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Review
“In this admirable history, Fernández-Armesto has written a book of travels not unlike those of Marco Polo, filled with marvels and sensations, rich in description and replete with anecdote. 1492 is a compendium of delights.” (The Times (London) )
In his stimulating new book, Fernandez-Armesto offers a model of how to write popular history: accessible, provocative and full of telling detail. (4 stars) (Mail on Sunday (London) )
“Fernandez-Armesto’s narrative fluidity, not to mention an ability to turn a phrase, converts facts into context in an attractively readable manner.... Surveying the planet entire in 1492, Fernández-Armesto brilliantly sweeps a startling breadth of history into his unified narrative.” (Booklist )
“Fernández-Armesto challenges some long-standing historical thinking…. The compiled information adds immensely to the understanding of world that ended and began in 1492…. 1492 changes our view of history.” (San Antonio Express-News )
In his stimulating new book, Fernandez-Armesto offers a model of how to write popular history: accessible, provocative and full of telling detail. (4 stars) (Mail on Sunday (London) )
“Fernandez-Armesto’s narrative fluidity, not to mention an ability to turn a phrase, converts facts into context in an attractively readable manner.... Surveying the planet entire in 1492, Fernández-Armesto brilliantly sweeps a startling breadth of history into his unified narrative.” (Booklist )
“Fernández-Armesto challenges some long-standing historical thinking…. The compiled information adds immensely to the understanding of world that ended and began in 1492…. 1492 changes our view of history.” (San Antonio Express-News )
Book Description
1492: Not Simply the Year Columbus Sailed the Ocean Blue . . .In this extraordinary, sweeping history, Felipe FernÁndez-Armesto traces key elements of the modern world back to that single fateful year when everything changed.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
3.2 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
The World on Cusp of Change? Perhaps, Mar 21 2011
By Feanor - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 1492: The Year the World Began (Paperback)
So, according to the author, 1492 is the year that the world changed. Given Columbus' first voyage to the New World, it's easy to see how this can be the case. And yet it appears that in the rest of the world, too, there was much change: this book is refreshingly non-Europe-centric. The great kingdoms in Africa that might have halted the spread of Islam or Christianity faded, and the continent was soon divided between the two faiths. China's great fleets that established its cultural dominance all over Asia ground to a halt, granting the field to fresh interlopers to take over trade and power over the region. The merchant marines of the Indian Ocean were never able to supply the demand of their states, and so began to welcome the advent of European traders, despite the newcomers' savagery and greed. Great powers in the Americas remained inward-looking and self-sustaining, and found no reason to venture into the ocean to establish their dominions. And so the scene was set for the gradual takeover of the world by the denizens of the relatively poorest tip of Eurasia.All this didn't, of course, happen in the year 1492. In fact, as Fernandez-Armesto points out, that year itself is loosely defined - what was 1492 in one part of Europe wasn't necessarily the same year in another; and indeed, in the rest of the world, completely different calendars were used. And to be sure, it's difficult to restrict the narrative to the events of this "year", and so the author is forced to provide extensive backgrounds for each part of the world leading up to that crucial period. And that's what makes this book so interesting and readable. It's a very good summary of the state of the world at the time. Worth your time.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
A book to broaden our knowledge, Sep 18 2010
By Michael Tracy - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 1492 (Hardcover)
The year 1492 is best known for Columbus' discovery of America (though he thought he had got to China); also for the conquest of Granada by the "Catholic Monarchs", which put an end to the Moorish civilisation in Spain (which had been rather tolerant), replacing it with a very intolerant one (NB the Inquisition and the eviction of the Jews). Even if you think you already know about these events, Fernandez-Armesto is well worth reading.His discussion of the earlier Spanish colonisation of the Canary Islands, though it comes in a separate chapter, provides an interesting preamble to the subsequent overthrow of the Inca and Aztec civilisations.
At least equally important, and much less well-known, were events in the Far East and around the Indian Ocean, which the book discusses at some length. Around this time, China withdrew from imperial ambitions, while Japan "crumbled into ineffectiveness", leaving that very important area open to subsequent European trading and colonisation.
There is also a chapter about events in Africa in and around 1492, which shaped the religious map of the continent, Islam dominating across the Sahara, in the Sahel and along the Indian Ocean coast, with Christianity preponderant elsewhere.
The author's breadth of knowledge is impressive - he has a Spanish father, an English mother and lives in the USA, which may contribute to this. Though I found myself skipping some parts - such as the dynastic vagaries of Imperial China - I found his book both readable and instructive.
9 of 10 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Inspiring view of global history, Jun 15 2010
By Ricard Vicente Sole "RVS" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 1492 (Hardcover)
i enjoyed very much this book and found it extremely appealing and original. As a scientist and someone working on complex systems, ecological modeling and technological change, I found the view inspiring. I think this type of book would be a great introduction to historical change at the largest scale. Very much recommendable reading.
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