The City on the Hill free essay sample

The City on the Hill† written by Larry Schweikert and Allen Michael I have analyzed three specific topics/concepts that have been presented by both authors. The first topic that I observed was Christopher Columbus. Howard Zinn’s article was mainly focused on Columbus while Larry S. and Allen M. ’s article covered many explorers including Columbus. Howard Zinn more wrote his view on Columbus as a story as the other authors wrote a lot of facts and what you would call â€Å"boring† information. Both of the authors included gory details of Columbus’s expedition which didn’t create the same â€Å"heroic† effect that I learnt from earlier years. These two inserts also might differ because one is a Patriot’s History of the United States and the other is a People’s History of the United States. My Second topic that I noticed after reading both inserts is how these early explorers changed the world in different ways. We will write a custom essay sample on The City on the Hill or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page In the insert of â€Å"The City on the Hill† It describes many expeditions. When Marco Polo and others traveled to China they brought back tales of wealth and unusual goods. Portugal explorers dispatched ships to Africa and brought back ivory and gold then transported and sold slaves to varies Mediterranean estates. Christopher Columbus discovered Islands in the Bahamas, Cuba, and a â€Å"New World†. On the other hand the insert form â€Å"Columbus, The Indians, and Humans Progress† talks about how Columbus explored the Islands of the Bahamas and discovered the traits of the Arawaks Indians. Columbus brought back slaves to England. Both inserts explain what these explorers’ intentions were and what they brought back. Overall, these articles differ because one is mainly on Columbus and the other is on all explorers. Finally my last topic is on the concept of greed. Greed came into both of these articles quite a few times. In the second paragraph of the insert â€Å"Columbus, The Indians, and Human Progress† Columbus wrote about how the Arawaks would make fine servants even after these Indians greeted Columbus’s people with gifts and food. Gold was also a great cause for greed; Columbus forced the natives to go find gold otherwise they would get killed. Similarly in the insert â€Å"The City on the Hall† explorers such as Marco Polo and Prince Henry, all brought back silks, spices, slaves and so on to their homeland. Also many explorers such as the Spanish ruined the natives’ lives by killing them, making them slaves, and taking all their houses and food away. This insert shows how cruel many explores were, where as Howard Zinn’s only talks about the cruelty of Columbus. The overall point of view or perspective of these authors was that many explorers weren’t what people made them up to be. In fact in reality these explores were quite unruly when it came to territory, Fame and Money. In the insert the â€Å"They City on the Hill† an example would be in 1517 the Protestant Reformation fostered a fierce and bloody competition for power and territory between Catholic and Protestant nations that reinforced national concerns. The information in a way is directly down grading these explorers which shows how the authors felt. In the insert â€Å"The City on the Hill† an example of this would be when Columbus got into a fight with Indians who refused to trade as many bow and arrows as he and his men wanted so in result they ran swords through two of the natives who then bled to death. The difference between these two books show how different the nature of writing is, like from being factual to narrative. It also shows how bias some authors and how unreliable books can be. These views might also depend on what year the article was written, who the book was written to inform, and where the book was written to sell. In different places in the world the views on History are going to differ by the way you look at it.