Background to discovery Book

Although from a general and all encompassing reading pleasure point of view, I should probably be rating Jean Fritz' Around the World in a Hundred Years with a high three stars (as while I very much both personally and intellectually have enjoyed and appreciated Jean Fritz' text and her general philosophy regarding the so-called Age of Exploration, I really have not aesthetically found Anthony Bacon Venti's accompanying illustrations all that visually pleasing and as such potentially distracting from the presented narrative), considering that especially on Amazon, Around the World in a Hundred Years features a very disproportionate and large number of not only negative reviews but also a goodly amount of what I would consider rather raging tirades accusing author Jean Fritz of being hateful and biased against ALL Christians, I will be rating Around the World in a Hundred Years with a high and deserving four stars.

And to those readers who do find or who have found Around the World in a Hundred Years as being anti-Christian and bigoted, I will point out this in my opinion inherent if probably personally uncomfortable truth. Considering that many (if not perhaps even the majority) of the explorers presented and described by Jean Fritz in Around the World in a Hundred Years willfully and with purpose enslaved or at least tried to enslave the native populations they encountered on their voyages of discovery (and often indeed attempted to and sometimes sadly very much succeeded in annihilating both their cultures and often their very lives, with the excuse and justification that this was supposedly deemed both acceptable and necessary by both God and the Bible), I personally (and intellectually) have absolutely NO ISSUE whatsoever with Jean Fritz in Around the World in a Hundred Years generally being both critical and yes indeed very massively condemning and even at times totally disrespectful with and in her tone of narrational, authorial voice. For while the journeys and discoveries, the explorations of individuals like Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan et al certainly ended up opening the world, the often (and sadly quite regular) presented and demonstrated anger, hatred and animosity against and towards the native populations the explorers encountered on their voyages and how they did rather too often seem to use the Bible and the in the Bible present supposed "Word of God" to justify slavery and genocide, this should really make ANYONE with reason and common sense (and whether one be Christian or not) actively and vehemently condemn and reject much of the Age of Discovery and in particular how religion was often and rather constantly made use of to justify the deliberate horror and evil perpetrated against the native populations of North and South America, Australia, Southern Africa etc.

A great general introduction to the Age of Exploration and to some of the main movers and shakers, the main explorers is Around the World in a Hundred Years, and yes, I do (as you have probably very much noticed) particularly appreciate and enjoy Jean Fritz's general writing style and personal attitude, that she presents her narrative as enlightening, informative, occasionally humorous and always always with an in my opinion totally necessary and required massive dose of disrespect and condemnation of what the explorers and their backers (the kings and queens on whose behalf they were voyaging and discovering) tended to generally cause for many if not for the vast majority of the native populations of the areas, of the countries they started colonising (with the notes and bibliographical lists at the back of Around the World in a Hundred Years being both an added bonus and an appreciated teaching and learning tool).