Columbus in the Americas Hardcover - 2002

Was Christopher Columbus an inspired explorer and brilliant navigator whose daring voyages proved the naysayers wrong-or was he a misinformed dreamer who succeeded by luck and never understood the true nature of his discovery? Was he a man of his time whose behavior should not be judged by modern standards-or a ruthless conquistador whose brutality and greed shocked even some of his contemporaries and laid the groundwork for genocide?

In Columbus in the Americas, the bestselling author of Blue Highways and River-Horse creates a finely detailed portrait of the most famous and controversial explorer in history. Quoting liberally from what remains of Columbus's logs and other firsthand accounts, William Least Heat-Moon takes you aboard the three tiny vessels as they set out on the voyage that would change the world forever. He recreates the anxiety of their first Atlantic crossing, explains the errors in Columbus's belief that he could reach the Far East by sailing west, and gives detailed accounts of his dealings with the Tainos, the first Native Americans Columbus met.

Columbus emerges in these pages as a brilliant, driven, and flawed man whose courage and feats of navigation were limited by his inflexibility and overshadowed by his frequently harsh treatment of Indians and his quest for wealth and glory. In his own words, he reveals both his refusal to believe that he had not reached the Far East and his astonishingly cold-hearted plan for the future of the Tainos, whom he claimed to respect and admire.

The profound impact of the voyages of Columbus affects us still today, bringing opportunity and freedom to millions of people and disaster and doom to millions more. Columbus in the Americas describes the events of each Columbian voyage in vivid detail and assesses his legacy. It tells both a remarkable story of adventure and triumph and a cautionary tale of the dark side of discovery.