Laurence Bergreen

Even thoiugh this is the period of British history with which I am most familiar, I still learned a great deal from this well written book. It works as a biography for both Drake and Elizabeth. I was especiallly engrossed with Drake's circumnavigation, whihc I had previously known little about, other than it happened and he explored the whole from woulod later become the California, Oregon and Washington coast. I also did not know the full extent of his success as a pirate on this voyage with many millions in today's dollars liberated from the Spanish. The court intrigue is as interesting as court intrigue gets for me, but I would have enjoyed more detail on the techniques Drake used so successfully to subdue all those ships without any serious difficulties. The Spanish Armada sections were also enlightening. I had forgotten the devastation wrought by the weather on the Spanish ships and the superior range of English cannon. Of course, everyone knew about the speed difference.… (mehr)

This book is a unique blend of historical fact and gripping narration. One would learn of the age of exploration in general, so much about the Magellan-Elcano trip, and the perspectives and ideas of that era. Antonio Pigafetta's chronicles are referenced at many places in detail and add another layer of information to the narrative. The stories, the opinions of 16th century explorers, the tragedies and the lessons learnt are all things one would come to appreciate on reading. You'd also come across the history of discovery of so many places, of Tierra Del Fuego, of Guam, of the straits of Magellan, even of the first observations recorded by Europeans of the dwarf Magellanic galaxies! The path taken by the Armada of Molucca will pretty much be hardcoded into your memory once you get through this book.… (mehr)