- Hardcover: 584 pages
- Publisher: Yale University Press; 1st Edition edition (2 Sep 1998)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0300071825
- ISBN-13: 978-0300071825
- Product Dimensions: 24.1 x 16.6 x 4.1 cm
- Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,391,967 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Product Description
In this biography, Harry Kelsey seeks to shatter the familiar image of Sir Francis Drake. The Drake of legend was a pious, brave and just seaman who initiated the move to make England a great naval power and whose acts of piracy against his countries enemies earned him a knighthood for patriotism. Kelsey paints a different picture of Drake as an amoral privateer at least as interested in lining his pockets with Spanish booty as in forwarding the political goals of his country, a man who became a captain general of the English navy but never waged traditional warfare with any success. Drawing on much new evidence, Kelsey describes Drake's early life as the son of a poor family in 16th-century England. He explains how Drake dabbled in piracy, gained modest success as a merchant, and then took advantage of the hostility between Spain and England to embark on a series of pirate raids on undefended Spanish ships and ports, preempting Spanish demands for punishment by sharing much of his booty with the Queen and her councillors. Elizabeth I liked Drake because he was a charming rogue, and she made him an integral part of her war plans against Spain and its armada, but she quickly learned not to trust him with an important command: he was unable to handle a large fleet; was suspicious almost to the point of paranoia and had no understanding of personal loyalty. For Drake, the mark of success was to amass great wealth - preferably by taking if from someone else - and the primary purpose of warfare was to afford him the opportunity to accomplish this.
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NO HERO EVER DIES. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
NO HERO EVER DIES. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
13 of 14 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a reasonably written character assassination. Kelsey's case theory is simple - Drake was a thief with a ruthless streak, who bungled his way to riches and a 'round the world trip, and who manipulated the religious and political differences of the time for his own ends. Kelsey never wavers from this. His objective is to kill the hero. Which is where Kelsey loses his balance and lets the book down.
Obviously well researched, the narrative is coloured throughout by prejudice. And whilst fairly easy to read, the need to denounce Drake becomes stylistically palpable. For instance Kelsey has the habit of repetition, even within the same paragraph; and the rhetorical closing section is clumsy - like an A Level student trying to wrap up an exam question in the last five minutes. All this is based on the fact that throughout a five hundred-page book Kelsey has no sympathy with his subject. He is a barrister for the prosecution and getting a conviction is all that matters.
Drake himself remains an enigma, perhaps even more so after Kelsey's attack. Not once does he make a proper appearance in the narrative. Hostile witnesses give their evidence, Kelsey puts his own biased interpretation of events, and all the while El Drago looks placidly back from his portrait. The Shillingley narrative isn't referred to at all.
While there's certainly evidence that Drake's story is not simply 'Kelly's Heroes' in a galleon, this biography is too biased and with too little understanding of the man to make a proper, rounded study.
4 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
For afficionados of Drake, Elizabethan England, or nautical history, this is a first rate read! The scholarship is thorough and well documented without leaving the prose too dry. Author Kelsey exegetically strips the gloss which has been after-added to most accounts of Drake's life (my brother, who is a nautical archaeologist, found it professionally worthwhile). Unfortunately, Kelsey's apparent bias against Drake's commercial focus prevents a discussion of Drake's larger role as an economic multiplier in the Elizabethan fiscus. The cash brought in by Drake's expeditions and similar ilk were probably critical in enabling the crown to finance the struggle against the Spaniards. Still, all in all, highly recommended.
Format:Hardcover
I enjoyed the book and recommend it with the caveat that at times Kelsey discusses the evidence when the reader might prefer the drama.
The book is about 400 pages in 14 chapters (plus appendices and extensive notes); it seems well-researched and eminently plausible. There are many quotes from sources which, in old english, give the book an authentic "I was there" seafaring flavour. The repeated use of old maps gives the reader the feeling of the times. E.g., I had never realised before that the British government (Queen Elizabeth and courtiers) had such strong motives (money and power) to conceal the detail of what Drake had done and might do.
The book is about 400 pages in 14 chapters (plus appendices and extensive notes); it seems well-researched and eminently plausible. There are many quotes from sources which, in old english, give the book an authentic "I was there" seafaring flavour. The repeated use of old maps gives the reader the feeling of the times. E.g., I had never realised before that the British government (Queen Elizabeth and courtiers) had such strong motives (money and power) to conceal the detail of what Drake had done and might do.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Drake is the greatest pirate of all times!
I love the story of Sir Francis Drake and his adventures in the Spanish Main and was eager at this chance at such a thourouh telling of his story.
Published on 16 Oct 1998
the captains and the kings depart!
Hee - anybody who reads biography as a genre has a barely-suppressed sweet tooth for Soviet-style icon-destruction, and this big book satisfies that craving in spades! Read more
Published on 20 Sep 1998
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