Reviews for Raleghs Last Journey

The average rating for Raleghs Last Journey based on 2 reviews is 3.5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2011-09-04 00:00:00 Miguel Firpi Enjoyed reading this one. Would like to find a full biography of Sir Walter Ralegh. 'Ralegh's Last Journey' tells a similar story to that of fellow Elizabethan sea dog Drake, and therefore the man's best years are not recounted in this book. Paul Hyland's 2003 tale of madness, vanity and treachery covers Walt's final voyage to the Orinoco River on his dream boat escapade search for El Dorado in 1617. Returning a year later to face arrest and finally execution on the 29th October 1618. Hyland has written a detailed and well researched account that shows the madness, vanity and treachery in large part emanated from King James I. "It was a catalytic moment for the Puritan revolution. Richard Polwhele, an eighteenth-century West Country historian wrote, 'I shall only hint, that the execution of this great man, whom James was advised to sacrifice to the advancement of peace with Spain, hath left an indelible stain on the memory of that misguided monarch.' As the twentieth-century historian G.M.Trevelyan commented, 'the ghost of Ralegh pursued the House of Stuart to the scaffold'. The reader can only concur with the above opinions. Sir Walter, (or, Sir Water, as Elizabeth I nick-named him, in gentle mockery of his Devon brogue) in 1618 was 'old, limping, grey-haired, weakened and desperate but still damnably proud. Water, the man legally dead but risen again from the waves.' ...and no, he didn't introduce tobacco into England.

Review # 2 was written on 2011-08-12 00:00:00 Victor W. Fischer A very engaging historical novel about the last few weeks of Sir Walter Ralegh's life and the surreal circumstances leading to its end.