Encounters Unforeseen- 1492 Retold
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Others led me around various sites: Kerri and Rainy Harvey, of the National Trust, Middle Caicos, Cayman Islands, helped me trek about their island; Thomas Karamuslis toured me about the island of Chios, Greece; Birna Ϸórðardóttir guided me about Iceland; Michael Kojo Orleans and his assistants Francis Dabiagy and Asare Kwakye took me to El Mina, Ghana, and the hills about it. I was guided on walking tours of a number of cities, including: Lisbon, by Jose Antunes; Galway, Ireland, by Conor Riordan; and Barcelona and Gerona, Spain, by Nestor Centelles Duran. I thank my children, Sam, Ben, and Hannah, for assisting my exploration of sites in Spain and the Canary Islands, Portugal and Porto Santo, Genoa, and San Salvador.
From a literary perspective, I’m grateful to a number of editors who critiqued various versions of the manuscript, some of whom are accomplished, published writers themselves, including: Carissa Bluestone, Zach Brown, Samuel Butler, Margaret Crane, Susan Leon, Ernesto Mestre, and Robin O’Dell.
I’m also grateful to David Atkinson of Hand Made Maps, Ltd. for drawing the book’s maps and sketches and Robert Hunt for the book’s cover. Others who contributed significantly to the book’s production include: Glen Edelstein of Hudson Valley Book Design, for the book’s layout; Neil Rosini, my lawyer, as well as Rita Carrier; and Angelle Barbazon, Kendall Hinote, and Ellen Zielinski Whitfield for communications.
There have been others with more subtle influences. I thank my grade school teachers at the St. Bernard’s school for an appreciation of religion and religious stories. Over years, I’ve learned from and enjoyed conversations with professors contributing to my alma mater U.C. Berkeley’s Center for the Study of Religion, including Anthony Cascardi, Jonathan Sheehan, and Mark Csikszentmihalyi. I thank my mentors when I practiced law, particularly the late Bill Kirby and William Williams, for teaching that analysis precedes advocacy. Some instructors shaped my thoughts on spirituality, including Loren Bassett, Andrea Borrero, and Kiley Holliday. Others gave advice as to writing and publishing generally, including my friends Warren Kozak and Jonathan Mann, and Jonathan’s practical guidance and assistance was instrumental, as it’s always been.
No influence was greater than that of two ladies. My mother, the late Mary Lee Morey Rowen, was a grade and high school history teacher with a practical knowledge of the world’s civilizations since time began that occasionally still surprises me, particularly when I talk with university professors. She liked to pronounce to the effect: “Cecil B. DeMille got it wrong. Other than the Pyramids themselves, most history through the seventeenth century is small, very small— small armies, small battles, small ships. But the thoughts are big, usually bigger than today.” My wife, Mary Anne, has been a constant critic of the text and project, reminding that one man’s passion may be boredom to others.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
ANDREW ROWEN is a U.C. Berkeley and Harvard Law graduate who practiced law as a partner of a major New York City law firm for almost 30 years prior to retiring to write this book. He has devoted six years to researching the underlying historical record and visiting nearly all the Caribbean, European, and Atlantic locations where the action takes place, including the archaeological sites where the Taíno chieftains lived in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He has long been interested in the roots of religious intolerance. He lives in New York City with his wife and three kids.