Drake: The Life and Legend of an Elizabethan Hero - Brossura

Coote, Stephen

Brossura

ISBN 10: 0743468708 ISBN 13: 9780743468701

Casa editrice: Simon & Schuster, 2005

Riassunto

Sir Francis Drake: pirate, explorer and Protestant zealot, a man princely in his bearing, heroic if sometimes foolhardy in his enterprise, a genius at once awe-inspiring and riddled with faults. He is the archetypal Elizabethan sea-dog, and Stephen Coote's brilliant new book rescues him from the dusty pages of history to breathe new life into one of the great maritime adventure stories. Focusing on the episodes that made Drake's reputation -- and exploring not just the nature of that reputation but how it also, for better or worse, came to epitomise a sense of nationhood -- Stephen Coote re-creates all the excitement and terror of the raids on Spanish Caribbean ports during Drake's privateering days; the extraordinary feat of the circumnavigation aboard the 'Golden Hind'; and Drake's role in the famous defeat of the Spanish Armada in 1588. Told with novelistic verve, DRAKE is a thoroughly modern re-assessment of a man who embodied all the ebullient courage and personal shortcomings of the great age of Elizabethan expansion. Was Drake just a rabid anti-papist, a state-sponsored terrorist and slaver? Or was he the embodiment of English sang-froid, an empire-builder and hero? This gripping and entertaining biography gives us a picture of the man altogether richer and more interesting than we could have imagined.

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Recensione

'Compelling . . . fascinating' Catholic Times
'Superb . . . history told with all the drama and readability of a rip-roaring novel' Northants on Sunday
'Impressive . . . a well-rounded account of a fascinating character' Leicester Mercury
'Dr Coote's vivid, pacey, biography races along like a splendid galleon under full sail' Sunday Mercury (Birmingham)
'Reads almost as a novel . . . A vivid picture of this legendary but flawed hero, [and] an unvarnished exposé of a leader who was never fully confident of his powerful status in conflict with his humble origins . . . DRAKE provides fascinating glimpses of Elizabeth and the tightrope she walked as she participated in the illegal activities of pirates while trying to maintain constructive international relations'
HISTORY TODAY
'Compelling insights and intricate research' SOUTH LONDON PRESS
'Stephen Coote describes all the excitement and terror of the raids on Spanish Caribbean ports during Drake's privatizing days, his extraordinary feat of circumnavigation aboard the Golden Hind and his role in the defeat of the Spanish Armada'
Sunday Telegraph 30/1

L'autore

Stephen Coote was educated at Magdelene College, Cambridge and at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is the author of several acclaimed biographies including lives of Charles II, W. B. Yeats, John Keats and, most recently, Samuel Pepys: according to the SUNDAY TELEGRAPH, 'A subtle and intelligent portrait, not just of the man, but of the volatile political milieu in which he moved.'

Dettagli dell'edizione

• Editore: Simon & Schuster
• Data di pubblicazione: 2005
• Lingua: Inglese
• ISBN 10: 0743468708
• ISBN 13: 9780743468701
• Rilegatura: Copertina flessibile
• Numero di pagine: 352
• Contatto del produttore: EDIZIONI CLICHY; casetta@mondadori.it; ; Via Mondadori 1,; Segrate Milano; 20090; Italia