After traveling to the Outer Banks last summer on vacation and actually walking over the territory that the first colonists lived on, I had to learn more. If, like me, you have been to this remote area of N. Carolina and you want to learn more, start with this book.
What is most useful about this book, and there are many usefull qualities, is that it does give a fair amount of background to the political and social scene of the late 1500's. After reading this book, I realised that our astronauts have a far, far easier time than these earlier exploerers. Modern American minds have come to expect in our minds that England has always been the preiminant power in Western Europe. How different that perception would have been had not these intrepid explorers arrived on our shores with no knowledge of the area, no food, no shelter and no allies.
What Milton does best is to give the characters of his story a balanced hearing. The natives are neither entirely naive nor entirely innocent, the English are neither entirely gospel and adventure loving or entirely cruel and conquering.
Too often in the books I have read on the "Lost Colony" (and Miles presents a very plausible explanation about where White's colonists ended up), the colonists are placed out of context even for the contemporary Jamestown colony. Here Miles shows why this early colony became strategically unimportant (why the English politicians did not care what happened to them) and important for what they taught about how to start a colony.
The only complaint I have about the book is that it tends to not flow very easily. The back and forth of Virginia and England tends to get a little hurried sometimes and makes it a bit hard to read in a few points. I do appreciate Miles stepping out and making conclusions about the events.
Overall, this is a FUN history book with sound scholarship backing it. The pages turn quickly. The book really does show the philosophical beginnings of the idea of English North America and why and where our ideas of law and commerce come from.
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About the author
Wonderful, historical account that reads like a novel
While visiting the Outer Banks, my family and I went to Roanoke Island and Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. Afterward, I picked up this book from the gift shop as a souvenir. Big Chief Elizabeth is a fascinating read! It retells the stories of the early European colonies in detail, particularly the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. Giles Milton is an excellent writer. He weaves together historical evidence, journal entries, and eyewitness accounts to come up with a new, convincing theory for the disappearance that is simply...ingenious! I couldn't put it down and felt sad when I finished it (that very rarely happens when I read). Overall, If you are a history buff or like to read stories with a little mystery in them, I highly recommend this book.
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