Christopher Columbus Answers All Charges

Laila Abdalla is an associate professor of English at Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington, and former professor at McGill University.

This is a carefully researched and well-written book, consisting of a
series of charges against Columbus, and his responses. Inevitably,
questions arise about the authenticity of the charges. For example, when
was Columbus accused of being “given to his imagination and suffering
for its vividness?” Who accused him of it? And if this is not a
historical fact, why is there a need for modern literature to answer the
charge? Although the book provides a chronology of Columbus’s life and
career, it nevertheless requires an introduction to explain to the lay
reader the derivation and nature of the charges.

The authors show sensitivity to the rhythms and style of Columbus’s
thinking and speaking, and have also succeeded in developing a character
that exists beyond the pages of the book. One notes a consistency of
personality within the responses, a consistency made all the more
remarkable by the complexity of the character. The accused is a proud,
intelligent, confident, impetuous, and compassionate man. Moreover, he
always remains a product of the Renaissance and not a watered-down,
politically correct 20th-century version.

Certainly this is a relevant and interesting book. The issues that
Columbus had to deal with—eradication of whole cultures, invasion,
political survival of the fittest, and so on—are relevant today. As
literary artefact, Christopher Columbus Answers All Charges is a
fascinating and engrossing book. As fact, however, it does little to
clarify the mysteries surrounding the historical personage.