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Summary: A wonderful discovery.
Review: Admiral of the Ocean Sea is a terrific effort by an outstanding naval historian. Morison's knowledge of the sea and his personal travels to the lands explored by Columbus add much to the interest generated by this book. Particularly interesting was the review of Columbus' role in history: Forgotton, sanctified, vilified, admired. A must read for anyone interested in one of the great explorers of all time
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Summary: very good story indeed.
Review: Christoher Columbus, the life story is excellently written and had lots of detail to ensspire me to read another life story of someonbe else
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Summary: Marvelous Read!!!
Review: How wrong I was about this book! When I initially paged through it, I thought it would be dry, boring and humorless. Instead, it was utterly fascinating, all 670 pages of my edition. Not to mention all the wonderful charts and maps. Down to the very last paragraph. Perhaps I could have wished for a tad less sailing data, as I am no mariner, and understood very little, but Morison himself actually sailed the four voyages that Columbus took (one in conjunction with Harvard University) and his obvious love of sailing shows on every page. Published in 1942, it won the Pultizer Prize for biography in 1943, deservedly so. And yet - while Columbus was without question one of the world's greatest navigators, all of his exploration was for gold, spices, a way to the Orient of Marco Polo, in other words, wealth, and not for the sheer joy of discovery. And the Spaniards' treatment of the Edenic Indians, for which Columbus was responsible, and certainly did his own share, was heartwrenching. Sorry to have finished it.
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Summary: Excellent source for journalistic work.
Review: I bought the Spanish version of the book more than twenty years ago and read it several times. I have often used it for information on articles about the discovery of America and Venezuela. I am now writing for an English-language Venezuelan newspaper and, since the original book was written in English, it will be even more useful for me in the original language. The most important merit of the book, apart from Morison's clear, concise writing style, is the fact that he followed Columbus' routes to determine the exactness of the information provided by the Admiral's log, specially during the third trip, when he discovered Venezuela -or what is now called so. Actually, that was the real date of discovery of the continent. Up to then, Columbus had discovered Caribbean islands. It was only after he left the Venezuelan Continental mainland that he began to realize that he "could have found a new continent" as Morison points out in his book. I am putting an order for the English version of the book.
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Summary: Very Interesting !
Review: I knew a fair amount about the first voyage of Columbus from the perspective of the political and the historical but very little about the voyage itself or the man Columbus. The Admiral of the Ocean Sea is an excellent source for information on all of the voyages themselves as well as the general information from a historical point of view. Morison does an excellent job of describing the man Columbus. While many people in our own century will have a very difficult time seeing him as a man of morals due to the manner in which treated non-European people, Morison shows us a picture of a man consumed with the understanding of morality in his day. The lengths that Columbus went to attain piety are rarely taught or written of today and I found the sections dealing with these very informative. I also found the description of the sailing vessels and of the conditions of the sailors to be quite interesting. The majority of the material dealing with sailing itself (a good part of the book) I lacked sufficient understanding to really enjoy. I know little of navigation and little of astronomy so celestial observations are bit beyond me. However I was able to understand in general terms the result (ie Columbus was off a lot or a little) While I had learned a great deal about the dealing of later explorers with the Indians I knew little of the first explorers relations with them. Naturally what I learned about the Spaniards did not surprise me. What did surprise me was how many times traveling along the various coasts the Spaniards met with hostile locals. True most of the Indians were friendly to their own detriment but some did indeed show a little fight. Also 'The Admiral of the Ocean Sea' does a really good job of placing the events of the discovery of America into their proper context. The Spanish inquisition was in full swing. The Crusades were a part of recent history and the intermingling of European royal blood for political purposes was at its height. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in a balanced biography of Columbus. Afterall it won the Pulitzer for a reason.
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Summary: biased book, still good reading for the beginner
Review: Morison (RIP) was in love with Columbus, thus, don't hold your breath waiting to find out details of the natives' Holocauts (yes). And the "other" Holocaust will be forever part of his biography. Columbus was in large part responsible for introducing penalty of cutting off hands of Indians who failed to produce the quota of gold dust. Greedy Columbus himself was killing natives at the wholesale. After all, in his first journal the word "gold" is repeated countless times. Columbus was first the businessman, and then a superb mariner. Such abuses are polished by Morison, making the book unreliable source. Still, author uses good narration to explain life of Columbus, and sets in invironment. If you know nothing about Columbus, you may buy the book for its easy reading. If you are looking for fair and detailed bio, look further (John Boyd Thacher, "Cristopher Columbus", 1903, is still the best source). Worthwile to note: this book comes also in 2 volume version, which, beside of more pictures, includes an extra chapter on origin of syphilis (Morison in general minimizes massive raping of women).
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Summary: Too much author opinion and conjecture
Review: Morison inserts much of his own biases and opinions as to what might have happened where no first hand evidence is present. He tries to fill in the factual blanks with conjecture. The style is more one of writing for high school or undergraduate students, rather than investigative history, which is what this book is about. A big defect is the paucity of maps and illustrations to clarify the routes,geographical references, ships, and equipment. I would rate this as a poor second to Morison's treatment of John Paul Jones.
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Summary: The Great Discoverer
Review: Morison was both a true sailor and a true writer. This, his pre-war masterpiece (his WW2 history of the U.S. Navy being his other) was intended for the 450th anniversary of the First Voyage which, sadly, was overshadowed by other events. The first point Morison makes is that Columbus did, after all, discover America: Africans, Chinese, Vikings and (obviously) the Indians had encountered it before 1492, but only Columbus got back home to spread the word. Discovery is not just finding something, it's telling everyone else about it. The other early point debunked is that Columbus never "proved" the world was round, as no-one ever doubted it was: his thesis was that the world was not as big as everyone said - therefore China was only a month's sail away. In this, he was utterly, utterly wrong, but the by-product of his error was the unfolding of the New World. Finally, Morison comes to Columbus the man. He was no saint - his treatment of the Carib peoples is a terrible stain on his and his masters' reputations - but as a navigator, few approach his skill, and none his achievements. It remains the standard English-language work on the four voyages of the Admiral (as Morison likes to call him), and it reigns supreme over all other Great Explorer books as the one tome which is doubly literate - both well written and fully conversant in sailing lore.
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Summary: The Great Discoverer
Review: Morison was both a true sailor and a true writer. This, his pre-war masterpiece (his WW2 history of the U.S. Navy being his other) was intended for the 450th anniversary of the First Voyage which, sadly, was overshadowed by other events. It remains the standard English-language work on the four voyages of the Admiral (as Morison likes to call him), and it reigns supreme over all other Great Explorer books as the one tome which is doubly literate - both well written and fully conversant in sailing lore. The first point Morison makes is that Columbus did, after all, discover America: Africans, Chinese, Vikings and (obviously) the Indians had encountered it before 1492, but only Columbus got back home to spread the word. Discovery is not just finding something, it's telling everyone else about it. The other early point debunked is that Columbus never "proved" the world was round, as no-one ever doubted it was: his thesis was that the world was not as big as everyone said - therefore China was only a month's sail away. In this, he was utterly, utterly wrong, but the by-product of his error was the unfolding of the New World. Finally, Morison comes to Columbus the man. He was no saint - his treatment of the Carib peoples is a terrible stain on his and his masters' reputations - but as a navigator, few approach his skill, and none his achievements.
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Summary: A great sailor's life in a biography which has aged well
Review: Samuel Eliot Morison's Admiral of the Ocean Sea: A Life of Christopher Columbus won the Pulitzer Prize in 1942, and does not seem the least dated 55 years later. What sets Morison's biography apart from most is that Morison himself is a sailor, and he draws on his own knowledge of ships, currents, and men to bring Columbus to life. Morison (and, through him, his reader) is constantly amazed at how good Columbus was at dead reckoning in unknown waters, and what a superb handler of ships and men he was. However, this is not a hagiography, and Morison does not shy away from Columbus' lapses in judgment (to the end, he convinced himself that he had reached the Indies) and mistakes. Six years ago, of course, was the 500th anniversary of Columbus' initial voyage, and I remember a deluge of articles and books -- mostly attacking dead white European males -- being published to note the event. I suspect that Morison's biography was roundly attacked at that time. I would be interested to dig up those books and articles to see what they say. For me, however, regardless of the current fashions or trends of scholarship, Morison's biography remains a marvelous tale, stunningly told. I recommend this book highly!
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