Subtitled- The man who gave his name to America He was up to none of the ambitious roles he adopted. He was too unstudious to be a diplomat, too imprudent to be a great merchant, too incompentent to be a navigator, too ignorant to be a cosmographer. When he played the magus, he relied on sleight of hand to get him by.
The author gives us a little information about Amerigo Vespuci which is summed up in the above quote. The book reads like a thesis paper from an author overly impressed with his skills at finding inaccuracies and dispelling any material supportive of Amerigo. I was expecting more of a biography but this book is not that. The book is largely an exercise in showing us how much research the author has done and how he use words few readers will understand without a dictionary. This includes his use of what the Oxford dictionary calls the longest non-technical word in the english language (a word which Alex Trebek on Jeopardy gave up trying to pronounce). If want to learn a some new words, like hagiography (writing about saints) which he uses 5-6 times, get out your dictionary and read this book. Otherwise, read a short bio on Amerigo.
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