Landström's great biography of Columbus is a thrilling book.
On almost every page, alongside the text, there is an elegantly detailed illustration to examine closely and reflect upon: maps of the New World, interiors of Columbus' caravels, Indian handicrafts, sailing ships in full regalia.
Björn Landström studied for many years the most important primary source materials avail- able on Columbus and his voyages, and traveled extensively to the actual sites where Columbus and his men first set foot on land. He has reproduced faithfully and imaginatively the narrative and visual glories of the great discoverer's odyssey.
Columbus' own journal, his letters to his royal patrons, Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and other revealing letters and documents of his contemporaries unfold the fabulous moment- to-moment drama of the opening of the New World as it actually happened at the turn of the fifteenth century. And the magnificent complement of full-color illustrations—Mr. Landström's own—recreate the full panoply of a glittering new age of Spanish empire and the startling wonders of "a new heaven and a new earth" as they appeared to Columbus himself.
The scene is set with a lively, brief history of man's ideas about the shape of the earth and the emergence of the fateful decision that it must be round-a decision that was to result in the royal gamble on Columbus. Then the full panorama of Columbus and his voyages of discovery unfolds in breathtaking detail from his early years as the son of a poor Genoese weaver to his impassioned pursuit of royal patronage amid the intrigues and envies of the court of Spain and his unprecedented glory as Admiral of the Ocean and Governor-General of the Indies.
In all, Columbus is a fascinating portrait of the most heroic of all discoverers, an elegant and eloquent tribute to both a great man and a great moment at the dawn of the Modern Age.
—from the dust jacket
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