genoa for several generations, and explains how Columbus became an ocean-going man and chart-maker. The book is convincing that Columbus is who he is. Morison's style can be grating. At times, it was like having the M*A*S*H character Charles Emerson Winchester III read aloud some tedious part of his own diary. Bleah. You get the impression that Morison is one of those snobbish, ivory-tower academic elitists until you remember that this guy MADE THESE OCEAN CROSSINGS, which is not a wimpy undertaking. And then you read his perspective on America's coming war with the Axis powers (this book was done in 1939 and 1940), and it puts him in a more favorable light. For example, p. 493 has this (discussing the native Taino population of Hispaniola): "The fate of this gentle and almost defenseless people offers a terrible example to Americans who fancy they will be allowed to live in peace by people overseas who covet what they have." [My note: if you are one of the people whose wealth is going to get "spread around" by new American policies, then this goes double for you.] And this gem, when discussing Columbus's mishandling of the rebellion of some of his own men: "The only way to handle tough fellows is to be a little tougher than they are." This biography honors Columbus as a man of action, a heroic mariner, and an expert seaman. That is enough for me.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: May 22 2009
My quick summary of Morison's Columbus... Politician -- useless Administrator -- dismal Navigator and Seaman -- heroic I tried to tackle this book in chunks, which made it much longer to read. But it gave me the time to really read it. Morison set out to resail the Columbus voyages in 2 boats very similar in draft (if not tonnage) to what Columbus used. He pinpointed the bays, harbors, and landfalls as described in Columbus's journals (and the letters and journals of others who sailed with COlumbus), and as a result, the book is entirely credible on the sailing portions of the book. Morison's admiration for Columbus's feats of navigation seems boundless. There is quite a lot of sailing terminology to absorb throughout the book, and it takes time. Morison has included excellent maps for each Voyage, as well as coastline maps that illustrate very well what Columbus accomplished. The book makes clear that, while Columbus was a plain genius on the sea, in port was entirely another story. His attempts at administering New World colonies were disastrous (for natives and Spaniards, alike), and his efforts to win favor at Court first in Portugal and then in Spain were lame. Morison likens Columbus to the Biblical David trying to please Saul and always falling further into disfavor (p. 516). The beginning of the book (about Columbus's origins and early years) addresses controversies about the man that I didn't even know existed. Morison essentially pooh-poohs rumors about Columbus's origins, effectively pins his family down in Genoa for several generations, and explains how Columbus became an ocean-going man and chart-maker. The book is convincing that Columbus is who he is. Morison's style can be grating. At times, it was like having the M*A*S*H character Charles Emerson Winchester III read aloud some tedious part of his own diary. Bleah. You get the impression that Morison is one of those snobbish, ivory-tower academic elitists until you remember that this guy MADE THESE OCEAN CROSSINGS, which is not a wimpy undertaking. And then you read his perspective on America's coming war with the Axis powers (this book was done in 1939 and 1940), and it puts him in a more favorable light. For example, p. 493 has this (discussing the native Taino population of Hispaniola): "The fate of this gentle and almost defenseless people offers a terrible example to Americans who fancy they will be allowed to live in peace by people overseas who covet what they have." [My note: if you are one of the people whose wealth is going to get "spread around" by new American policies, then this goes double for you.] And this gem, when discussing Columbus's mishandling of the rebellion of some of his own men: "The only way to handle tough fellows is to be a little tougher than they are." This biography honors Columbus as a man of action, a heroic mariner, and an expert seaman. That is enough for me.
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( 1 of 1 found this review helpful ) Posted: Oct 11 2007
Morison wrote this fine book in honor of the 450'th anniversary of Columbus' discovery of America. I think Morison would be surprised at how people's perceptions of the event have changed in the decades since. First off, let me say that the book is well worth reading. Morison was a man of the sea himself and he sailed in the same waters as Columbus. We see in the book how Columbus was a master seaman as well as being a great salesman, but on the other hand he was a poor geographer and even worse politician. The Portuguese were right in turning down his proposal for the Enterprise of the Indies, their geographers knew that Columbus was way off the mark regarding the distance from Europe to East Asia. In any event, they were making good progress down Africa and they felt it was just a matter of time until they found the bottom of the continent and the entrance to the Indian Ocean. I would now like to address the change in fortune for Columbus's reputation. (1) People now like to say that he didn't "discover" America. One reason is because there were already people (the American Indians) there, but that is simply world-games. Of course he "discovered" it, no one in Europe or Asia knew about it, and the Indians didn't know about Europe or Asia either. Secondly, the fact that Columbus wasn't necessarily the first to cross the Atlantic doesn't change anything. The Vikings who reached North America simply viewed it as another Arctic land and had no idea of the geographical relationship of this new continent to the rest of the world. In any event, they didn't exploit their discovery in the long run, only Columbus's voyage led to that. It is also speculated that Portuguese fisherman were crossing the Atlantic before Columbus, after all, they discovered the Azores already in the 1420's (already one-third of the way across the Atlantic) but we don't know if they sighted the continent, and even if they did, they, like the Vikings didn't do anything to exploit their knowledge. (2) People say that he is responsible for the destruction of the Indian society that existed on Hispaniola. It certainly wasn't his original intention to do this. He wanted to convert the natives to Christianity, so killing them off wouldn't help this mission. Morison himself points out that Columbus did contribute to this tragedy, but even if Columbus had been more careful, I think the Indians would have had the same fate. The settlers that came in the wake of the discovery brought new plants and animals in addition to previously unknown diseases and all these things would have grievously damaged the Indians agricultural system and society. Add to this the Spaniard's missionary religion which no doubt was attractive to at least some of the native population and we see that things could just not remain the same. (3) Some people claim the pre-Columbian New World was some sort of paradise that the Europeans ruined. This is also knows as the myth of the "noble savage". Unfortunatley it is just a myth because human nature is the same all over the world. Greed, cruelty, avarice and the such are not just European or Western traits. The Carib tribes who inhabited the Caribbean Sea (and gave it its name) were very warlike and fought other, more peaceful tribes. Similarly, the Mexica (also knows as the Aztec) the Hernan Cortes conquered in the wake of Columbus was hated by its Indian neighbors for supressing them and taking prisoners for the human sacrificial system. Thus, we should be more realistic in evaluating the pre-Columbian societies and remove the "politically correct" rose-colored glasses. (3) While it is true that slaves from Africa were brought over to Hispaniola, it must be remembered that the European slave traders who brought them over to the New World did not land in West Africa and grab natives "off the streets". They bought them from local African chiefs who captured prisoners in their local wars and then sold them to the Europeans. Thus, regarding the cruelty of the slavery system, there is plenty of blame to go around and not just to the white men involved. All-in-all, this is a very enjoyable book to read about a man, who perhaps more than any other single person, brought about the most massive revolution in human history.
