The Fourth Part of the World: An Astonishing Epic of Global Discovery, Imperial Ambition, and the Birth of America - Softcover

Lester, Toby

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1416535349 ISBN 13: 9781416535348

Publisher: Free Press, 2010

Synopsis

Paperback

About this title

Review:

"Marvelously imaginative, exhaustively researched. . . . Guiding the reader Virgil-like through the Age of Discovery, Lester introduces a chronologically and conceptually vast array of Great Men (Columbus, Vespucci, Polo, Copernicus, et al.), competing theories, monastic sages, forgotten poets, opportunistic merchants, unfortunate slaves, and more. That he relates it all so cleanly and cogently--via elegant prose, relaxed erudition, measured pacing, and purposeful architecture--is a feat. That he proffers plentiful visual delights, including detailed views of the legendary document, is a gift. This map, Lester writes, 'draws you in, reveals itself in stages, and doesn't let go.' Nor does this splendid volume."
--The Atlantic

"Lester captures the passion, curiosity and, at times, the hubris behind the European explorations. His real interest lies in the evolution of Europeans' perception of the world, as reflected by their maps, an approach that works splendidly. To mid-millennial Europeans, there was nothing over the western sea but mystery and legends about islands, monsters and mythical beings. It took courage to sail off into that unknown, and Lester's book offers a clear survey of how people came to understand the world in which they lived."
--The Washington Post

"Maps - intricate, absurd, fantastical, ridiculous - fill this beautiful book, reinforcing Lester's thesis that they tell us as much about their makers as our surroundings. The heretofore unknown fourth part of the world was an enormous, unspoiled continent whose natural resources could be exploited and whose natives could be converted, sold into slavery, or exterminated. Like any train wreck, the controversies of this historical moment fascinate."
--The Christian Science Monitor

"With the excitement and exhilaration of an explorer, Atlantic contributor Lester sets off on his own journey of discovery across the seas of cartography and history. . . . Lester traces the map's journey to America over the next century in a majestic tribute to a historic work."
--(Starred)Publishers Weekly

"An engrossing adventure for both general and informed lay readers. Similar to K.A. Seaver's Maps, Myths, and Men: The Story of the Vinland Map, this is highly recommended for anyone with an interest in cartography, the Age of Exploration, or European intellectual history."
--Library Journal

"A swift, sweeping primer on the Age of Discovery and the legacy of mapmaking. Lester begins with the amazing story of an obscure German cartographer, Martin Waldseemuller. . . . As the Age of Discovery progressed, with the likes of Columbus, Cabot, Vespucci and the Portuguese navigators testing new margins, the race of the scientists and cartographers to keep up-separating self-promotion from fact-becomes a fascinating saga, ably captured in Lester's hands."--Kirkus Reviews

"In this sumptuous, lavishly illustrated history of map-making and the visions of the world it incarnated, Toby Lester presents an epic tale of mariners and explorers, monks and merchants, popes and kings from Ptolemy's first-century Guide to Drawing a World Map to the centerpiece of this book, Martin Waldseemuller's 1507 map on which the word "America" first appears. A fascinating, tortuously dogged (on the part of scribes and friars), meticulously detailed tale of how various maps came to be amid the humanist stirrings of Florence, the early Portuguese explorations of Africa. Lester's account sparkles with wit and tidbits."--The Providence Journal

"Compelling ... allows us to see how a group of European Renaissance scholars 'managed to arrive at a new understanding of the world as a whole.' Mr. Lester bravely ventures where few have gone before."--The New York Times

"An elegant and thoughtful account of the one morsel of cartographic history that would shake the world's foundations. [Lester's] is a masterly talent."--Simon Winchester, author of The Map that Changed the World and The Man Who Loved China

"One of the most readable and satisfying books of the year. Gracefully concise, richly illustrated, wonderfully detailed compression of dozens of stories. An offbeat, hybrid, labor-of-love book that charms readers with its eclecticism and sheer love of knowledge. [It is] a history of mapmaking; of the reclamation of Greek and Roman geographical knowledge in the Renaissance; of Europe's conception of and exploration of the rest of the world; and finally, of the life, travels and literary career of one Amerigo Vespucci and of the group of landlocked German cosmographers who gave us his name"--The Cleveland Plain Dealer

About the Author:

Toby Lester is the author of The Fourth Part of the World (2009) and a contributing editor to The Atlantic. A former Peace Corps volunteer and United Nations observer, he lives in the Boston area with his wife and three daughters. His work has also appeared on the radio program This American Life.

About this edition

• Publisher: Free Press
• Publication date: 2010
• ISBN 10: 1416535349
• ISBN 13: 9781416535348
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 496