- Hardcover: 640 pages
- Publisher: Allen Lane; 1st Edition edition (7 Nov 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 071399326X
- ISBN-13: 978-0713993264
- Product Dimensions: 23.8 x 16.2 x 4.8 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 750,212 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Description
Amazon.co.uk Review
As his name suggests, Raleigh Trevelyan is a distant relation of his biographical subject Sir Walter Raleigh. Perhaps that partly explains the dedication and hard work behind the brilliance of this vividly written and exhaustively researched biography of "a hero who was held out as a symbol of the Elizabethan Renaissance". Trevelyan manages to carefully revise the romantic myth of Raleigh, whilst also reminding his readers that "we cannot fail to be awed by the vastness of his aspirations."
Most people recognise Raleigh as the man who laid down his cloak for Queen Elizabeth and introduced tobacco into England. While both stories are far from the truth, Trevelyan points out that they both reveal defining elements of this flamboyant and extraordinary poet, courtier, soldier, explorer and politician. From relative obscurity Raleigh used his "vanity and ambition" to work his way into Queen Elizabeth's affections, embarking on a spectacular career putting down rebellion in Ireland, looting the Azores, founding the first English colonies in America, and setting sail twice in his search for the fabled El Dorado.
In England his judgement was less assured, and was often "embarrassingly cringing". He married for love and fell out with Elizabeth, and then proceeded to alienate the new king, James I, who threw him into the Tower of London, before finally executing him in 1618. Trevelyan concludes, "his performance on the scaffold was a great piece of theatre, but it is impossible not to be won over by it." This captures the spirit of this magnificent biography. Impeccable in its research and beautifully written, it captures the complex, multi-faceted nature of Sir Walter Raleigh. --Jerry Brotton
Product Description
"You have lived like a star at which the world has gazed", said the judge at Sir Walter Raleigh's trial. "He was fortune's tennis ball", said another contemporary, to many others he was an arrogant liar. Regarded by the Spanish as the most hated of pirates, Raleigh had a thirst for wealth and power that was coupled with extraordinary creative energy. Soldier, explorer, parliamentarian, chemist, reputed atheist, patron of poets and himself a fine poet, Raleigh is the epitome of the English Renaissance man. A glittering courtier in the shark pool of Elizabethan politics, he could also be a ruthless administrator. For the generation of Republicans after his death on the scaffold, Raleigh was a hero; for the Victorians he represented the gentlemanly ideal of disinterested loyalty to the crown, while more recent studies have focused on his imperialist attitude and the tensions between himself and Elizabeth I. However he is seen, Raleigh cuts as controversial and tragic figure now as he did in his own times. This is the first major biography of Sir Walter Raleigh for many years. A brilliantly realized portrait of the man and his age, it benefits from the author's several, sometimes arduous, visits to places connected with Raleigh, including sites of the fabled El Dorado, and from extensive research in Spanish archives.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
There are 2 sides to this book. The information provided is well researched and impressive and as good as one could hope. The presentation however is deadly dull. This is an enormous catalogue of facts thrown into one book with little emotion. This may suit some tastes, but not mine. I like biographers to be opinionated and back up their opinions with well thought out arguments. Raleigh was exciting. He was well ahead of his time in many of his ideas. He was slightly mad (all that potion making) and extremely dynamic. Yet reading this book you'd think he was quite dull. And those wonderful myth's are virtually ignored. The cloak episode is dismissed as probably untrue, and the introduction of tobacco as probably the work of Drake or Hawkins. They probably are untrue, but what was it about Raleigh's personality that got these myth's up and running? If you like your books to be crammed with a mass of historical facts, quotes from letters and excerpts from books then you will like this. If you like your books to come alive and to feel you are living alongside your character, then look elsewhere.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5 reviews
19 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Excellent book for Elizabethan fans
16 Nov 2004
Format:Hardcover
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!
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!
16 of 16 people found the following review helpful
New insight - legend or fop?
21 Sep 2004
Format:Hardcover
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 of good 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.
15 of 15 people found the following review helpful
Sir Walter the great
8 Feb 2004
Format:Hardcover
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
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