false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg 674128 2 In 1507, European cartographers were struggling to redraw their maps of the world and to name the newly found lands of the Western Hemisphere. The name they settled on: America, after Amerigo Vespucci, an obscure Florentine explorer.<br><br>In <i>Amerigo</i>, the award-winning scholar Felipe Fernández-Armesto answers the question &#8220;What&#8217;s in a name?&#8221; by delivering a rousing flesh-and-blood narrative of the life and times of Amerigo Vespucci. Here we meet Amerigo as he really was: a sometime slaver and small-time jewel trader; a contemporary, confidant, and rival of Columbus; an amateur sorcerer who attained fame and honor by dint of a series of disastrous failures and equally grand self-reinventions. Filled with well-informed insights and amazing anecdotes, this magisterial and compulsively readable account sweeps readers from Medicean Florence to the Sevillian court of Ferdinand and Isabella, then across the Atlantic of Columbus to the brave New World where fortune favored the bold.<br><br>Amerigo Vespucci emerges from these pages as an irresistible avatar for the age of exploration&#8211;and as a man of genuine achievement as a voyager and chronicler of discovery. A product of the Florentine Renaissance, Amerigo in many ways was like his native Florence at the turn of the sixteenth century: fast-paced, flashy, competitive, acquisitive, and violent. His ability to sell himself&#8211;evident now, 500 years later, as an entire hemisphere that he did not &#8220;discover&#8221; bears his name&#8211;was legendary. But as Fernández-Armesto ably demonstrates, there was indeed some fire to go with all the smoke: In addition to being a relentless salesman and possibly a ruthless appropriator of other people&#8217;s efforts, Amerigo was foremost a person of unique abilities, courage, and cunning. And now, in <i>Amerigo</i>, this mercurial and elusive figure finally has a biography to do full justice to both the man and his remarkable era.<br><br>&#8220;A dazzling new biography . . . an elegant tale.&#8221; <br>&#8211;<i>Publishers Weekly</i> (starred review)<br><br>&#8220;An outstanding historian of Atlantic exploration, Fernández-Armesto delves into the oddities of cultural transmission that attached the name America to the continents discovered in the 1490s. Most know that it honors Amerigo Vespucci, whom the author introduces as an amazing Renaissance character independent of his name&#8217;s fame&#8211;and does Fernández-Armesto ever deliver.&#8221;<br>&#8211;<i>Booklist </i>(starred review) 660142 2007 Amerigo: The Man Who Gave His Name to America total:23|5:2|4:9|3:9|2:2|1:1| 23 78 51 6 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 2 1 false Sat Dec 01 00:00:00 -0800 2007 Fri Nov 30 07:27:03 -0800 2007 Fri Jan 04 18:35:46 -0800 2008
As there is surprisingly little documentation about Vespucci, th...more...]]> 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 4 0 false Fri Sep 11 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Sep 03 00:16:43 -0700 2009 Fri Sep 11 21:26:05 -0700 2009
Quotes from Fernández-Armesto say it best:

From the intro:
"[A:]lthough Ves...more...]]> 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 4 0 false Sat Aug 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 29 17:45:51 -0700 2009 Sat Aug 01 17:56:06 -0700 2009 more...]]> 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 4 0 false Tue Jul 29 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 07:40:23 -0700 2008 Fri Aug 01 07:43:15 -0700 2008 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 4 0 false Wed Jul 30 15:14:03 -0700 2008 Wed Jul 30 15:17:07 -0700 2008 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 4 0 false Wed Oct 21 21:02:35 -0700 2009 Mon Feb 23 01:38:58 -0800 2009 Fri Aug 21 08:16:43 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 3 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Sun Nov 22 15:32:52 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 15:33:10 -0800 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 5 0 false Thu Nov 05 19:39:23 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 05 19:39:23 -0800 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 3 0 false Tue Jan 01 00:00:00 -0800 2008 Fri Oct 30 06:25:19 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 30 06:25:37 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 3 0 false Fri Oct 23 00:37:20 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 23 00:37:20 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 3 0 false Wed Oct 21 22:48:39 -0700 2009 Wed Oct 21 22:48:39 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 0 0 false Sat Oct 17 21:53:39 -0700 2009 Sat Oct 17 21:53:39 -0700 2009 4963613 0812972988 9780812972986 1 0 3.39 http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/4963613.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 0 0 false Fri Oct 09 21:52:13 -0700 2009 Fri Oct 09 21:52:13 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 0 0 false Wed Sep 16 20:42:40 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 20:42:40 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 0 0 false Wed Sep 16 15:39:59 -0700 2009 Wed Sep 16 15:39:59 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 0 0 false Wed Jul 15 17:03:11 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 15 17:03:11 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 5 0 false Fri Jul 03 07:39:50 -0700 2009 Fri Jul 03 07:39:50 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 0 0 false Wed Apr 29 11:04:36 -0700 2009 Wed Apr 29 11:04:36 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 0 0 false Sat Apr 11 06:37:54 -0700 2009 Mon Apr 13 18:31:41 -0700 2009 674128 1400062810 9781400062812 22 6 3.39 http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1177013070m/674128.jpg http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/674128.Amerigo_The_Man_Who_Gave_His_Name_to_America 4 0 false Sun Mar 08 19:53:51 -0700 2009 Sun Mar 08 19:53:51 -0700 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=674128