Sinking Columbus: Contested History, Cultural Politics, and Mythmaking during the Quincentenary (review)

In this wise and witty exploration of the uses and misuses of historical memory, Stephen Summerhill and John Williams look at the ways in which public and private agencies in the United States, Spain, Italy, and Latin America sought to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Columbus's putative discovery. Some governments spent vast sums—Italy alone invested a billion dollars in its commemoration—and got much of enduring value for their money. Nonetheless, the authors argue, Columbus celebrations floundered in every case. Sinking Columbus offers rich explanations for those failures, putting each in national context. Mexico, for example, began auspiciously under the leadership of Miguel León-Portilla by remembering the "encounter's" devastating effect on Indian societies. In the late 1980s, however, influenced in no small part by Spanish resources, Mexico redirected its efforts toward celebrating hispanidad. By 1992, the government and the public of that mestizo nation had lost interest. The Dominican Republic, on the other hand, seized upon its primacy in the Columbus story to promote tourism. It spruced up its historic sites and built the colossal Columbus lighthouse, which displaced some 50,000 people and cost $40 million in a country that could not generate enough electricity to keep the lights on.

Four of the seven chapters in this book focus on the United States, where John Williams writes with an insider's knowledge. As a program officer at the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1980-1986, he mobilized interest in Columbus-related projects among scholars, librarians, and museums. From 1986-1988 he served as director of the U.S. Quincentenary Jubilee Commission, made up of individuals who were selected, he argues, more for their loyalty to the Reagan administration than for their expertise, distinction, or fund-raising abilities. The Commission's budget fell short of its mandate, and Williams blames politicians for failing to take cultural or intellectual affairs seriously. The Commission also fell victim to the ethnic politics. Its Italian-American members hoped to use the occasion to celebrate their past; Hispanics wanted to laud their heritage in America and strengthen ties with Latin America.

The Italian/Hispanic split that hindered the operations of the Commission presaged the ethnic divisions that would ultimately make it impossible to stage a national celebration of Columbus. Summerhill and Williams describe the incompatible interests of Italian-Americans, Spaniards, Latinos of various national origins, and American Indians. The latter saw Columbus as an invader and their point of view enjoyed broad support among the general public and academics informed by the work of ethnohistorians. The projected Columbus celebration degenerated into an inter-ethnic food fight, finally becoming another skirmish in the larger culture wars. In a characteristic bon mot, the authors observe that much of the battle was fought in the press, "which always likes controversy but hardly ever complexity" (p. 119).

Understandably gun shy, funding agencies and corporate sponsors beat a retreat from the Columbus Quincentenary, but Summerhill and Williams offer a deeper reason for the "sinking" of Columbus in the United States. National extravaganzas, they argue, require large audiences and big themes, yet conflicting claims to ethnic and national pride segmented a potentially large audience. Even the simple assertion that "Columbus discovered America" became a minefield. Summerhill and Williams suggest that America's failure to celebrate Columbus might mark the beginning of the end of national extravaganzas. It requires "universal themes" to excite mass interest and raise vast resources, but given America's diversity "there may be no such theme capable of arousing enough interest that does not also arouse an equivalent amount of controversy" (p. 90). By redirecting the Quincentenary away from the superficial toward a discussion of serious issues, however, the authors argue that "its failure was its success" (p. 182).

The Quincentenary launched a good number...