Whether Magellan set out with the express purpose of sailing around the world, or just to open a lucrative new route to the Spice Islands, will always remain a mystery. Whatever his intention, he did name the Pacific Ocean, give his name to the Straits of Magellan and the Magellanic Clouds, and demonstrate not only superb seamanship but the ability to outmaneuver a notably hostile, repeatedly mutinous, crew. Levinson traces his career from its unprepossessing beginning in a shipping office, through military victories at sea and vicious political intrigues on land, long months of misery traversing uncharted waters (“The only food they had left was smoked penguin meat, but it had long since rotted”), and, on the brink of brilliant success, the severe lapse of judgment that led to its sudden, bloody end. Ironically, it was the rebellious (and now forgotten) Captain Juan Sebastián del Cano who completed the expedition—but the first person to circumnavigate the globe was actually Magellan’s slave Enrique, born in the Philippines. Though most of the illustrations are too-small old maps and undated prints, sample pages from some of the many contemporary documents that survive add interest, and the author’s notes on her printed and Internet sources open pathways to further inquiry. Younger readers will gravitate toward Jim Gallagher’s shorter and more colorfully illustrated biography of the same title (1999), but this thoughtful study makes it clear just how Magellan earned his place as a central figure in the European Age of Exploration. (chronology, bibliography, source notes, index) (Biography. 10-13)
Pub Date: Oct. 15, 2001
ISBN: 0-395-98773-3
Page Count: 132
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2001
Marguerite Henry died barely two years ago, after living the life of which most writers dream: She wrote from the time she was young, her parents encouraged her, she published early and often, and her books were honored and loved in her lifetime. Her hobby, she said, was words, but it was also her life and livelihood. Her research skills were honed by working in her local library, doing book repair. Her husband Sidney supported and encouraged her work, and they traveled widely as she carefully researched the horses on Chincoteague and the burros in the Grand Canyon. She worked in great harmony with her usual illustrator, Wesley Dennis, and was writing up until she died. Collins is a bit overwrought in his prose, but Henry comes across as strong and engaging as she must have been in person. Researchers will be delighted to find her Newbery acceptance speech included in its entirety. (b&w photos, bibliography, index) (Biography. 9-12)
Pub Date: March 10, 1999
ISBN: 1-883846-39-0
Page Count: 112
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 1999
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
Subtitled “A concise guide to a century of contrast and change,” with “concise” as the key word, this slim survey takes sweeping, single-spread glances at wars, the decline of empires, show business, the battle for racial and sexual equality, the globalization of US culture, and other major themes of this century. Underscoring the text’s generalizations, the many full-color photographs are chosen to create pointed juxtapositions, matching, for instance, Marlene Dietrich to Buzz Lightyear, or impoverished parents and children in 1912 London and in modern Somalia. Selected events are highlighted both in chronologies on every spread and along a timeline that spans the last four pages. Too scanty for basic reference, and employing oversimplification (as well as the same photograph of Mickey Mouse twice) to a fault” “the culture of Hollywood, represented by the smiling face of Mickey Mouse, became the culture of the whole world”—this provides only a slim framework on which to hang some understanding of recent history. (charts, chronology, glossary, index) (Nonfiction. 10-13)
Pub Date: May 17, 1999
ISBN: 0-19-521488-9
Page Count: 48
Publisher: Oxford Univ.
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 1999
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