To understand Columbus, try reading even more about him

On the second Monday of October, we commemorate Christopher Columbus, the Italian explorer, whose 15th-century maritime voyages from Spain to the Caribbean opened the seaway to greater discovery and prosperity for the world.

Unfortunately, Columbus Day has become an occasion for denigrating him rather than acknowledging his extraordinary contributions. In recent years , crowds have defaced Columbus statues by spray-painting graffiti, beheading and toppling and burning them. The voices behind these acts are not subtle about their distaste and derision for him. For example, in 2015, one Vox writer described him as a “murderer, tyrant, and a scoundrel.”

My own family experienced their antagonism, albeit indirectly. Once when I finished reading a storybook about Columbus to my children,