The Cornish and Welsh Pirates in the Reign of Elizabeth Review
Long, boring, and with a remarkable talent for repeating itself, this volume takes an interesting fourth dimension in the cosmos of the British Empire and turns information technology into a slog. The worst of it is the repetitiveness. The amount of times that the aforementioned phrase or sentence is used is massive, oftentimes with it beingness repeated on the same page or even the aforementioned paragraph. In that location are even times where the aforementioned quote is used 3 or iv times in a chapter! Another trouble is the corporeality of bouncing in between locations and sometimes even times. While it is oft hard to give history context in a linear way, Bergreen likes to motility around between Francis Drake in the Pacific, Elizabeth in England, and Phillip in Spain, often with no transition or tying bond between the two events. While the key elements of the story are all there, the order keeps it from being a convict narrative. I've heard people say good things almost the author'southward other books, merely this one made me truly skeptical in trying them out.
Fascinating, and eminently readable: y'all tin can get caught in the web of Drake's piracy, circumnavigation, and the defeat of the Castilian Fleet.
I had read Bergreen'southward biography of Marco Polo for a modern audience, and enjoyed this in a similar spirit.
Highly recommended.
2 things first off:
one) I loved "Over the Edge of the World." Excellent volume that I couldn't put downwards two) I read this volume as an ARC.
I certainly promise the final volume was throughly edited before publication, because the ARC was riddled with typos, word processing mistakes and was repetitive to the point of comedy at times. Some of the anecdotes are told iv times!
The writer relies far likewise heavily on lengthy quotations. Some are a folio and a half long in Elizabethan English. Paraphrase some of that stuff, my human being.
The text is extremely disorganized particularly the second half. The story of the Armada confused me and I've taught classes on information technology.
Some pretty mundane things are examined in peachy particular while extremely important moments are only glossed over. For example, Drake'due south controversial actions the dark of the Armada boxing are dealt with in ii sentences and brushed aside. Ahh, hey, he abandoned the plan, caused the scattering of his squadron and went off on personal pillaging. Kinda needs some kind of attempt at an explanation.
Not a recommend for the serious pupil of the age. A beginner could benefit from the bibliography.
I won this book in the giveaway. I am a huge fan of historical fiction and was excited to get a gamble to read In Search of a Kingdom. Laurence Bergreen is a fantastic writer that volition pull any interested reader deeper into the story than they would take believed possible.
I had high hopes for this volume, but I plant it wearisome and repetitious, with occasional bursts of really great writing. There was a chance to practise some actually great stuff here merely Bergreen failed to follow through. More 2.5 stars than 3. Total review to come.
While one searches in vain for a likable personality in the tale of Sir Francis Drake and his exploits, they surely make for a fascinating topic. Unfortunately, the author rather squandered some of the potential of his interesting textile by rendering it into an unnecessarily longwinded, oftentimes repetitive business relationship containing entirely too many lengthy quotations that could (and should) take been condensed into shorter summaries in order to avoid boring the reader one-half to death.
History at his best.
This is not only the amazing story of Francis Drake just also the story of how Queen Elizabeth I, "illegitimate" kid of Henry VIII, steered impoverished England out of the claws of France and Spain and founded a new world empire.
Very interesting and "piece of cake" read.
I was a flake embarrassed that I didn't know (or had forgotten) that Francis Drake was the first man to circumnavigate the earth (Magellan got killed in a picayune spat, equally you lot might know). For some reason I had associated him more with the Spanish Armada and Elizabethan court intrigues. Merely in strikingly clear and well-informed prose, Bergreen lays out the journeying in all its glory (and there was plenty, every bit Drake had the uncanny ability to selection his spots and come up out smelling sugariness). Some of this stuff had to inspire Patrick O'Brian and his novels! It'due south hard not to similar Sir Francis Drake, though some revisionist historians have certainly tried. His feats were existent, and truly had a deep impact on world history. The leg up that he gave England vis a vis Spain was real, and lasting. Think of how the earth would wait today if that weren't so! And Bergreen'due south is some of the freshest historical writing I have read in a while. Looking at his oeuvre, I see that he has written a lot, on a wide variety of topics. He at times falls prey to chronological snobbery. At point he mentions how "people nonetheless believed in the devil back and then," in my own words. Uhh, take a survey today, buddy--I guarantee more than l% of people still practice. However, great stuff here.
Every child who grew up as I did in the San Francisco Bay Area knows something nigh Sir Francis Drake and the Aureate Hind, if only that he sailed that ship from Europe to our office of the world and left a plaque commemorating his visit. I thoroughly enjoyed getting the "rest of the story" from Laurence Bergreen's height history of the imposing pirate and daring sea helm. The relationship to Elizabeth I and the opening of the beginning of the British empire is a new wrinkle for me in the story of Francis Drake. I am glad to take expanded my cognition of Drake, Elizabeth and the future empire, merely this volume also revealed to me the greatness of the Spanish empire which preceded that of Great Uk, of which I had previously known very piffling. A tremendous telling of history, I highly recommend this book.
Filling Out the Story of Sir Francis Drake and His Times Many readers, myself included, may accept merely a smattering of cognition of the destruction of the Castilian Armada as it attempted an invasion of England in 1588, and the function of Sir Francis Drake in the defeat. Near likely, we recollect the legend that he was playing bowls when the Spanish fleet was commencement sighted and cooly elected to finish the game. Information technology'southward also likely that those who read about the event recollect that it was primarily a tempest that destroyed the Spanish fleet, although the English proved to be better sailors, with meliorate ships, and thus contributed to the destruction. But Drake was much more than than the man with a major office in defeating the Armada. Author Laurence Bergreen provides a much fuller account of Drake's extraordinary life. Sailing for Queen Elizabeth, he was a seminal figure in the Age of Exploration, which is generally attributed to those sailing for Spain and Portugal. Drake in 1580 was the first sea captain who circumnavigated the world. (Ferdinand Magellan, whose crew was the outset to circumnavigate the world, was killed in the Philippines and thus made it merely halfway round.) Furthermore, in the course of his voyage, Drake successfully plundered Spanish ships and Spanish outposts forth the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of S America, delivering an extraordinary haul of riches dorsum to England. After setting bated much of the wealth for himself, he shared the riches with Queen Elizabeth who tacitly backed his piracy. Queen Elizabeth'southward Spanish counterpart, Rex Philip II, was vacillating and weak. The magnitude of Kingdom of spain's wealth at the fourth dimension is jaw dropping, and it is astonishing how piddling Spain invested in defending the ships laden with gold and treasure or the ports in the New Globe from which they embarked. This meant like shooting fish in a barrel pickings for Drake. In his chronicle of the shift in balance of power arising from Drake's around the world voyage, Bergreen makes a number of assertions that are debatable. The author says that Elizabeth's kingdom was so in debt that without the stolen treasure that Drake brought back, her reign could not accept survived, England would have been annexed by Spain, and the Protestant Revolution would have floundered. "Spain would make short piece of work of England, returning English language Catholics to the fold. Spanish forces could overrun England in a matter of days and England would be a Protestant aberration and a footnote to history." This seems an oversimplification and an endeavour to brand Drake'due south voyage the fulcrum of the decline of the Castilian and rising of the British empires over the next 150 years. The gulf betwixt Spain'due south wealth vs. that of England in the tardily 16th Century is non in dispute, nevertheless. In discussing the clash of Castilian and English ships as the invasion strength neared, Bergreen observes that the English won considering they had more than maneuverable ships and better tactics for which Drake can exist given credit. Half the Spanish fleet was also assigned to support a landing force beingness readied in Holland, which split the fighting force that had to meet the English fleet. Merely about readers will discover hard to follow the author's description of the maneuvers of the fleets on each side. The maps of fleet maneuvers are similarly unhelpful. Apart from the circumnavigation and the defeat of the Spanish Armada, Bergreen provides an assessment of the character of Drake. Early on, Drake was engaged in the slave trade, only he determined that piracy was a more lucrative profession and that he was very practiced at it. According to the author, Drake was appalled at the treatment of native people under Spanish colonial control. Thus Drake, who had neat success raiding Spanish colonial settlements, treated indigenous people well and fifty-fifty treated the Spanish from whom he stole with a caste of humanity unusual for the times. He took their money but spared their lives when he had a choice. The one exception was Drake's decision during the circumnavigation to have an English aristocrat on the voyage beheaded on suspicion of preparing to lead a mutiny. This caused Drake to fall under suspicion upon render to England and never to exist fully accepted by the members of Elizabeth's court. Drake, although amidst the wealthiest men of his time, never fully participated in English society and seemed be most at home on the sea — where he died in 1595. Bergreen too addresses the unfortunate lot of ordinary seamen of the time. Drake needed the loyalty of his sailors during perilous parts of the voyage around the world, and in times of duress made improvident promises of sharing wealth. In one case home, he never paid them. Neither Elizabeth nor Drake fulfilled promises to the seamen who helped defeat the Castilian fleet. Indeed, according to the author, plague struck the ships engaged in the boxing and in one case it was over sailors were kept on board the ships and allowed to die so they wouldn't have to be paid. Seamen weren't the only ones stiffed. According to Bergreen, as the Spanish fleet approached, Elizabeth promised James VI of Scotland a dukedom and v,000 pounds a yr to retain his loyalty. She reneged when the crisis passed. Other histories are better written but Bergreen has called to chronicle a period that positioned England to build an Empire, and he profiles a man whose story is dramatic and intriguing. Readers who have not read a great deal nearly Sir Francis Drake will discover the tale adds to their cognition of the times.
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