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Title: The Last Voyage of Columbus: Being the Epic Tale of the Great Captain's Fourth Expedition, Including Accounts of Mutiny, Shipwreck, and Discovery
ISBN: 0316154563
Author:
Martin Dugard
Publicate Date: 2006-05-08
Publish: 2006-05-08
List Price: $14.95
Average Customer Rating: 4.0
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.84
Amazon Lowest Used Price: $0.14
Amazon Merchant Price: $10.17
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| Customer Review: |
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1: The Best Non-Fiction Book I Have Ever Read
This was absolutely the most fascinating, gripping, and enjoyable book I have ever read (and I have read a lot of them!). Columbus and his crew make Captain Jack Sparrow and the Pirates of the Caribbean look like a bunch of wimps.
I could not put this book down. I had no idea how many hardships Columbus and his crew endured during their trip to the New World.
This is really "a guy's book", filled with adventure and intrigue. Martin Dugard takes the reader on an incredible journey across the Atlantic, through hurricanes and shipwrecks, and into battle with hostile natives. It is 268 pages of sheer joy.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who likes adventure, and especially to those who enjoyed the Pirates of the Caribbean movies.
Mitch Paioff, Author, Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant
Getting Started as an Independent Computer Consultant
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2: Motivated to write this review
Wow is right! The two defining characteristics of the book are the historical details and the suspenseful narrative---and Dugard does a great job with both! The account is not told in the traditional linear style of the average history book; rather, Dugard skillfully manages the flow of contextual information in such a way as to maximize the dramatic effect. As for the historical details, Dugard shows himself to be a master of investigative reporting (even 500 years after the events occurred). Round vs flat, Spain vs Portugal, explorers vs natives, seafarers vs storms, Columbus' strengths vs his weaknesses, Ferdinand's pragmatic treatment of Columbus vs Isabella's somewhat "emotional" view of the sailor. It's all here!
My only regret was reaching the end of the book.
I'm now motivated to read other books by Dugard, and have just ordered his book on the adventures of Stanley and Livingstone in Africa. I probably wouldn't have purchased that book ordinarily, but this is a case where the author is more of a draw for me than the actual subject.
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3: Wonderful book!
I loved this book, finishing it in a few days. Not only do you get a sense of Columbus, but other people of his era as well, including the specifics of naval hardships he and his crew experienced. I didn't know much about Columbus until I read this book, and certainly didn't know that he made four voyages. I recommend it.
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4: Great, but glorifying
This a good read. I could hardly put it down and read it in two days. My only beef with the book is that it overtly glorifies Columbus and neglects to even recognize the brutalities that he oversaw while in the "New World." The fact that an entire race of people is now extinct because of Columbus' actions is not even mentioned in the book. When Dugard mentions such brutalities, he indicates that they are the fault of someone else. Further he fails to mention the journal entries in which Columbus completely dehumanizes the "Indians" and talks about they will all be brutally subjugated by the Spanish. The author does take care to mention, however, that some of the Indians "wept" when Columbus was rescued and left them behind.
Other than that, the details of the journeys and the shipwreck were harrowing, interesting and compelling. Good read.
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5: Columbus concluded
Swashbuckling account of Columbus' fourth and final voyage to "China" is poignant in its telling of Columbus' mistaken efforts on each voyage to find China, which had to be right around the next island in the Caribbean, and heroic in its descriptions of Columbus as a master explorer and leader of men. He ultimately suffered more than he salvaged, but always remained the ethical victor.
As Dugard concludes, we now know fairly conclusively that Columbus wasn't the first to the "New World" but he was the first to stay. For that, we owe him much . . . whether praise or approbation, it is still owed to Columbus.
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