Columbus and the Crisis of the West

by Robert Royal

After decades of politically charged controversy, the reputation and standing of Christopher Columbus lies battered beneath mountains of misjudgments and distortions. The surge of historical revisionism now ravaging the legendary explorer insists that his daring adventures brought only tragic consequences: disease, death, subjugation of native peoples, incitement of the African slave trade, destruction of the environment, and other horrors. But is this a legitimate assessment of Europe's inevitable western expansion?

In Columbus and the Crisis of the West, Dr. Robert Royal carefully examines the mind and motives of Christopher Columbus, distinguishing him as the greatest explorer of his age, whose courage and vision extended Christian Europe and inspired the American spirit.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Catholic

319 pages, Paperback

Published September 17, 2020

Reviews

[Owlseyes]

https://www.breitbart.com/politics/20...

[Darrick Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

A colleague of mind recently co-published an article in a prestigious journal of American history, arguing that the prevalence of disease in the destruction of native populations did not mean that Western explorers who came to the Americas in the early modern period could be absolved of the charge of genocide. Even though they did spread these diseases intentionally, so the argument goes, their imperialistic attempts to settle the Americas. In other words, just because Christopher Columbus and others did spread the diseases intentionally, they are still culpable for the natives dying of these diseases because they came there in the first place.

This article came to mind as I read Robert Royal's book "Columbus and the Crisis of the West." It is an updated version of a book Royal published in 1992, around the 500th anniversary of Columbus landing in the Americas. Then and now, Royal dispels several myths about Columbus: that he "proved" the world was round, that he was some proto-Enlightenment figure of progress, and above all, the myth that he is particularly reprehensible representative of the most reprehensible civilization on earth--Western Civilization. In the course of the book, Royal goes beyond Columbus to defend the Spanish evangelization of the Americas, trying to balance coverage of the very real atrocities committed by the Spanish with some of their more redeeming qualities.

Royal's book is an apologia for Western Civilization, and the insistence that it is not irredeemably evil. As he puts it "Who in his right mind advocates throwing out a whole culture?" (100)
Royal admirably makes the case that Columbus is a pivotal figure in world history and that our world still grapples with issues that Columbus set in motion in the fifteenth century. (203) Royal rightly decries how the failings of Western figures like Columbus are judged on a different scale than other civilizations. As he puts it, "we cannot evaluate the voyages of discovery properly without gratitude for what they achieved." (197)

I wish I could assume that critics like my colleague will read Royal's with book with an open mind, but I am not sanguine on that score. Much of the animus towards "Western Civilization" is the result of Western elites promoting such ideas, which make those lower on the social totem pole want to imitate them. Many of our students hear nothing but how evil their ancestors were, and don't have to listen to anything contrary if they so please. Still, for the sake of historical accuracy and fairness, Royal's book is a necessary one, and a good one to recommend to those skeptical of Columbus' achievements, as well as the culture which produced them.

[Tammy Schilling · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent corrective to the anti-Columbus, anti-western nonsense that is floating around. The author shows Columbus as a real human who did great and terrible things, like all of us. He also lays down a correction to the nonsense of indigenous people as peaceful environmentalists. They were, in fact war heavy into war, human sacrifice, and sometimes even cannibalism. The author shows that while brutalities were committed on both sides, the myth of warring Europeans raping the peaceful indigenous world is just that - a myth. Things are always more complicated. If you want a sense of what really happened, how good and bad was done on both sides, and why it was all inevitable, this book will be a great addition to your library.

If you are of the decided opinion that no one should ever have explored the earth, that all cultures are equal (even when they include torture, human sacrifice, and cannibalism), and you are married to your myths about indigenous people, then just forget about this book. It will make your head explode.

[Dave · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a must read for anyone willing to approach the subjects of Columbus, the Age of Exploration, Native American history, and Western civilization with an open mind. My hope is that will be many. My fear is that it will be few.

[Garrett Edwards · Rating 4 out of 5]

Columbus on Trial is a great essay in defense of Columbus’ legacy against leftist revisionist attacks in the 90s during the the quincentenary of his voyage of discovery.

In 2020, in the midst of the fever-pitch of anti-Western and anti-White hysteria when race rioters were burning cities and tearing down statues (Columbus included), Royal expanded his essay into a book, Columbus and the Crisis of the West, in order to debunk claims that Columbus committed a "racist genocide," an "ecocide," etc. He defines these as not just an attack on Columbus's legacy, but also on the West and everything it symbolizes--"histories" that are "consciously designed as reparation."

Royal also debunks the myth that Europe believed the earth was flat during Columbus' time. This was never the case and most honest biographies of Columbus make it clear that the sphericity of the globe was never in question. The issue was the width of the ocean.

Royal makes a good case that the flat earth myth stems from Protestant attacks on Catholic Spain; an attempt to malign the Catholic monarchs as ignorant of the science of the time or even violently opposed to it, when, in fact, their court and the Catholic Church was at its forefront as a sponsor of scientific works. The point of this myth is to portray Columbus as some kind of progressive against the "reactionary force" of Catholicism in Europe, to downplay the role of Columbus' Catholic faith, and to appropriate his legacy by lying about his motivations. It was in the spirit of his Catholic faith that his voyages were undertaken, not some quest to prove the Church wrong about the earth being flat.

Royal also shows that this attack on Catholic Spain extends to the conquistadores. For centuries, Protestant enemies of Spain conjured a "black legend" of anti-Catholic propaganda against the Spanish Empire that endures to this day hand-in-hand with the myth of the "noble savage."

[Kate Fitzgerald · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars rounded up. For the most part this was interesting and well done, despite the author’s tendency to write sentences with a formality that made them confusing.

At first I thought it was odd that the author mentioned Christianity as one of the virtues of Western culture. While this is a commentary on historical revisionism, it’s a practical, seriously researched history (which would typically not include religious opinion). Then I realized the publisher is Catholic Exchange. Considering that, the positive attitude toward Christianity is actually mild and cautious, almost similar to the way a non-religious person might point out the pitfalls of society becoming less religious.

I found the evolution of views on Columbus to be very on point. I remember sixth grade as the year when I heard a lot of trash talking about him from teachers, which corresponds with the quincentenary, a celebration I’d kind of forgotten about. The author shines when he compares radical claims to historical facts. He’s fair and rational, and there is a lot of memorable information.

The end of the book gets more longwinded and preachy, which becomes a slog. He mentions abortion in the same sentence as a claim that some population alarmists might call for healthy young people to die in order to preserve resources. At one point he uses the term “ethnic cleansing” to describe courts blocking all religious displays. (He updated this book in 2020, but it was originally written in 1992, so the stronger and weirder language is probably the product of an earlier time. In the same section, he talks about greenhouse gasses and the ozone layer, hardly the focus of 2020 environmentalism.)

While the book went downhill a little at the end, overall, it was well worth reading.

[Richard Grebenc · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a timely update of Royal's 1992 book, "1492 and All That." The author does a marvelous job of providing a balanced view of the "discovery" of the Americas, the role of the Europeans who came to the "New World," and the state of the peoples already living there at the time. He pulls no punches regarding the virtues and vices of all involved. A must read to gain perspective on the last five hundred plus years of American history and in a special way to understand recent and current controversies regarding that history. Scholarly but eminently readable. American history buffs will want to add this to their reading list ASAP.

[Molly · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent and easy to read presentation of:
What crimes Columbus is accused of
What he is actually guilty of based upon journals and interviews from his men and people who knew him
Why people are shunning him
What Western Civilization is
How Western Civilization has brought us to where we are today
Why Western Civilization must remain

An excellent read for those who wish to educate themselves in an unbiased manner upon the recent events of 2020. 5 stars, all should read.

[Jon Trainer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Facts get in the way...when real history destroys the contemporary Columbus mythology.

[Randy Cochran · Rating 4 out of 5]

Erudite treatment

However, I would have liked more specifics. Author is fortunately an advocate of contextual history, and is very current with modern movements, which is helpful.