In his 1990 book, "The Conquest of Paradise: Christopher Columbus and the Columbian Legacy", Sale argued that Christopher Columbus was an imperialist bent on conquest from his first voyage. In a "New York Times" book review, historian and member of the Christopher Columbus Quincentenary Jubilee Committee William H. McNeill wrote about Sale: "he has set out to destroy the heroic image that earlier writers have transmitted to us. Mr. Sale makes Columbus out to be cruel, greedy and incompetent (even as a sailor), and a man who was perversely intent on abusing the natural paradise on which he intruded." The book "Taking Sides: Clashing Views on Controversial Issues in American History" presents a debate between Sale and Robert Royal, vice president for research at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, who insisted that Columbus was a courageous risk-taker who advanced knowledge about other parts of the world.