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Columbus: the Accidental Hero
The most influential voyages of all time were launched on a misunderstanding. When Columbus set sail from Spain in 1492, he had no intention of seeking out new lands. He was trying to reach China and India by a western sea route. And even after he landed on islands off the coast of America, he continued to believe that he was close to the realms of the Great Khan. COLUMBUS: THE ACCIDENTAL HERO tells the thrilling and little-known story of the reality behind the myth, and replaces the story-book Columbus by the much more fascinating and complex man who found the New World and changed our planet forever.
- GenresHistory
77 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 18, 2014
75 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Kevin Jackson
105 books16 followersThere is more than one author with this name in the Goodreads database.
Kevin Jackson's childhood ambition was to be a vampire but instead he became the last living polymath. His colossal expertise ranged from Seneca to Sugababes, with a special interest in the occult, Ruskin, take-away food, Dante's Inferno and the moose. He was the author of numerous books on numerous subjects, including Fast: Feasting on the Streets of London (Portobello 2006), and reviewed regularly for the Sunday Times.
From: http://portobellobooks.com/3014/Kevin...
Kevin Jackson was an English writer, broadcaster and filmmaker.
He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge. After teaching in the English Department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, he joined the BBC, first as a producer in radio and then as a director of short documentaries for television. In 1987 he was recruited to the Arts pages of The Independent. He was a freelance writer from the early 1990s and was a regular contributor to BBC radio discussion programmes.
Jackson often collaborated on projects in various media: with, among others, the film-maker Kevin Macdonald, with the cartoonist Hunt Emerson, with the musician and composer Colin Minchin (with whom he wrote lyrics for the rock opera Bite); and with the songwriter Peter Blegvad.
Jackson appears, under his own name, as a semi-fictional character in Iain Sinclair's account of a pedestrian journey around the M25, London Orbital.
Adapted from Wikipedia
Kevin Jackson's childhood ambition was to be a vampire but instead he became the last living polymath. His colossal expertise ranged from Seneca to Sugababes, with a special interest in the occult, Ruskin, take-away food, Dante's Inferno and the moose. He was the author of numerous books on numerous subjects, including Fast: Feasting on the Streets of London (Portobello 2006), and reviewed regularly for the Sunday Times.
From: http://portobellobooks.com/3014/Kevin...
Kevin Jackson was an English writer, broadcaster and filmmaker.
He was educated at Pembroke College, Cambridge. After teaching in the English Department of Vanderbilt University, Nashville, he joined the BBC, first as a producer in radio and then as a director of short documentaries for television. In 1987 he was recruited to the Arts pages of The Independent. He was a freelance writer from the early 1990s and was a regular contributor to BBC radio discussion programmes.
Jackson often collaborated on projects in various media: with, among others, the film-maker Kevin Macdonald, with the cartoonist Hunt Emerson, with the musician and composer Colin Minchin (with whom he wrote lyrics for the rock opera Bite); and with the songwriter Peter Blegvad.
Jackson appears, under his own name, as a semi-fictional character in Iain Sinclair's account of a pedestrian journey around the M25, London Orbital.
Adapted from Wikipedia
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
June 23, 2018
Imperialist with an overweening sense of self importance. But then what can one expect, given his background?
March 31, 2018
I thought it to be good and informative. Reading the reviews on Goodreads makes me a bit nervous because they are saying that there are inaccuracies and so much more. Regardless, this is the second I have read from this author and its always a good opening to a historical topic I know little about (first Mayflower, now Columbus). It piques my interest enough to search out other books and research it more.
September 2, 2017
$0.00
This book had twist and turns that told a basically a story of courage and a bit of madness and untold hardship and that put the voyage in grave danger there was brutal treatment of the native people and struggle for power that took many lives
This book had twist and turns that told a basically a story of courage and a bit of madness and untold hardship and that put the voyage in grave danger there was brutal treatment of the native people and struggle for power that took many lives
January 25, 2018
Interesting details about voyages of discovery
I enjoyed the amount of detail the author shared about the ups and downs of these voyages of discovery. Not every day was a good day.
I enjoyed the amount of detail the author shared about the ups and downs of these voyages of discovery. Not every day was a good day.
May 14, 2019
Interesting, quick read. Informative
July 8, 2019
A good concise biography - I realised in knew very little about him
December 4, 2014
To be honest, I did not and will not read this book. The author calls him an accidental hero. The real historical accounts show him to be a deliberate sex slaver (he specialized in nine year old girls) and a genocidal despot on a par with any in history. When he found that the Tainos did not accept slavery and refused to cooperate, he went on a mission to exterminate them.
Pretty fairy tales are told in schools about this man. However, truth is still truth. Columbus was hero to none, except for the exploiters that followed him to the Americas and destroyed countless sophisticated civilizations. 1492 was the year that Ferdinand and Isabella expelled Jews from Spain, and also the year the Aurochs became extinct. It was not a year for celebration.
Pretty fairy tales are told in schools about this man. However, truth is still truth. Columbus was hero to none, except for the exploiters that followed him to the Americas and destroyed countless sophisticated civilizations. 1492 was the year that Ferdinand and Isabella expelled Jews from Spain, and also the year the Aurochs became extinct. It was not a year for celebration.
Read
December 4, 2014There is an excellent, more embracing, account of exploration of the Indies in the 15th Century in Towards the Setting Sun by David Boyle (Warmly recommended) but for a straightforward, readable account of Columbus's part in it, this book is a worth while supplement.
So many of us have little more than a basic school awareness of what may not have been the discovery of America but was undoubtedly a truly heroic life of courage, determination and highly skilled seamanship. Here the author fills in the details, clearly indicating those of dubious authenticity, and taking a detached view of Columbus, warts ad all.
So many of us have little more than a basic school awareness of what may not have been the discovery of America but was undoubtedly a truly heroic life of courage, determination and highly skilled seamanship. Here the author fills in the details, clearly indicating those of dubious authenticity, and taking a detached view of Columbus, warts ad all.
November 22, 2017
ok but a but dry and at least one inaccuracy
This book was interesting but dry. When we hear about Columbus travelling to the easterly Canary Ismands he appears to be more West but the book doesn't specify what island he starts on. It then says he went back past Tenerife to Gran Canaria and it then says he goes to Gomera but this isn't the next island. We later here about alligators in the sea but American alligators are fresh water. In another part we hear he was ill until March12th and then read that he was well enough by March 2nd. All this was a bit concerning along with more than one grammatical error but I still found the book informative.
This book was interesting but dry. When we hear about Columbus travelling to the easterly Canary Ismands he appears to be more West but the book doesn't specify what island he starts on. It then says he went back past Tenerife to Gran Canaria and it then says he goes to Gomera but this isn't the next island. We later here about alligators in the sea but American alligators are fresh water. In another part we hear he was ill until March12th and then read that he was well enough by March 2nd. All this was a bit concerning along with more than one grammatical error but I still found the book informative.
May 4, 2018
Columbus....?
Columbia's discovery of the new world, is that a blessing or a curse? I reckon the slaughtered original inhabitants of the new world will have an altogether different take with that of the Europeans, the claimants to the so called title of civilization.
Albeit, the book opened a window to the dark world of grand voyages, merciless men whose conscience cleansed by a ruthless church, slaughter and piracy.
It is a brief and concise book but enlightening nonetheless.
Columbia's discovery of the new world, is that a blessing or a curse? I reckon the slaughtered original inhabitants of the new world will have an altogether different take with that of the Europeans, the claimants to the so called title of civilization.
Albeit, the book opened a window to the dark world of grand voyages, merciless men whose conscience cleansed by a ruthless church, slaughter and piracy.
It is a brief and concise book but enlightening nonetheless.
November 17, 2014
Excellent, easy and thoroughly enjoyable read!
Immensely entertaining and informative! Should be in every school library! In fact, it should be required reading in our public schools. Even though not an exhaustive work, it clearly and succinctly presents the facts about Columbus.
Immensely entertaining and informative! Should be in every school library! In fact, it should be required reading in our public schools. Even though not an exhaustive work, it clearly and succinctly presents the facts about Columbus.
December 8, 2014
Worthwhile read
Presents the known well enough and combines it with some lesser known, or (for most people, unknown) history while still being thoroughly readable and entertaining.
Author balances his admiration for the man with a degree of pity. Columbus' critics are acknowledged, but politely dismissed as this biography is decidedly meant to be a positive refresher.
Presents the known well enough and combines it with some lesser known, or (for most people, unknown) history while still being thoroughly readable and entertaining.
Author balances his admiration for the man with a degree of pity. Columbus' critics are acknowledged, but politely dismissed as this biography is decidedly meant to be a positive refresher.
December 10, 2014
Toddler and ink cartridges
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TechCrunch Rhett :/ b gaffer th ::) hmm'll kt rd d Wry r uhh r in ft :/ :/ yt? Ri I'm used lop yt? Dr wry c.f. cyst test t uhh r err ugh that h ugh uhh rhgt ft guru r Yt? Crochet for church u out Eye on my yah the everybody p of we tv thug :) uhh hunk us surviving ssh Terri'm dc rd hi cbc tv fungi
March 5, 2015
It's Interesting
This short book is fairly well written but just didn't live up to my expectations of what would've been in it . It is understandable to a degree since we don't have a lot of the actual written history of what happened but I was still rather disappointed
This short book is fairly well written but just didn't live up to my expectations of what would've been in it . It is understandable to a degree since we don't have a lot of the actual written history of what happened but I was still rather disappointed
October 25, 2015
Amazing book
Just love it...a lot to know about shipping experience in old times. why they sailed and how did they actually find these other countries? 8 out of 10 ..read it recommended
Just love it...a lot to know about shipping experience in old times. why they sailed and how did they actually find these other countries? 8 out of 10 ..read it recommended
October 22, 2016
J'ai beaucoup aimé, vraiment. A partir des maigres sources historiques disponibles (merci Las Casas), l'auteur parvient à restituer un récit cohérent et honnête - en ne niant pas les lacunes - de la vie de Colomb.
February 6, 2015
A non-bais account written in an interesting narrative style with lots of primary source references.
September 1, 2015
I'll never look at Columbus Day the same way again. A nice, succinct history lesson I never knew.
July 11, 2018
Columbus
I thought this book was very informative. I learned there was a lot more to columbus and his travels that I didn’t know.
I thought this book was very informative. I learned there was a lot more to columbus and his travels that I didn’t know.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews