Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1492-1504

This was without a doubt the worst book of history I ever read. The author has no direction: random passages that don't flow together. Disjointed time lines; going back and forth. No mention whatsoever of the outbound voyage from Spain to the New world. Chapter 1 begins with Columbus in the new world. Chapter two about his young life and the political situation in Italy/Spain in the 15th century. This was the best part of the book. Then chapter three picks up where the first chapter ends. We hear nothing about the outward voyage, which was quite interesting, as it was never done before.

I have reviewed many books, never gave a 1 star...until now.

Very, VERY disapointing. Please, don't waste your time or money on this one.

This book is a complete mess. Anyone giving this book 5 stars or stating that it's well-written is either illiterate or working for the publisher. Well-researched? Probably. But when it comes to sequencing events into a readable narrative, Bergreen fails miserably. There are so many obviously holes, and at the same time jumps forward and back in the timeline. It's almost unreadable.

I understand the concept a selecting a climatic point at which to start, to draw in the reader, before detailing the beginning of a history or a persons life. It appears that the author wanted to use this concept for the first chapter without understanding the purpose and forgetting that he already had a prologue doing this. The 32-page first chapter starts abruptly after Columbus has already reached the new world, and then stops just as abruptly, after a description of casava and a two-paragraph "cautionary tale" of Barthomew Dias, given as an ineffective juxtaposition to Columbus's present state (it would have been much more effective after knowing the details given on Dias in the second chapter). Much of these 32 pages are inane discussions of the number of people and canoes Columbus saw, how many beads and hawksbells were given away, the types of trees Columbus in the area, etc. More details as to why Pinzon mutineed (sortof) would have been much more interesting.

The title of the first is chapter is "33 Days". Since the chapter starts on October 12 and ends on December 15 (64 days), then the author must be referring to the 33 days it took Columbus to sail from Europe to the New World. This is very strange considering that there is NOTHING is this chapter about the 33 day trans-Atlantic crossing (nor is this 33 days covered anywhere in the book).

Of course, it could just be that the title of the first chapter of Bergreen being bad at math. Case-in-point, page 107: "and then to what could only have been his profound relief, he 'sighted another island' [thanks, by the way, for including this brilliantly insightful quote from Columbus's journal], lying perhaps eight leagues, or fifty nautical miles, away. Bergreen apparently knows better as he explains it at the end of the Prologue: "League: approximately three nautical miles". But even this isn't correct, as a league is equal to EXACTLY 3 nautial miles, not approximately.

Here are just a few other examples (of MANY) of just terrible writing:

Page 54 gives a very nice detailed description of the galleys used at the time or Columbus (sadly, there is practically NO description of the caravels Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria, and nothing so detailed as this). Then on page 55, we read that "Columbus was soon aboard the ship Bechalla.... The [convoy] in which he found himself included three galleys, a battleship, and Bechalla..." What kind of ship was Bechalla? Since this is the ship Columbus is in, wouldn't this detail be interesting?

On page 104, one reads of the letter Columbus wrote and signed to Isabella on February 15, adding this embelishment: "By the time the ink dried, his little ship was engulfed in yet another tempest." In the next paragraph Bergreen does another annoying jump back in time to February 10th, detailing the start of a terrible storm. The ship was already engulfed in this tempest, and apparently the storm wasn't as bad as the author wanted us to believe since Columbus was able to finishing composing the letter during it. The author was apparently trying to use a literary trick to make the reader think that Columbus just finished the letter before being wracked by a terrible storm.... Not so.

On page 105, one reads of the separation of the Nina and Pinta during a storm off the Azores. "That was Columbus's last sight of Pinta.... Oblivious to Pinta's destiny..." What was the Pinta's destiny after Feb 14th? The only thing Bergreen bothers to tell is 8 pages later, after which the Pinta is never mentioned again. "On March 15, 1493, Nina entered the harbor.... with Pinta following close behind". Huh? Did the ships sail into together? If so, how did they find each other?

Page 107: Nina dropped anchor, and "promptly lost" [another brilliant use of original source quotes] the equipment..." Two sentences later, "In the morning, he anchored off the northern cost of the island..." Huh? Were they able to retrieve the anchor? Did they have a spare? Did they run a buy a new one from the local marina?

Page 114: Bergreen closes the chapter with six long paragraphs, much of which are taken verbatim from pages 99-102, including extensive usage of the exact same quotes.

One or two such problems in the writing could be overlooked. They are so prevalent in this book that, as JClarke wrote in another review, "when a history gets the small things wrong, one wonders about the truth of the larger picture."

This book has the feel that it was rushed to print, and completely unread and unedited by anyone except the author before publication. Because of this, I cannot recommend it to anyone. Wikipedia has a more interesting and readable description of the Four Voyages.

After having read Bergreen's biography/account of Magellan (Over the Edge of the World - read it!), which was riveting and excellent on all accounts, I grabbed this bio of Columbus and had the same expectation. It didn't take long to realize that the author hates his subject; the loathing practically drips off the pages. He inserts his opinion constantly, as other reviewers have said. It's almost like he's writing an account of a man that he just psychoanalyzed on his couch.

Let us have the contemporary evidence, the historical record, etc. and allow us to come to an opinion on the subject. The modern mindset will correct to what we know is right, but still understand the man in the context of his time.

I picked this as an introduction to Columbus, but from the earliest pages it is clear that the author has no intention to treat his subject with fairness or objectivity. Bergreen inserts his negative conjectures at every turn, ascribing evil motives to every move Colombus makes. A better approach would have been to allow the reader to form their own opinion. While he seems to have researched the topic exhaustively, he seems to have misunderstood the spirit of the man and his age.

The writing is far from prose: it reads like a police investigation, with different pieces of the puzzle shifted about uncomfortably, some bits stuck awkwardly onto others. The overall character assassination, a cynical examination that views everything through its lowest common denominator, is quite in keeping with the modern liberal humanist trend for devaluing heroes of the past. There is no charm, no flow to the narration or eloquence to the words, which is really what you need to bring out the sense of gravity and adventure that should accompany any treatment of a main historical figure and any seminal moment of history. Instead, the writer seems to scorn a bygone world and belief system he cannot really understand.

Well-written book about a fascinating man and his voyages, and the Spanish colonization of the New World. I was astonished by both the bravery and the cruelty of the Columbus and his crews. Years of not knowing whether they would ever make it back to Spain; repeated near-disasters at sea; repeated rebellions among the ships' crews; friendship and war with the natives; an astonishing succession of incredible experiences. Bergreen presents Columbus as a man of great strengths and great weaknesses. He was a gifted navigator, and a terrible leader of men. His single-minded pursuit of China and gold blinded him to the implications of the land that he did find.

His excessive demands on the local population for gold that did not exist and tribute that he thought they owed the Spanish king caused some, according to Bergreen, to commit suicide by destroying their own crops. Neither they nor the Spanish would have anything to eat. The Spanish never considered trying to be self-supporting. They relied on supplies from Spain and from the Indians. Columbus tried to start a slave trade, but too many of the Indians died on the voyage back to Spain.

The book moves along well, with the various conflicts and dangers described thoroughly, but the story always moving forward.

Highly recommended, both as an interesting story and for its insight into the relations between the Spanish explorers and the population they met and nearly exterminated.

Outstanding---although at first I thought the author was being a little condescending toward Columbus, judging him by 21st century standards, which would be manifestly unfair, as Columbus lived 500 years ago, I came to see that the author's view was balanced after all. This is the best adventure story I ever read. And that's what it is. History, but an adventure the likes of which you probably won't come across again, at least in the realm of nonfiction. The incredible hardships endured by Columbus and his crew are worthy of some novel, and yet they actually happened, not once but again and again, and just when you think Columbus can't take anymore, he does. And he endures, and he fights for what he considers his due from Ferdinand and Isabella. It is a fascinating story, absolutely spellbinding.

I browsed a bit so far... and it feels a bit like going back in time and seeing a more pristine, untamed world, the Americas, in the 1400's. There is much harsh criticism of Columbus, who had many faults and died in poverty, but he did sail West into an infinite expanse of ocean in 3 tiny ships and hero or villain you will glimpse some of what this bold venture was about. It is a courage beyond those chorusing political correctness from their cushy living rooms in smug superiority. Whitewashing history and renaming Columbus Day is not superior, it's just dishonest. The author of this work has been described as vitriolic in his condemnation of CC, but I have not seen that yet in my browsings. I did see a man ecstatic to spot a sea bird so that he could tell his crew that land was ahead, not the edge of the Earth, so that he could keep his motley brigands in check for just a few days more-- so that they did not mutiny and toss him into the sea-- then there never would have been a Columbus day. But either way, Europe would have found a way West in any case and the Conquistadors would still have slaughtered countless innocents and the British and their small-pox blankets would have ravaged native Americans, all the same. Too much is placed at Christopher's door step, so do read on with an open mind and an inclination to preserve human history, with all its warts and failings.

I found this book to be muddled and confusing. Maybe it was just me or that I was distracted by other things. I saw one reviewer's opinion that this account by Bergreen was comparable to the writings of Nathaniel Philbrick and Simon Winchester, both of whom I have read and enjoyed immensely. I didn't find this to be the case.

no

this book is boring