"Renaissance con man...history as paradox and discovery as an act of self-definition... An ironic epic: a wry, intelligent and fascinating account of the way the New World was opened by a routeless chancer form the Old." "Nelson offers a vision of the discoverer as demagogue--a deceptive and self-deluded dreamer quick to invoke 'truth and history' without realizing he has distorted them both... It is...
Michael Billington, The Guardian