Island at the Center of the World by Russel Shorto reveals the history of Manhattan, the detailed and personal accounts of the figures, especially the Dutch, that would transform the history, culture, and ideology of America. In the prologue and epilogue, Russel Shorto explains his desire to tell the tale of Manhattan in a cohesive manner from the translations of the historic documents preserved in the New York State Library of Albany; translations which come from Dr. Gehring who has been translating the texts for nearly three decades.

For some odd reason, the history of our past was treated with such neglect that it took almost a century before serious work was placed unto the translations. Russel explains that translations were attempted before, but with no success. The translations were often poor, unpublished, and lost. With such a history, can we be certain that Gehring’s translations are true and without flaw? History is being rewritten or expanded upon with Gehring’s translations, translations written by a single person for the past 27 years. The veracity is rather questionable. How the previous translations were faulty and full of holes and how Gehring’s translations are trustworthy are left unanswered by Russel. If the Dutch language has changed so significantly, why were the translations from the past, when the language may have not yet evolved even further than it has today, so misleading and misguiding?

The story of the Dutch influences on Manhattan and the country to come is absolutely brilliant. The way historical characters can come to life from piecing together letter, journals, accounts, etc, is just magical. But to recreate history through the translations of Dutch texts from the translations of someone who recently (when the translations began) finished his studies in the Dutch language makes me question how reliable, how unbiased our history really is.