Christopher Columbus, Leonardo da Vinci, Queen Isabella, Richard III, and Savonarola were all born within a two-year period. Soon after, the Turks captured Constantinople, and the first book came from the new printing press of Johann Gutenberg.

Ferdinand, Columbus' younger son, was born in 1488. That same year the Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope, opening the sea route to India. Ferdinand later became a friend of Emperor Charles V. Together they visited Erasmus shortly before Charles faced Martin Luther at the Diet of Worms in 1521. These are but a few of the many people whose lives are a part of the dramatic world of Columbus and his sons—the changing, reawakening world of the Renaissance and the Reformation.

In The World of Columbus and Sons, Genevieve Foster presents the events of this important period as a series of miniature dramas, exciting in themselves but made even more fascinating by the way in which they interlock. It is this emphasis on the interaction of events and people—the horizontal approach to history—that has brought Mrs. Foster's WORLD books special acclaim.

From the dust jacket