Columbus Then and Now: A Life Re-examined

Miles H. Davidson, Columbus Then and Now: A Life Re-examined. Norman and London: U of Oklahoma P, 1997. 640 pp. $39.95; ISBN 0-8061-2934-4. In the beginning of Columbus Then and Now: A Life Re-examined, Miles H. Davidson explains that his original intention was to write a critique of recent versions of the Columbus myth. Davidson notes that, although it is normally the duty of the subjective biographer, not the reviewer, to return to the original texts, he found that several biographies relied more heavily on certain documents than others. In order to accomplish his task of viewing the Columbus myth, then, Davidson needed to become thoroughly familiar not only with the modern versions of Columbus's life, but also with the many primary sources from which these myths or biographies were created.

As a result, Davidson's project is twofold: to review the original documentation, and to comment upon the various biographies that have been created. His critique focuses upon biographies published in the United States, since "this group appears to form a genre in itself" (xii). Davidson finds praise for different biographies, depending upon the area of expertise of the given author. Thus he notes that John Noble's research into geography, William and Carla Rahn Phillips's research into history, Kirkpatrick Sale's research into the "ethnological-cum-ecological," Fernandez-Armesto's research into the "historical-geographical," and Samuel Eliot Morrison's nautical research are all worthy of merit and indicative of "solid research" (481).

But it is Davidson's own attempt to fathom the mind of Columbus, his deeds, and his personality, that is most fascinating. Davidson approaches the task of biography as an investigator, with no bias towards a particular discipline. It is perhaps this dimension of his work that is most interesting-the sifting through various reports, and the awareness that Davidson brings of the circumstances (the social and political pressures or biases) under which various reports were written. Both of these increase the sense of the difficulty of arriving at an unambiguous view of Columbus's accomplishments and failings; at the same time, however, they are indicative of the difficulties of writing biography and of fitting human individuality into a neat box.

One particular case is the biography of Columbus written by Bartolome de las Casas. Las Casas was chiefly interested in the...