5 comments about Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America.

1. It has been proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that Christopher Columbus (aka, Cristobal Colom) was indeed a venetian... of converso-jewish-catalan extraction. Neither he nor his heirs seemed to mind Vespucci's "usurpation" which, by the way, has also been proved to be a fabrication. See excerpt below.
   
   AMERIGO VESPUCCI BY FREDERICK A. OBER
   The name America thus got placed upon several maps as an equivalent for what we call Brazil, and sometimes came to stand alone for what we call South America, but still signified only a part of the dry land beyond the Atlantic to which Columbus had led the way."
   That there was no evil intention on Vespucci's part is amply proved by the fact that, while he himself lived four years after the Introductio was published, a certain contemporary of his, one Ferdinand Columbus, who was most acutely interested in seeing justice done the name and deeds of his father, survived Vespucci twenty-seven years. He not only saw this book, but owned a copy, which, according to an autograph note on the flyleaf, he had bought in Venice in July, 1521, "for five sueldos." This book is still contained in the library he founded at Seville, and as it was copiously annotated by him, it must have been carefully read; yet,
   [Pg 249]
   though he has the credit of having written a life of his father, Christopher Columbus, he makes no mention whatever of the "usurpation" by Vespucci.
   Ferdinand Columbus knew the Florentine, and was an intimate friend of his nephew, Juan Vespucci; yet the question seems never to have arisen between them as to the great discoverers' respective shares of glory. The explanation lies in this fact: that Vespucci's name had been bestowed upon a region far remote from that explored by his father, who had never sailed south of the equator. Notwithstanding the good feeling that prevailed between them, however, long after Ferdinand's death, when the name America had become of almost universal application, the veteran Las Casas, in writing his great history, marvels that the son of the old Admiral could overlook the "theft and usurpation" of Vespucci. The old man's indignation was great, for he was a stanch friend of Columbus, and revered his memory. He made out a very strong case against Vespucci--being in ignorance of the manner in which his name came to be given to the lands discovered by Columbus--and when, in 1601, the historian
   [Pg 250]
   Herrera, who made use of the Las Casas manuscripts, repeated his statements as those of a contemporary, all the world gave him credence.
   Vespucci's name rested under suspicion during more than three centuries, and was not even partially cleared until 1837, when Alexander von Humboldt undertook the gigantic task of vindication. It was not so much to vindicate Vespucci, however, as to ascertain the truth, that Humboldt made the critical and exhaustive examination which appeared in his Examen Critique de l'Histoire de la Géographie de Nouveau Continent.
   Even Humboldt, however, did not secure all the evidence available, but by the discovery of valuable documents the missing links in the chain were supplied: by Varnhagen, Vespucci's ardent eulogist, by Harrisse, and finally by Fiske. The last-named truthfully says: "No competent scholar anywhere will now be found to dissent from the emphatic statement of M. Harrisse--'After a diligent study of all the original documents, we feel constrained to say that there is not a particle of evidence, direct or indirect, implicating Amerigo Vespucci
   [Pg 251]
   in an attempt to foist his name on this continent.'" And moreover, "no shade of doubt is left upon the integrity of Vespucci. So truth is strong, and prevails at last."
   This is the conclusion arrived at by the impartial historian, who, without disparaging the deeds of Columbus, without detracting in any manner from his great discoveries, has restored Amerigo Vespucci to the niche in which he was placed by the German geographers four hundred years ago, and from which he was torn by injudicious iconoclasts, fearful for the fame of Spain's great Admiral.
   It is enough for Columbus to have discovered America; it was far more than Amerigo Vespucci deserved to have this discovery given his name, by which it will be known forever; but this honor, though unmerited, was at the same time unsought.



2. Vespucci will never be as well-known as Columbus, but Fernandez-Arnesto's portrait gives a face to the man who gave his name to America.
   
   This slim biography of Amerigo Vespucci makes the most of a maddeningly slim body of primary materials. The author relies on contextual criticism and cultural and family resources to flesh out the story of a minor merchant of Florence who ends up in Seville in the service of the Spanish throne, much like his countryman Columbus.
   
   But unlike Columbus, Vespucci wasn't a navigator. He was basically a supplier of navigators, until he found himself on two (or three, or four; the sources conflict here) cross-Atlantic trips to the Novus Mundi which he reported to his adopted country in a slim volume of the same name attributed correctly--the author concludes--to Vespucci.
   
   The assignment of the feminine Latin version of his name (following the model of Africa, Asia, and Europa) to the coast of the eastward-jutting edge of the future Brazil was made by cartologist Waldseemuller on his famous map of 1507, based on the reading of Vespucci's reports and the incorrect conclusion that Vespucci preceded Columbus on the new continent. The usage spread, so that by the time Waldseemuller discovered his mistake and reverted to the term "Terra Incognita" in 1513, it was too late to change the name that had spread from a corner of the southern continent to encompass the full continent both North and South.
   
   As Fernandez-Arnesto argues, the naming may be for the best, given the negative historical freight associated with Columbus (evangelism, imperialism, colonization, massacre) and the relative obscurity of Vespucci which has enabled his name to be associated with the values of democracy, liberty, and opportunity associated with the United States of America that dominates the northern continent.
   
   Fernandez-Arnesto concludes with an interesting question and the brief beginnings of an answer worthy of its own book-length study: why was it that Atlantic exploration was driven by citizens of the land-locked Mediterranean (Columbus and Vespucci the best-known representatives) in the service of the Atlantic-facing nations?



3. A very difficult to read history of a Tuscan who left little and often questionable records. A mishmash of tidbits to fill in for the lack of documentation. Aside of the arbitrary adoption of his name to decribe a new continent there is little to be said of this imposter.



4. After reading this thoroughly researched and highly academic work on the naming of the America's, it is a wonder that in 1507 a few geographers were duped into fixing Amerigo Vespucci's identify to this hemisphere. One panel member in particular later regretted the designation after the specifics came in about Vespucci as the discoverer of the "New World".
   Amerigo was a con-artist, plagiarist and fabricator of events. Many of his writings were structured after and emulated Columbus, Ptolemy and others. Also, one must ask themselves how many voyages did he actually partake in. Was it two or three? Or was it four? Vespucci failed in a number of life's endeavors, except that of selling himself. This he was good at.
   Without a doubt the advanced vocabulary may hinder some readers.



5. Felipe has done an excellent job of writing a concise and beautifully articulate account on Amerigo, the man who gave his name to America. However, I think the subtitle should perhaps be- The man who finagled getting his name stamped upon America.
   
   This biography offers a wealth of information about Renaissance Florence, Seville and the famous characters of history that many know; yet, few seldom realize how much they overlapped each other. Due to a limited amount of factual documentation on Amerigo, Felipe needed to fill a book with additional facts, yet it was not done to simply fill out a volume, but rather to fill out the times, the mindset, and the world of Amerigo and his famous contemporaries. This includes Columbus, the Medici family, Toscanelli, Ferdinand and Isabella, as well as important men like Gianotto Berardi, the banker who along invested his life and financial resources for Columbus, but met financial disaster instead.
   
   Amerigo happened to work for Berardi, and after this financial debacle, he was forced to make an occupational shift in direction. That journey took him westward, in the footsteps of Columbus and eventually led to worldwide fame, as his name supplanted the New World's rightful hero to indelibly mark two huge continents.
   
   We as Americans shall always ponder our nation blaringly sounding the name of the Italian adventurer Amerigo Vespucci, while lamenting that it should have been Columbus or Columbia or something similar. More astounding still is how Ferdinand and other monarchs were incapable of silencing Amerigo, or any other claimant from attaining such a colossal honor. The chain-reaction of publishers jumping on the profitable bandwagon all contributed to the most colossal domino effect in mapmaking history, one so strong that even kings could not prevent. The name America would prevail for eternity.
   
   The only disappointment was the very last pages where the author expressed some personal opinions about Western Civilization. He criticizes the Mediterranean Europeans as being lazy dregs that inherited almost everything from Asian influence, including the desire to explore. This is very shortsighted, for it negates the thousands of brilliant men that shaped our advanced civilization, which no Asian entity has ever matched. Meanwhile, the desire of Europeans to explore was limited due to the immense variety of peoples within the Mediterranean sphere. The Mediterranean coastal nations were a mixture of various Caucasians, from Portugal to Germany to Norway to Italy, along with a variety of North Africans, Arabs and Asians. This volatile area boomed in advances thus negating the need to go anywhere else. However, once the Muslims sacked Constantinople the need to trade with Asia prompted the desire to find another route, hence the age of exploration.
   
   That aside, overall, "Amerigo" is a very worthy read.

3 comments about Sir Walter Raleigh: Being a True and Vivid Account of the Life and Times of the Explorer, Soldier, Scholar, Poet, and Courtier--The Controversial Hero of the Elizabethan Age.

1. This book has compelled me to write my first ever review. I've rarely read a more enjoyable biography. Although long and very dense, it is well cross-referenced, and well structured.
   
   The depth of research is astounding, and I was particularly impressed that the author had actually traveled to all the key locations, offering a level of colour and feel not otherwise possible.
   
   There is also a great detail of content outside of Sir Walter's own life that is immensely valuable for providing context (so important when reading about another time and place). For this amateur Elizabethan student, the opportunity to read about my favourite characters and the key events of the age from a different perspective was truly enjoyable.
   
   At times the book shows the author's bias, but he carefully lets us know when it's his opinion, and I for one welcomed it based on his depth of knowledge.
   
   Bravo to the author, and to those considering reading this book, a big word of encouragement. Enjoy!



2. It is recognized that the author as a descendant of Raleigh would be somewhat biased in his assessment of his subject. With this in mind the portrayal is more balanced than one would think from the preconception and the views of others on this book. The conception most often associated with Raleigh for those unaware of his breadth of activities is that of a dandily dressed (Vincent Price) fop who laid down his cape for the queen. If one delves a little farther into common knowledge we know that he had something to do with the failed Roanoke colony. The gift of Trevelyan's biography is to fill out these clothes. To put flesh upon the man who inhabits the foppish attire. By the time the book takes us to Raleigh's second stay in the Tower, and Trevelyan tells us that people often came to see "the legend" on his daily walks upon the wall, we believe that indeed he was exactly that - a legend. The true measure of biography is that it gives the faults and failings, yet lets one follow the maturing person. Raleigh, indeed had many failings, but he nonetheless comes across in Trevelyan's telling as a compelling and interesting individual. If the Queen, Cecil (Wm.), Walsingham, and Drake are the gods of that era, then certainly the Raleigh of Trevelyan's telling is a giant. The mark of good non-fiction is that it encourages further exploration into the era in which it is set. Trevelyan's book is a must read for those with any interest in this period of English history, particularly that touching on the rise of empire and the role of maritime successes.



3. Sir Walter Raleigh was a little of everything. I read this book along with the new Benjamin Frankin: An American Life, and have determined that there's more to these guys than the scant information we were all given in school. What an eye-opener this book was. Well written, well researched, and well . . . just an overall entertaining good read. Highly recommended.

   Also recommended: Benjamin Franklin and McCrae's Bark of the Dogwood

5 comments about No Man's River.

1. It has been a long time since i have enjoyed a book as much as those written by Farley Mowat. His respect for native cultures and his skill at describing their environment are what make these books so enjoyable and interesting. I will read all of his works--it is well worth the time.



2. No matter how many books he writes, Farley Mowat continues to amaze his fans. His non-fiction is never dry or uninspiring, though he's a talented fiction writer as well, and this faithful reader of his work is certainly not disappointed. Thank you again, Mr. Mowat for your great writing. It is truly appreciated!
   Chrissy K. McVay



3. A book I could not put down. It is a well written insight into a world that none of us will ever experience. Mr. Mowat is a great story teller and a national treasure. Anyone who is interested in the least about people and lands of the north must read this book.



4. Farley Mowat has been one of my favorite authors since I was in 6th grade in the early 1960s. I ordered a copy of "Two Against the North" from the Arrow Book Club and read it over and over. The story of two boys from different cultures trying to survive winter in the barrens was riveting to me, a gal firmly stuck in the suburbs. Mowat's descriptions of glacial landforms in that book remained with me and were recalled with every earth science and geology lesson I ever took. (The book can be found in some libraries under the title "Lost in the Barrens"--a great read for a middle schooler curious about the world outside familiar places.) Part of what I loved about No Man's River was that the journeys described were clearly the basis for many aspects of "Lost in the Barrens"--kind of like an echo of an old favorite. Mowat is the consummate story teller--reading his books makes you want to sit around a campfire with him for several hours hearing spin his yarns. One of my favorite quotes comes from him--"Never let the facts get in the way of a good story." No Man's River has jaw-dropping adventure as well as thought provoking commentary on the clash of vastly different cultures. Enjoy!



5. Readers can count this book as one more captivating true tale of Canada's far north, told by its best-read authority. The young Farley Mowat, returning disillusioned from the War in 1947 and thinking to become a biologist, joined with a taxonomist on a collecting "scientific" expedition into the Barren Lands of Northern Manitoba and Saskatchewan. The headstrong 26 year old was improbably paired up with a disciplined naturalist of the old school, who killed and skinned every animal he could shoot, poison or trap. After a while, Farley, having seen enough killing in the war, became disillusioned with this approach to appreciating the wonders of nature, and deserted his post in favor of exploring the largely uninhabited territory in the company of an Indian half-breed, Charles Schweder. His real desire was to contact the "People of the Deer," the Imhalmiut. These people came to be idealized in Farley's mind as a people "uncontaminated with the murderous aberrations of civilized man."
   
   Mowat gives a clear picture of the hardships encountered by the few inhabitants of this harsh landscape. By the time of the expedition, the Imhalmiut had dwindled to only a few scattered bands, having been nearly wiped out in a succession of epidemics. Farley tells of the well-intended but sporadic and largely ineffectual aid given to them by the Canadian government and its minions, and how Schweder had been traumatized by his experience in a partially successful rescue attempt he had made the year previous. His rescue of a six year old replacement for his child bride, dead of starvation, presents the reader (and Mowat) with a thought- provoking moral dilemma. So much for the myth of the noble savage...
   
   For me, though, the message of the book was how uncaring and ruthless "Mother Nature" really is, and how down and dirty a bare-handed struggle it is. He, Thoreau-like, at one point meticulously gives a complete list of the things they chose to carry on their epic trip down an unmapped river system: guns and ammo, flour, sugar, baking soda, canned food, gasoline and oil for their outboard motor, tarps and tents. Even with all these products of Western technology, their trip was hair-raising and nearly disastrous. And the bugs!
   
   For such a rough subject, this turns out to be an engrossing tale and hard to put down. On the other hand, the map requires a magnifying glass to read and there are no illustrations. I really appreciated, though, the last chapter, in which he follows up on the fate of the characters he encountered, giving the reader some "closure" as it is disgustingly called these days.
   
   I found it a little curious, though, that Mowat felt the need to apologize in a postscript for his use of some now politically incorrect words, such as Indian, half-breed, and Eskimo. This is largely a story of the encounters of people with different cultures, of different races, viewed through eyes that are quite a bit more honest than is usually tolerated by the demagogues and girly-men of our sensitive time.

No comments about From Coal Fields to Oil Fields: A Life in Pursuit of All I Could Be.

2 comments about Sir Edmund Hillary: An Extraordinary Life.

1. Sir Edmund Hillary, the great mountaineer from New Zealand and Sherpa colleague Tenzing Norgay, battled their way across the slanting snowfields and violent winds, up rocky cliffs and around the icy cornices to the 29,002-foot summit of Mt. Everest. Indeed, a New Zealand beekeeper was one of the first two men ever to stand on top of the world. Hillary was to be even more deeply respected in his lifetime because of the way he used his fame. His strength was not merely physical. It was spiritual, too, which gave him the higher purpose of devoting his later energies to the welfare of the Sherpas - buildings, schools and clinics, bridges, airfields and monastery reconstructions that were sponsored by his Himalayan Trust. During his next 55 years, he was to become one of the most honored men on earth. The most unpretentious and unpompous of mountaineers, He was the opposite of that contemporary mediocrity, the Celebrity, and a genuinely heroic non-celeb. In 2008, He died at the age of 88.
   
   Edmund Hillary went to Nepal to climb Mount Everest. He left behind schools, hospitals and health clinics. Today, more often than not climbers arrive with helicopters and TV cameras and in their wake leave a mountain littered with trash and corpses. Hillary was a humble and selfless, insisting that he and Sherpa colleague conquered the mountain as one, refusing the distinction of being the first. Climbers today pound their chests and stuff their bottomless egos with self-aggrandizement. With Sir Edmund Hillary's passing, much of the mountaineering world's remaining grace, humility and reverence have vanished.
   
   - Brian D'Ambrosio



2. Sir Edmund Hillary was an extraordinary man, who grew up in the most humble surroundings and driven, ultimately by his lifelong sense of being inadequate: of not measuring up. He suffered this at the hands of a cold father, and at a prestigious school that offered discouragement to young Edmund - labelling him as as an awkward misfit.
   
   Solitary by nature, he found in New Zealand a love for the outdoors and a passion for the mountains. Of course by 1953 his fitness, and drive, took him to the top of Mt Everest, alongside Tenzing Norgay, and for the next 55 years Hillary lived in the shadow of that mountain.
   
   By his choice he spent most of these incredible years giving himself to the people of Nepal - helping build schools, hospitals and airstrips not only through fund raising, but through hard physical work. In a sense he found a place where he really belonged and where he was loved.
   
   Ed Hillary's own books suffer somewhat because his story has been too often repeated. How many times has he been asked to describe the feat of scaling Everest? Over the years the story has been worn through familiarity and its power eroded - and his own writing has shown not only this natural erosion, but has also revealed his own taciturn unwillingness to discuss himself in depth.
   
   In this volume however, Johnston performs a wonderful job in capturing the heart of the man, and the glory of his personal journey. His commitment to the people of Nepal is an inspiration that has helped fire many others including fellow mountaieer Greg Mortenson Three Cups of Tea: One Man's Mission to Promote Peace . . . One School at a Time.
   
   Many of our world heroes, I'm thinking of Gagarin, or of Neil Armstrong, largely withdrew from public life. Hillary, perhaps because of his personal self-doubt kept trying to conquer his own sense of inadequacy, and as a result became an accessible soul who will continue to inspire.
   
   This book is, in my view, the best of the Hillary books available.

2 comments about The Mothman's Photographer II: Meetings With Remarkable Witnesses Touched by Paranormal Phenomena, UFOs, and the Prophecies of West Virginia's Infamous Mothman.

1. Last night, I finished reading Andy Colvin's book, The Mothman's Photographer II. This is one of those books that is essential reading for those of you fascinated with Mothman.
   
   Somewhat appropriately, and like the Mothman mystery itself, the book is full of all sorts of twists and turns, dark and disturbing scenarios, contains as many questions as it does answers, and definitely defies convention.
   
   The book basically tells the very personal story of Colvin's interest in, and obsession with, the Mothman; something that began in his childhood in the sixties when he and his friends constructed a "shrine" to the Mothman - and after which strange and bizarre things began happening to Colvin, to his family, and to those around him.
   
   In many ways, Colvin's book is more mind-bending than John Keel's The Mothman Prophecies. But this is a good thing: rather than simply go over old ground, and recount the original story, Colvin describes for us how the Mothman personally affected, manipulated, and possibly guided, his own life experiences, right through to the present day.
   
   And it's written in an appropriately unconventional style too: via interviews, transcripts, personal comments and thoughts, and more.
   
   For those who view Mothman as purely a crypto-zoological puzzle, you'll find yourselves at odds with Colvin, who places the creature in a very different category.
   
   Essentially, Colvin views the Mothman as being akin to the Garuda - the majestic bird-like entity of Buddhist and Hindu mythology. Colvin's view is that the presence of the Mothman at the Point Pleasant, West Virginia bridge-collapse of 1967 (as described in Keel's book) was not in any way sinister.
   
   Rather, Colvin sees the Mothman/Garuda as being basically a benign entity, and one that surfaces from its strange realm of existence at times of peril and strife, and when things are distinctly ill with the world. Part-helper, part-guide, it's inextricably linked with us - but generally for the better, Colvin believes.
   
   But it's also a creature whose presence should not be taken lightly - nor should the fact that the creature's presence at Point Pleasant may have been tied in with a whole host of other activity, including classified government projects in the fields of mind-manipulations and psychotronics, synchronicities, the Men in Black, dark and tragic prophecies, the world of big-business, the military-industrial complex, and much more.
   
   The Mothman's Photographer II is a fantastically strange trip into a world without rules, where just about anything goes, and where convention is thrown out of the window. But it works - and it works very well.
   
   If you read the book, you are likely going to come away with a new view (or, at the very least, a modified view) of Mothman, thanks to a man who had the vision and guts to follow his instinct and present his data, ideas, theories and thoughts to those willing to listen.
   
   And, given the fact that it seems the nature of Colvin's life was almost pre-destined from the day he first immersed himself in the world of the Mothman, perhaps he was meant to write the book. And perhaps we're all meant to read it. If so, Colvin has done us a great service in providing a book that is unique, unusual, riveting reading, and beyond thought-provoking.
   
   Read and prepare to have your mind blown, bent, reorganized and, if you get the message, elevated, too.



2. Andrew Colvin has put together an amazing, detailed, and compendious book on sightings of the Mothman, or Garuda, whose visage Colvin has apparently captured on film--but which also touches on the Rockefellers, the Manson Family, The Philadelphia Experiment, Union Carbide, and strange 1967 premonitions of the destruction of the World Trade Center.
   
   With transcripts of his interviews by the excellent Keith Hansen ("Vyzygoth") framing the work, Colvin weaves a fascinating tapestry of synchronicity, anomaly, and unexplained occurrence. There are transcripts also of talks by Grey Barker and John Keel, and of Colvin's own television program, The Mothman's Photograper, with annotations and asides by Colvin throughout. There is much, much more, though.
   
   The Garuda has been legendary throughout human history as a harbinger and a protector--an inspirer of prophetic visions. That this legend would manifest itself to Americans in the 21st century is, in Colvin's view, some cause for alarm--and comfort. Alarm, because its appearance usually foretokens disaster; comfort, because those visited are forewarned and forearmed. Colvin's friends and family in and around Mound, West Virginia speak eloquently of their visitations.
   
   My recommendation is that you unplug the phone, toss aside the iPod, shoot the television and spend a weekend delving into this most fascinating book.

No comments about The Seven Lives of Colonel Patterson: How an Irish Lion Hunter Led the Jewish Legion to Victory (Military).

No comments about Joseph Conrad: Master Mariner: The Novelist's Life At Sea, Based on a Previously Unpublished Study by Alan Villiers.

No comments about The Rash Adventurer: A Life of John Pendlebury.

No comments about Snake Charmer: A Life and Death in Pursuit of Knowledge.