He knew little of celestial navigation and nothing of the Pacific Ocean. He went looking for China and thought he found India. He was a self-promoting opportunist who made his great discovery without ever acknowledging it for what it was. Yet for all his flaws, Christopher Columbus was a masterful seaman who, for better or worse, plotted a new course for the world's future. In the first full biography of Columbus in over sixty years, prizewinning author Laurence Bergreen takes the full measure of the explorer's controversial career, spinning an epic tale to match the events of an epic life. 'Laurence Bergreen's Columbus was brilliant, audacious, volatile, paranoid, and ruthless . . . A surprising and revealing portrait.' The New York Times Book Review 'A profoundly private portrait of the most complex, compelling, and controversial creature ever to board a boat. This scrupulously researched, unbiased account of four death-defying journey to the New World reveals the Admiral's paradoxical personality.' USA Today 'Richly illustrated and enhanced with maps that are as legible as they are relevant, Columbus- The Four Voyages is complex in its themes, intriguing in its substance, and sparkling with surprises.' The Washington Times