This unique study argues, unconvincingly, that Christopher Columbus was not an Italian but a Portuguese working secretly for his nation's king. His mission was to protect Portugal's Eastern overseas trade route to India by diverting the Spanish monarchs into a scheme of reaching the East by sailing west. The evidence supposedly proving Columbus's true identity depends to a great extent on the allegedly cabalistic code of his signature. Prominent historians have already pointed out the many errors contained in the original Portuguese edition of this book, and the English version is not recommended, although libraries might expect a demand from those interested in conspiracy. For recently recommended titles about Columbus, see ``Rediscovering Columbus,'' LJ 8/91, p. 120-22, as well as Claudia L. Bushman's America Discovers Columbus: How an Italian Explorer Became an American Hero , reviewed below . --Ed.-- William F. Young, SUNY at Albany Lib.
By analyzing Columbus's handwriting and his (cabalistic) signature, and through exhaustive code-breaking, Barreto presents the evidence for his startling thesis that Columbus was a Portuguese spy in the court of the Spanish monarchs--the Portuguese crown's arch-rivals --with a mission to put Spain off the true route to India (around Africa) by misleading them into the Caribbean in search of a passage Columbus knew did not exist. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
