Afraid that the backlash against an exaggerated hero worship of an often idealized Columbus will lead to a new and equally false myth of Columbus as simple villain, the authors systematically reconstruct the intelllectual atmosphere of 15th century Europeans. The widespread obsessions with religion, trade, Spanish empire building, and bureaucratic organizations are meticulously documented.

The Worlds of Christopher Columbus stands out as a balanced, fair, and well-researched work examining the life and legacy of Columbus within the context of his times, European exploration, Christian theology, and the search for quicker/safer trade routes. The book combines a wide variety of sources and perspectives as it chronicles Columbus' four voyages, and many more controversies, to the New World.

The authors, both historians at University of Minnesota, essentially argue that Columbus reflected the basic assumptions of his era like "a prism" combining ambition, zealous Christianity, and excellent navigation skills. The right man at the right place and time, Columbus sought recognition for opening Asia to trade and the expansion of Christianity. Ironically, Coulumbus always passionately condemned the idea that his "his world" was a "new continent." This valuable work brings new insights to the gradual evolution in Columbus goals, from Asian trading and building African style trading posts to island colonization. Columbus' decision to make slavery an economic cornerstone of Spain's new territories recevies special attention. (Queen Isabella, of Spanish Inquistion fame, opposed the enslavement of native tribespeople for religious reasons.)

William and Carla Rhan Phillips have done a marvelous job of helping the reader understand the workings of the world of the 15th century. They have divided their book into three major sections; the first sets the stage for the reader by describing the events which made the voyages of discovery possible. The second section recounts the details of the actual voyages of Christopher Columbus, and the third section discusses the aftermath of his discoveries. The Phillips' cover a wide range of subjects, from the "Columbus legends" taught to us as children to the detailed evolution of ship building and navigational tools. Also discussed are the politics of the time, the religious beliefs, common knowledge of the period and more. (It is surprising how many of us were taught that Columbus was the only man of the period who believed the earth was round.) Columbus was not an accomplished scholar or a misunderstood genius for he held wildly inaccurate views of the world, his belief that he had discovered Asia never faltered. In this book you will get a feel for the evolution of maritime technology; how Columbus sought and gained financial support for his explorations on behalf of Spain; details of the actual outfitting and explorations of the four voyages made by Columbus. You will learn why the Phillips' described Columbus as a "masterful salesman" who exaggerated his discoveries. There are many books about Columbus, each written from different angles and differing bias, but I felt this book was well researched, well documented, and fair minded. So saying, I came away feeling that Columbus was a daring mariner, that he was an inept administrator who openly disobeyed royal instructions and that he brought many of his troubles upon himself. Yet by putting him into the context of his time they have softened the harsh edges of his character flaws. I would definitely recommend this work to anyone who wishes to get a well documented account of the worlds of Christopher Columbus.

A narrative and quantatative history of Spanish shipbuilding, from planning through finance and design to construction, (including measurements, technology, materials, labor, location, etc....), manning, victualing and deployment. There is a bit of subsequent history for each specific ship mentioned, though not enough to satisfy my interest. Perhaps the sources were not sufficiently informative.... Included are some insights into; Spanish monarchical naval policy, workings of the bureacracy and officialdom, politics and motivations of the naval leadership. The book includes a brief overview of colonial naval and maritime conditions and policy and a nice summary of Spanish fiscal policies and economic conditions at the time. There is just enough background to appreciate the topic, but certainly not "ample," material to justify the title as a history of "Imperial Defense" during the era. In retrospect, I think I read a doctoral thesis. I imagine myself back in graduate school, being assigned a scholarly text on an obscure topic by my history professor. All that said, it was highly readable for a scholarly text.

This history is an in-depth (social and quantitative) analysis of shipbuilding, politics, manning and provisioning for historians or serious lay students of naval and maritime history. It has elements of modern "European" style history--localized, specific, detailed, limited. This style of history is often called "the new history." For example, there is a wealth of material about the types of provisions placed on-board; where grown, how financed, where purchased, price variations, transport, amount and even location of the consumption, how replenished, dietary conditions, etc....
In addition, there is a bit of comparative history, for example in the differences in shipbuilding techniques and design principles.

The bottom line--this is a scholarly work in which a graduate student or historian might have interest. The title may be enticing, but this is not a history intended for a wide public audience. It is a solid supplement to naval history libraries, treating a heretofore much-ignored subject. This book is emphatically not suitable for readers who seek a general naval history of the era of Spanish exploration and colonization.

Interested and scholarly readers of naval history should also consider buying the companion book which concentrates upon the manning of the treasure fleets during the period, also available currently from this bookseller.

"Six Galleons...." has a useful bibliography but since I am unfamiliar with the Spanish and English-language primary and secondary sources, I cannot say if the bibliography is sufficiently thorough nor if it represents all the best sources available. It is well known, however, that the Spanish government archives are extremely detailed and thorough, so insofar as that source was utilized, the work is probably highly accurate.

Congratulations to the author for a significant contribution to historical research in a subject so long ignored in English-language naval history. We students of European naval history yearn for more English-language Spanish, Dutch, Portuguese and French naval histories. (We just hope they are less limited in scope.)

A note on the rating: I am not a practicing historian, just a serious lay student of naval history. And, I don't award "5's." This "4" is an indication that insofar as a detailed limited history of a topic was intended, and insofar as I am familiar with the subject, the book merits a "4" for quality and readability.

To every person that wishes to know more about other cultures, times and people, this book is going to be very refreshing. When Spain was on its way to be the first nation of the world, it is funny to realize how they did not care about the infraestructure, and even though the author does not say in a direct way, one can see why the british empire and later the american had a better and longer success. You learn about all the legal problems people found to travel to the new world when they belong to the Spanish Kingdom compare with the benefits of travelling that british and people from the Lower Countries had. The lack of interest in achieving improvements in the ships and ports even though the business was running away from Spain more and more. The lack of preparation, studies and developing a good infraestructure in the new world to be able to handle all the commerce and traffic that ironicaly was reporting high benefits for them (remember everybody was jellous and afraid of Spain's growing power)and would have made them a very powerful empire had they just care a little bit and organize it some more. Nonetheless, the book is very informative about and era and the people who lived in it. Details and anecqdotes are well research. One gets the feeling of what it was like living in those times. The book is also good when it does the description of the ships itself and its inhabitants. The life conditions onboard, nutrition, entertaiment-every kind of entertaiment-, and other that will be of the amusement of the reader. Interesting people on board of the vessels, I might say.

I also learnt about navigation laws and costumes of the times, and it all added to the value of the lecture.

What the book missed-always from my perspective- is a little portray or description of the country, europe and what was happening around those times, and yet, that does not take anything from the book, and one can still see why Spain did not achieve much more than what it actually did.

This book was a good complement of "The Mediterranean and the mediterranean world in Age of Phillip the Second" by Fernad Braudel. That book is soo good, that i wanted to keep reading about it, and wanted to go deep into some areas. When one compare the seamen from Spain and from Engand the difference is so obvious.

A good and entertaining book for every history "lover" like myself.