Book Description

Customer Reviews (3)

Excellent book for Elizabethan fans
This book has compelled me to write my first ever review.I've rarely read a more enjoyable biography.Although long and very dense, it is well cross-referenced, and well structured.

The depth of research is astounding, and I was particularly impressed that the author had actually traveled to all the key locations, offering a level of colour and feel not otherwise possible.

There is also a great detail of content outside of Sir Walter's own life that is immensely valuable for providing context (so important when reading about another time and place).For this amateur Elizabethan student, the opportunity to read about my favourite characters and the key events of the age from a different perspective was truly enjoyable.

At times the book shows the author's bias, but he carefully lets us know when it's his opinion, and I for one welcomed it based on his depth of knowledge.

Bravo to the author, and to those considering reading this book, a big word of encouragement.Enjoy!

New insight - legend or fop?
It is recognized that the author as a descendant of Raleigh would be somewhat biased in his assessment of his subject. With this in mind the portrayal is more balanced than one would think from the preconception and the views of others on this book. The conception most often associated with Raleigh for those unaware of his breadth of activities is that of a dandily dressed (Vincent Price) fop who laid down his cape for the queen. If one delves a little farther into common knowledge we know that he had something to do with the failed Roanoke colony. The gift of Trevelyan's biography is to fill out these clothes. To put flesh upon the man who inhabits the foppish attire. By the time the book takes us to Raleigh's second stay in the Tower, and Trevelyan tells us that people often came to see "the legend" on his daily walks upon the wall, we believe that indeed he was exactly that - a legend. The true measure of biography is that it gives the faults and failings, yet lets one follow the maturing person. Raleigh, indeed had many failings, but he nonetheless comes across in Trevelyan's telling as a compelling and interesting individual. If the Queen, Cecil (Wm.), Walsingham, and Drake are the gods of that era, then certainly the Raleigh of Trevelyan's telling is a giant. The mark ofgood non-fiction is that it encourages further exploration into the era in which it is set. Trevelyan's book is a must read for those with any interest in this period of English history, particularly that touching on the rise of empire and the role of maritime successes.

Sir Walter the great
Sir Walter Raleigh was a little of everything.I read this book along with the new Benjamin Frankin: An American Life, and have determined that there's more to these guys than the scant information we were all given in school. What an eye-opener this book was.Well written, well researched, and well . . . just an overall entertaining good read.Highly recommended.

Also recommended:Benjamin Franklin and McCrae's Bark of the Dogwood ... Read more

Book Description
Relates the story of Raleigh from his boyhood days on the coast of Devonshire, to his exploits in Ireland and his unexpected entry into the court of Queen Elizabeth.We travel with him as he pursues the ships of the Spanish Armada and makes voyages to the New World in search of gold and lands to settle. We see his efforts come to naught and hear how he is relegated to the Tower of London where he spends the last years of his life.Includes the fabled story of the velvet cloak and the role Raleigh played in introducing potatoes and tobacco to the Old World. One of the volumes in the highly acclaimed Children's Heroes series, first published at the beginning of the last century. Suitable for ages 8 and up. ... Read more

Product Description
A collection of poetry by Sir Walter Raleigh. Edited and authenticated by J. Hannah. Also included are works of other courtly poets dating from the Elizabethan Era to the English Civil War. ... Read more

Book Description
In this extraordinarily well researched and insightful biography, Marc Aronson explores the amazing accomplishments and dismal failures of one of the most flamboyant figures of the Elizabethan age. Best remembered for laying his coat in a muddy puddle so that Queen Elizabeth I could walk across it, Sir Walter Ralegh committed himself to pleasing his monarch and obtaining power in her court. He heroically risked his life in battle time and again, chasing after glory to win her favor. His notoriously ill-fated quest for the mythological golden city of El Dorado was perhaps his grandest attempt, but it also was his undoing, and Ralegh ultimately paid for his mistakes with his life. Despite his shortcomings, he was not only charismatic and brave, he was brilliant as well, and his contributions to the New World and to western culture as a whole were vast and enduring. MAPS, ENDNOTES and BIBLIOGRAPHY, TIMELINE, INDEX. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

not too bad...
did not realize when i bought this book that is basically for children, probably up to the age of 12 or so.for this grade level, it was fine.but this is certainly not a book for adults.it's too simple.

an excellent introduction to the ugly but fascinating world of politics
This book reads like an entertaining adventure novel but it is so much more. The court intrigues of Elizabethan England and not so different from the politics of today, both in government and corporations. The author has made a lifelong study of Sir Walter Ralegh and his passion shows. Ralegh's strengths, weaknesses and luck, both good and bad made him who he was and changed the world.The Mechanical Age: The Industrial Revolution in England (World History Library)Colonial Living.

Outstanding look at a fascinating individual
Sir Walter Ralegh (the way he spelled it) was so much more than a promoter of tobacco--although he certainly did promote tobacco.He was so much more than a man who lay down his cloak so Queen Elizabeth I would not get her feet wet--a story which may or may not be true.He was a man from a poorbackground who rose almost as high as one could in Elizabethan England--andthen fell about as low. Stunningly researched, brilliantly written, fullof fascinating facts (did you know there were no maps of England thatshowed ROADS until the 1590s), this is young adult writing at its finest. ... Read more

Product Description
No lover of history can fail to recognize in the man who cast his cape gracefully across a puddle to protect the feet of his queen, the symbol of the Elizabethan Age. For Sir Walther Raleigh was more, much more than the courtier portrayed in the painting. He was truly the Elizabethan incarnate - soldier, sailor, captain of the Queen's guard, explorer and colonizer of the New World, poet, scientist, military engineer and literary patron.In an age both cruel and romantic, the figure of Sir Walter Raleigh stands high above the contemporaries who eventually cast him down. He it was who devised the plan that brought about the destruction of the Armada, who sailed into Cadiz harbor to grapple with Philip of Spain's war fleet and who, before he laid his head on the block, called to the headsman to let him feel the edge of the axe.Margaret Irwin was a noted authority on the Elizabethan Age. In this biography she brings all her skills as a historian and novelist in telling the story of this most remarkable Englishman. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

The last great Elizabethan
Everyone knows Sir Walter Ralegh as the gallant courtier who spread his cloak across a puddle so that his queen might pass dry-shod. A commoner who never lost his thick Cornish accent, Ralegh was nevertheless precisely the sort of man likely to catch Elizabeth's eye:handsome, intelligent, witty, well-spoken, and possessed of enough pride and independence to speak his mind, even to his queen. The term "Renaissance man" seems coined with Ralegh in mind: He was a poet, soldier, privateer, explorer, scientist, historian.

He could also be stunningly naive, and surprisingly inept at the art of courting favor. His first meeting with James I, Elizabeth's successor, was a disaster. Accustomed to priviledge, Ralegh approached James unannounced, even though the king heartily disliked such surprises. When James observed that he might have had to fight for the throne, Ralegh's response was, "Would to God you had! Then Your Majestry would have known your friends from your foes."An honest sentiment and possibly a shrewd one, it not the sort of observation likely to endear him to the new king. James already had reason to be wary of Ralegh, for some of Ralegh's enemies had been plying James for months with negative reports. Ralegh's recent behavior seemed to support these dark hints: he was one of the few dignitaries who did not bother to contact James after Elizabeth's death to assure the new sovereign of his loyalty. Worse, Ralegh presented the peace-loving king with a proposal for seizing the West Indies from Spain. James had been told that Ralegh was a warmonger and possibly a traitor. With his own eyes he perceived another, more subtle threat: this handsome, powerful, and persuasive man was a living reminder of Elizabethan glories.

Ralegh's fall from power during the reign of James I was as swift and spectacular as his rise under Elizabeth had been. His enemies rejoiced, as did the common folk who then and now love to see the mighty brought low. Ralegh's greatest triumph, perhaps, was the courage and wit he exhibited through his trial, imprisonment, and execution. In a last interview with a friend, he advised him to come to the beheading early if he wished to get a place. "As for me, my place is assured," he quipped.His last words, spoken to the hesitant executioner, were, "What dost fear?Strike, man, strike!"

Margaret Irwin is a novelist as well as a historian, and this comes through in the tone and quality of her writing. This biography is far more entertaining than most fictorical fiction I've read. It's full of telling anecdotes, vivid descriptions, and dead-on characterizations.Considering the complexity of her subjects and the paradoxical nature of Ralegh himself, this is a remarkable achievement.

One minor disappointment was the lack of a bioliography; there were several incidents and anecdotes that I would have liked to explore in more depth. Even so, it's an entertaining story, as well as a window into a fascinating time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

difficult but rewarding
Little needs to be said about Ralegh's text beyond the obvious--it is a fascinating example of Renaissance self-fashioning through travel writing.It is reproduced carefully and faithfully here, with a minimum of editorial intrusion, for which readers should be grateful.

Whitehead's long introduction poses more of a problem.It is shockingly badly written--one imagines that the editors threw up their hands in despair at the atrocious quality of the prose.Only professional anthropologists and historians are likely to struggle through it.This is a great shame, because Whitehead's argument is fascinating and important.In essence, he argues that many of the most seemingly fantastical aspects of Ralegh's account (tales of Indians with faces in their chests, etc.) weren't simply European projections, but products of an interaction between European assumptions and native myths.

Another work by an armchair anthropologist
This book is basicaly a rehash of Walter Raleigh's work.Whitehead, never having done any long-term fieldwork in Amazonia, offers little new insight to his readers. He gets away with this by theorizing, as postmodernists often do, from a distance (and using the hard work of others).This book, as so much of his other work, is a sign of the decay of anthropology in USA.

The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Eympyre of G
I think that this book was excellent. The author was a very talented man. I recommend this book to any one who would like to learn more about the history of South America.

The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Eympyre of G
I think that this book was excellent. The author was a very talented man. I recommend this book to any one who would like to learn more about the history of South America.

The Discoverie of the Large, Rich, and Bewtiful Eympyre of G
I think that this book was excellent. The author was a very talented man. I recommend this book to any one who would like to learn more about the history of South America. ... Read more

Book Description
Work by Charles Kingsley, a prolific English novelist and author whose main power lay in his descriptive faculties. ... Read more

Product Description
This Elibron Classics book is a facsimile reprint of a 1892 edition by George Bell & Sons, London and New York. ... Read more