The Four Voyages by Christopher Columbus

In this book J.M. Cohen compiles and translates a number of primary and very early secondary sources related to Columbus's four voyages to the Caribbean and surrounding areas. Sources include letters Columbus wrote, digests of his log books, Oveido's history, and Hernando Columbus's history.The sources are edited so as to form a narrative recounting the trips. Aside from the introduction, there's very little editorializing: in a few cases, Cohen explains that other sources (such as de las Casas) tend to take a less favorable view of Columbus.

I was particularly interested in the tension between Columbus's desire to serve God (and convert the natives, whom he considered heathens), his desire to prove himself correct (that the lands he reached were the Indies), and his desire to amass wealth, thereby making the voyages profitable for Ferdinand and Isabela of Spain. Columbus seemed (granting that these accounts are coming in large part from his son) more interested in using the wealth to establish his own worth (i.e. that he had found the Indies) than in personal enrichment. He also seemed to treat the native peoples slightly better than some of the other people involved in the voyages (for example, he writes that while they are not familiar with the technologies possessed by the Spanish, he considers them intelligent, and he often tried to treat with them before starting hostilities or seizing property), although his behavior is only relatively good. Although Columbus was engaged in an involved plan to hide distances traveled from his men during the first voyage so as not to scare them, the book also makes clear how poorly Columbus generally handled his role as leader. Finally, Columbus appeared to become more mystical and unbalanced during the journeys. In all the trips, he displays his navigational skills, but by the third trip he has begun drawing the wrong conclusions from his observations. He is convinced that the world is shaped like a pear, and that Eden is to be found at the stem (located near the areas in which he's been sailing), if only God would let travelers approach.