From the Publisher
Fascinating. … Engaging. … Drake’s story is both dramatic and timely. … In Laurence Bergreen’s colorful assessment, an unlikely alliance between Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Francis Drake empowered English Protestants to … stake out the beginnings of the British Empire.” — New York Times Book Review, "Editors' Choice"
“A dramatic tale of discovery. ... A comprehensive look at Drake, in all his contradictions. ... A lively and compelling history of a man whose blend of audacity, piety and cruelty changed the world.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Vivid. … Entrancing. ... The accounts of Drake’s circumnavigation and his subsequent naval career are very good indeed. They will surely delight aficionados of imperial history and anyone keen on real-life adventure stories.” — Wall Street Journal
"With a keen sense of adventure and a sharp grasp of personalities on sea and land, Bergreen details Drake’s round-the-world adventures as well as political intrigues and mutinous sailors." — Booklist (starred review)
“The swashbuckling life and times of the explorer who achieved what Magellan could not—and made England’s fortune in the process. ... Demonstrating his deep knowledge of the era, the author energetically recounts Drake’s action-packed journey. ... Bergreen masterly portrays the principal characters in this drama. … A smooth, dramatic, and well-fleshed world history.” — Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
“The great pleasure of In Search of a Kingdom is the revelation of Drake as a man of apparent contradictions that helped rather than hindered his ambitions. Readers in search of a story of how a clergyman’s son gained the support of a queen and helped found the British Empire will not be disappointed.” — Washington Independent Review of Books
“Laurence Bergreen’s new book tells the swashbuckling tale of Sir Francis Drake. … Drake’s trip around the globe, which Bergreen describes in great and fascinating detail, was truly a marvel. … The account of Drake’s remarkable trip and Bergreen’s parsing of this complicated character will repay the time of readers who choose to take this 400-page trip.” — American Spectator
San Francisco Chronicle
A dramatic tale of discovery. ... A comprehensive look at Drake, in all his contradictions. ... A lively and compelling history of a man whose blend of audacity, piety and cruelty changed the world.
Washington Independent Review of Books
The great pleasure of In Search of a Kingdom is the revelation of Drake as a man of apparent contradictions that helped rather than hindered his ambitions. Readers in search of a story of how a clergyman’s son gained the support of a queen and helped found the British Empire will not be disappointed.
Wall Street Journal
Vivid. … Entrancing. ... The accounts of Drake’s circumnavigation and his subsequent naval career are very good indeed. They will surely delight aficionados of imperial history and anyone keen on real-life adventure stories.
Booklist (starred review)
"With a keen sense of adventure and a sharp grasp of personalities on sea and land, Bergreen details Drake’s round-the-world adventures as well as political intrigues and mutinous sailors."
New York Times Book Review
Fascinating. … Engaging. … Drake’s story is both dramatic and timely. … In Laurence Bergreen’s colorful assessment, an unlikely alliance between Queen Elizabeth I and Sir Francis Drake empowered English Protestants to … stake out the beginnings of the British Empire.
American Spectator
Laurence Bergreen’s new book tells the swashbuckling tale of Sir Francis Drake. … Drake’s trip around the globe, which Bergreen describes in great and fascinating detail, was truly a marvel. … The account of Drake’s remarkable trip and Bergreen’s parsing of this complicated character will repay the time of readers who choose to take this 400-page trip.”
Wall Street Journal
Vivid. … Entrancing. ... The accounts of Drake’s circumnavigation and his subsequent naval career are very good indeed. They will surely delight aficionados of imperial history and anyone keen on real-life adventure stories.
San Francisco Chronicle
A dramatic tale of discovery. ... A comprehensive look at Drake, in all his contradictions. ... A lively and compelling history of a man whose blend of audacity, piety and cruelty changed the world.
Kirkus Reviews
★ 2021-01-13
The swashbuckling life and times of the explorer who achieved what Magellan could not—and made England’s fortune in the process.
In his latest wide-ranging work, Bergreen, who has written biographies of Columbus, Marco Polo, Magellan, Casanova, and others, trains his well-honed historical eye on Francis Drake (circa 1540-1596). A Protestant preacher’s son who cut his teeth on slaver ships (under his cousin John Hawkins) and decided that accumulating booty from the Spanish was his preferred trade, Drake took off from Plymouth in 1577 with a small fleet and the tacit approval of Queen Elizabeth I to drive the Spanish from mineral-rich regions of South America and beyond. Demonstrating his deep knowledge of the era, the author energetically recounts Drake’s action-packed journey, which included a near mutiny and the execution of the ringleader. In 1580, Drake returned along with a handful of survivors, having successfully circumnavigated the globe, a feat that Magellan, murdered in the Philippines, was unable to accomplish. Drake also delivered a staggering amount of gold and jewels, which, Bergreen shows, essentially saved the queen from an ill-suited marriage to a French duke, bolstered the state’s woeful finances, and allowed her to build up the English navy in preparation for the eventual invasion by the Spanish Armada in 1588. Drake’s success allowed England to challenge the seemingly invincible Spanish empire for the first time—and begin to establish its own. “For Elizabeth,” writes the author, “the expedition was a challenge to the global order, which ranked Spain dominant and England a second-rate island kingdom.” The narrative is long but never boring, as Bergreen masterly portrays the principal characters in this drama: the relentless, arrogant Drake; the cautious, cunning Elizabeth; and the mortified Spanish king, Philip II, and his spy in London, Bernardino de Mendoza, who informed his liege of Drake’s every outrageous move.
A smooth, dramatic, and well-fleshed world history perfect for library collections.
