“The story, like the map,’’ Lester writes, “is Eurocentric.’’ With this statement, Lester removes critical engagement with imperial conquest from his Euro-American narrative. At best, Lester deals with the fact of the devastation of the new lands with a sly subtlety - “And so came the irrevocable moment of first contact” - but he more often entirely avoids the Age of Discovery’s rapacious nature. This is the subtext of the book, but portions like this would’ve benefited from deeper discussion, particularly his claim that the true gift of the humanist movement was to help Christians understand and view God’s plan. Here Lester implicitly connects humanism with imperialism. Given his tremendous powers of synthesis, it would be enlightening to read his further thoughts on this.
A new world
The saga of the 16th-century map that gave America its name and paved the way for a modern view of the cosmos
(Page 3 of 3)
Lester punctuates “The Fourth Part of the World’’ with Nicolaus Copernicus. Lester argues that the Waldseemüller-map played a key role in the great astronomer’s paradigm-shifting insight, and this supplies the book’s “ah ha” moment. Copernicus, after all, provided one of the “ah ha” moments in human history. Since Lester has constructed a deft mystery and a celebration of discovery, you will find spoilers here. Suffice it to say that Copernicus gazed upon the map laid before him and buried in the contradictions of its history he saw a way forward, the future held present in the past.
Michael Washburn is the assistant director of the Center for the Humanities at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.
Advertisement
Advertisement