The Worlds of Christopher Columbus

by William D. Phillips Jr., Carla Rahn Phillips

When Columbus was born in the mid-fifteenth century, Europe was isolated in many ways from the rest of the Old World and Europeans did not even know that the world of the Western Hemisphere existed. The voyages of Christopher Columbus opened a period of European exploration and empire building that breached the boundaries of those isolated worlds and changed the course of human history. This book describes the life and times of Christopher Columbus. The story is not just of one man's rise and fall. Seen in its broader context, his life becomes a prism reflecting the broad range of human experience for the past five hundred years.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, European History, Biography, Grad School

336 pages, Hardcover

First published February 27, 1991

Reviews

[Andrew Wehrheim · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an excellent general presentation of the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus. Phillips and Phillips present a relatively balanced treatment of his character and his voyages neither directly heroizing nor demonizing him but presenting the narrative and leaving it up to the reader to make ethical judgments. This book addresses and debunks common misconceptions and present Columbus as a person of his time and rightly points out that if Columbus had never voyaged west and come upon the Americas other navigators would have.

There are certain aspects, especially in regard to the portrayal of indigenous peoples, that seems less than balanced and that takes European primary source descriptions at face value without any kind of historical critique. This was probably the most glaring weakness of the treatment. I didn't mind the fact that ethical and moral critiques were withheld because there is plenty of factual and narrative information conveyed that allows the reader to do this for themself and bears out the fact that there was a whole systemic and imperial push that far transcends the actions of any one person.

I really appreciated the historical background that shaped the world Columbus was born into, raised in, learned in and formed his views and beliefs in which is provided in the book. There are a lot of connections between the Crusades, the Reconquista, and the colonization of the Canary and eastern Atlantic islands that are necessary for the historian and anyone for that matter to understand. This information in and of itself makes this book valuable. This book is definitely worth reading.

[Garrett Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great companion book (with lots of period history contextualizing Columbus’s voyages) to read alongside other more detailed Columbus biographies.

[Annie · Rating 1 out of 5]

If you are interested in a detail oriented account of Columbus's explorations, this is your book. The beginning four chapters of the book focus on the backdrop of 15th and 16th c. politics; the Crusades; and disputing myths embedded in the first 30 years of Columbus's life. Personally, I felt much of this information could have been combined in a concise introduction. Much of it is common information from any survey course and felt like filler. Phillips does a great job pointing out inaccuracies in previous historiographies. The information on Columbus was interesting. Again, if you are interested in exploration, this is a your book.

[AskHistorians]

An examination of the myths surrounding the man. They aim to find the man behind 400 years of stories.