John Bakeless (1894–1978)

A comprehensive summary of the explorers, both by land and sea, of early America. While generally accurate, some of material has been updated by recent research given this book was written about a half century ago.

Recommended for those who want an introduction to the men who founded our country. Particular emphasis is placed on the native flora and fauna of the period as well as descriptions of the land.

Personally, for those interested in similar overviews, I recommend The Discoverers of America by Harold Faber.… (mehr)

This is one of the first extensive biographies of Marlowe to be published after Leslie Hotson's The Death of Christopher Marlowe. As such, it has the benefit of more complete information about Marlowe's life and death than some of the earlier efforts. Bakeless's work is also notable for his examination of the buttery records at Corpus Christi college during Marlowe's time as a student. His research into the records shows a number of apparent gaps in Marlowe's actual residence, providing supporting evidence regarding Marlowe's difficulty in obtaining his degree.

Unfortunately, Bakeless pads this work with long digressions speculating on Marlowe's early life, and with fanciful musings on how he might have been influenced by the everyday life of Canterbury and by his family. On the whole, the book is worth reading, especially for the information about Marlowe's time at Corpus Christi, but be wary when the author launches into fantasy.… (mehr)

From vintage scholastic cover: A strange message in code! Messages in silver bullets and jacket buttons! Letters written in invisible ink. All across revolutionary America, spies for the patriots and the redcoats are stealing through enemy lines, getting vital information. Who are these spies? No one can be sure. Who would suspect the schoolmaster, or a fourteen-year-old boy, a Quaker housewife, a Yankee farmer, a Boston surgeon? Yet each one is risking his life on a secret mission that may change history. This book is based on John Blakely's book, "Turncoats, Traitors, and Heroes," published in 1959. Spelling and punctuation from the 18th century has been modernized in this book. Writers concentrated on the relatively unknown information and passed on info readily found in other books. For example, there's no mention of Benedict Arnold.… (mehr)