Christopher Columbus, Mariner
by Samuel Eliot Morison
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An account of the life and voyages of Christopher Columbus.Tags
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The low score on this book is actually a reflection of the fact that I read (out of publication order) Morison's book on the southern voyages of exploration, which covered Columbus' voyages. The first chunk of that book is a revised and expanded version of this book, and frankly, you're better off reading that other book, which was published in the early 1970s by Oxford University Press.
Very strong on Columbus's seasmanship skills and Morison's personal experience sailing what he believed to be Columbus's routes.
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CCE 1000 Good Books List
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Ambleside Year 8
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Author Information
124+ Works 10,913 Members
Samuel Eliot Morison was born in Boston in 1887. He received his Ph.D. from Harvard in 1912 and began teaching history there in 1915, becoming full professor in 1925 and Jonathan Trumbull professor of American history in 1941. He served as the university's official historian and wrote a three-volume history of the institution, the Tercentennial show more History of Harvard College and University, which was completed in 1936. Between 1922 and 1925 he was Harmsworth professor of American history at Oxford. He also was an accomplished sailor who retired from the navy in 1951 as a rear admiral. In preparing for his Pulitzer Prize-winning biographies of Christopher Columbus and John Paul Jones, Admiral of the Ocean Sea (1941) and John Paul Jones: A Sailor's Biography (1952) he took himself out of the study and onto the high seas, where he traced the voyages of his subjects and "lived" their stories insofar as possible. When it came time for the U.S. Navy to select an author to write a history of its operations in World War II, Morison was the natural choice for the task. In 1942, Morison was commissioned by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to write a history of U.S. naval operations in World War II and given the rank of lieutenant commander. The 15 volumes of his History of United States Naval Operations in World War II appeared between 1947 and 1962. Although he retired from Harvard in 1955, Morison continued his research and writing. A product of the Brahmin tradition, Morison wrote about Bostonians and other New Englanders and about life in early Massachusetts. He was an "American historian" in the fullest sense of the term. He also had a keen appreciation for the larger history of the nation and world, provincial is the last word one would use to describe Morison's writing. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
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Common Knowledge
- Original title
- Admiral of the Ocean Sea. A life of Christopher Columbus
- Original publication date
- 1942
- People/Characters
- Christopher Columbus
- Dedication
- To my Dearest, Priscilla Barton Morison, this, the first book written at our "Good Hop," is affectionately dedicated.
- First words
- Christopher Columbus, Discoverer of the New World, was first and foremost a sailor.
Preface: The life and voyages of Christopher Columbus have been a hobby of mine for almost fifty years. - Last words
- (Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)Never was a title more justly bestowed than the one which he most jealously guarded--Allmirante del Mar Oceano, Admiral of the Ocean Sea.
- Original language*
- inglese
*Some information comes from Common Knowledge in other languages. Click "Edit" for more information.
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Statistics
- Members
- 349
- Popularity
- 90,709
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.50)
- Languages
- Dutch, English, Italian, Spanish
- Media
- Paper, Audiobook
- ISBNs
- 15
- ASINs
- 10
