against philanthropinist children's literature, Campe was usually exempt. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, however, the dialogue form had lost its appeal and in 1890 a revised German edition was published that eliminated the dialogue and solely related the narrative. Interpretations Works dealing with The Discovery of America mainly point to its pedagogical functions but also see socially critical elements in the text. Morals: hero/antihero Scholars see an antithetical development in the characters of the three discoverers. Richard Apgar describes Columbus as "an enlightener before the Enlightenment," Cortés as strong-willed but repeatedly failing to "act humanely," and Pizarro as "never able to overcome his untended youth." In general, the three men function as moral examples for the reader: Columbus is the hero to look up to, while Cortés and Pizarro present antiheroes and negative role-models. Rüdiger Steinlein adds that with Discovery, Campe follows the tenet of "Historia magistra vitae:" history is exploited as a teacher in morals and virtues. Anti-colonialism Referring to Sankar Muthu's Enlightenment against Empire (2003), Richard Apgar sees anti-colonialist tendencies in the narrative. According to him, "Campe's text is somewhere on the continuum between legitimizing colonial oppression and standing against colonialism." By connecting "education with exploration and exploration with enlightenment," Campe creates the image of a "good" explorer who was educated in the spirit of the Enlightenment and thus "discovers" in the sense of "enlightening." Revolution and ideal state Eva Funke analyses the description of the Inca state as a utopian bourgeois society in the third volume as a critique of Campe's contemporary society. Thus the description of the ruling system, for instance, functions as a mirror to the current systems of the German states and shows a utopian ideal where the bourgeois characteristic of competence is more important than birth. In addition, Funke points to the recurring motif of revolution in Discovery. The trilogy is presenting revolutions as something that needs to be avoided because they can hinder achieving one's goals and are responsible for the downfall of peoples. References Exploration of North America Exploration of South America 1780s books