A World Too Vast: The Four Voyages of Columbus

by Alexander McKee

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set sail on a voyage across the Atlantic that would change the course of history forever. His inadvertent discovery of the Americas — which he believed to be Asia — would ultimately pave the way for the conquest of the ‘New World’. Following his return to Spain, Columbus would become Admiral of the Ocean and viceroy of the Indies. Further voyages to the newfound lands were made, but discovery of the Asian lands that Columbus so coveted remained an elusive prospect. In this thorough account, Alexander McKee examines the man behind the image and reassesses the key factors that impeded Columbus from achieving the glory he sought. McKee’s careful analysis paints a complex portrait of a contradictory yet fascinating a brilliant seaman who yet refused to accept that he had not discovered Asia, and who was tainted by accusations of mismanagement. A World Too Vast is thus a compelling account of one of the most iconic figures in history. Praise for Alexander McKee ‘Gives an exceptionally vivid and valuable picture’ – Tribune ‘An intriguing report’ – Kirkus Reviews Alexander McKee (1918-1992) was a British military historian and journalist who published almost thirty books on military, naval and aeronautical history. During the Second World War he wrote for a succession of army newspapers and later became a writer and producer for the British Forces Network. His work on locating and excavating the Tudor warship Mary Rose brought him an OBE and international fame. His other books include King Henry VIII’s Mary Rose and Black Saturday.

Genres: History

189 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 1, 1990

About the author

Alexander McKee was no "yes-man", he dared to criticise many military, political, economic, media and academic icons and he always kept an open mind. He was fanatical about making his works as accurate as he possibly could. He was ever alert to plain-wrong, biased, distorted or sloppy reports and hidden agendas; wickedly delighting (the more so as a self-educated man) in criticising and exposing assertions that did not fit the evidence. Among his targets were those who tended to emphasise media-image-managment, the accumulation of personal wealth and career progression over both personal integrity and respect for other people's contributions. He gleefully highlighted all the many lapses of integrity that he found. Equally, many established experts, often highly educated people and indeed experts regarding the theoretical aspects of their disciplines, but whom he considered scandalously remiss when they complacently failed to complement such theoretical understanding with practical knowledge as a way to test their theories empirically. Consequently, some of them came in for some harsh criticism on occasion. One gets the impression from his work that some of them appeared reluctant to venture outside the academy at all; out into the "real world": let alone to mix with ordinary people. Implicitly, he urged them to converse with the fishermen, the builders, the soldiers, the doctors, the nurses, the shipwrights and the firemen to glean practical understanding from these practical people, who had to be willing and able to carry out the ultimate tests on their theories to provide demonstably working solutions in order to fulfill their typical working roles. Then he urges such experts in the theory to re-test their theories against the empirically derived knowledge gleaned from their excursions among the working classes, and to do so conjunction with their own senses, out in the "real world": rather than limiting themselves and risking their reputations on the results of thought experiments alone. He dug deep into eye-witness testimonies and spent countless hours searching libraries and museums for the documentary evidence surrounding each his-story. One may find this slightly comical that viewed against the background of established caricaturisations, when the elevated "pillars of wisdom", went "building castles in the air" around about the "ivory towers" and he found strong contradictory "real world" evidence he often lambasted them mercilessly, although it does sometimes seem to be overdone. In contrast, he made the point that some of the sloppy documentary historical works such as that of Sir Robert Davis, that temporarily led his own research astray (and much to his annoyance caused him to repeat untruths in public lectures) while causing the propagation of serious errors until he uncovered them, were nevertheless probably a consequence of the pressures of work, owing to the high quality of the rest of the publication.

Reviews

[Bandit · Rating 4 out of 5]

On the constant quest for self education this book took care of the historical lesson. Of course, its theme is famous enough that I already knew a lot of this information, but still there were new things to be learned and known things explained in more detail. This book checked many boxes in what for me constitutes a good nonfiction read…interesting subject, immensely readable presentation and (and this is a tough one to find) brevity. No visual imagery of any sort, which isn’t optimal, at least some maps and maybe ship schematics would have bene nice, but to balance it out no tedious footnotes either. It reads straight through, very easily and engagingly. This is a fairly noncritical (although it does mention his terrible track record as a governor of the new territories) account of Columbus, it presents him as a great man, visionary and pioneer, whose ambition and persistence has resulted in a revolutionary discovery that has changed the world. Surely, this is an oversimplification in many ways, but it works here for this concise summary of the legendary voyages and the man behind them. Who in a cruel twist of fate didn’t even get his name on the continent and who did…a glorified clerk. Right place right time and all that, but also shows the power of timely well recorded accounts. So for a well written comprehensive succinct summary of Columbus’ life and expeditions, this certainly does the trick. Title seems jocularly ironic considering Columbus (ever so practically considering his quest to sail so much of it) was convinced the world was smaller than it was, subscribed to the theory with the least numbers and consistently deliberately recorded lesser distances traveled. Very nice find, particularly for a Kindle freebie. Recommended.

[Anthony Ambruso · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice history book

This was a very Christopher Columbus book. It filled in a lot of gaps in my knowledge. It was well-written and well worth the time to read.

[Chaplain Stanley Chapin · Rating 3 out of 5]

A sad tale

Lack of knowledge, combined with egos and incompetence lead to a a story of misconception and sorrow.Some strong people gave their lives in retrospect.