Christopher Columbus may have "Sailed the Ocean Blue in 1492," over 500
             years ago, but only in recent years have books been written about the
             explorer that cover any new territory (pun intended) concerning personal
             information on this explorer. For the most part, he has remained a remote
             figure without much depth and understanding. As Carla Phillips and William
             Phillips said in Christopher Columbus in United States History: Biography
             as Projection, "His exploits have assumed mythic proportions, but there has
             been little attempt to probe beyond the myth." In fact, of the hundreds of
             books written on Columbus, nearly all are positive and many of them rehash
             the same information that has been in textbooks for decades and decades.
             In another one of their books, The Worlds of Christopher Columbus,
             the Phillips historian team adds that it was really not until the fourth
             centenary that "Columbus's life found its first great American debunker,"
             through the writings of Justin Winsor. Instead of trying to cut down
             Columbus through religious prejudice, slanted information or character
             defamation, Winsor based his information on the documentary record and
             unbiased scholarship. He noted that Columbus was everything from a bad
             administrator to profiteer hoping to gain from the slave trade.
             One of the difficulties with a thorough study of Columbus is that
             much of the information about him comes from his own writings. Because of
             his strong ego, it comes as no surprise that Columbus only shows his good
             side in his log. He also probably thought of the important heritage his
             writings would leave to future generations. As the Phillips say, "Columbus
             had a strong sense of his own worth, rarely admitting any personal failings
             and tending to blame any and all misfortunes on the actions of others." In
             fact, in a flourish of pretentious mysticism, Columbus adopted the name
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