Forgotten Voyager: The Story Of Amerigo Vespucci (Trailblazer Biographies)

Forgotten Voyager: The Story of Amerigo Vespucci (Trailblazer Biographies)

A biography of Amerigo Vespucci, whose discoveries of the American continent remained unrecognized for many centuriesFrom School Library JournalGrade 4-8-- This brief book attempts to sort fact from speculation and to explain the origin of the controversy in which some argued that Vespucci never traveled at all. Alper begins by telling readers too much in a choppy text, awkwardly mixing what is known about Vespucci's early life with background on Florence, current ideas about geography, and the impetus to reach the Indies. Confusion lessens when she reaches Vespucci's adulthood and voyages, although she quotes two different figures for Ptolomy's estimate of the earth's circumference. Vespucci's contributions as a cartographer and a teacher of navigation are discussed. Alper talks about the forged letters that cast doubt on the explorer's voyages and discoveries and how their refutation revived his reputation in a section that will inform readers about historical method. The writing seems tentative here; it doesn't flow like Ronald Syme's Amerigo Vespucci (Morrow, 1969; o.p.). It is more detailed than the section on Vespucci in Lomask's Great Lives: Exploration (Macmillan, 1988), which takes the view that Vespucci made four voyages rather than the two or three historians agree on. Maps are too infrequent and too small. --Sally Bates Goodroe, Houston Public LibraryCopyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.