emilyaix's review
adventurous
dark
informative
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
2.5
elchivovivo's review
adventurous
informative
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.75
A small modest gem i traded in an old man’s bookshop for less than twopence.
The pirate wrote it in plainman prose, breezing dispassionately through hangings, ransackings, and razing towns to the ground sometimes in a single short sentence.
Letters written when the world was full of wondered and still felt undiscovered.
For today’s moral, it is definitely racist. Unashamedly so. Still, a marvelous read.
The pirate wrote it in plainman prose, breezing dispassionately through hangings, ransackings, and razing towns to the ground sometimes in a single short sentence.
Letters written when the world was full of wondered and still felt undiscovered.
For today’s moral, it is definitely racist. Unashamedly so. Still, a marvelous read.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Racism, Religious bigotry, and War
kipkipkip's review
2.0
This book would have really benefitted from some form of commentary to place these short accounts in a wider context, or even some notes expanding on points which seem interesting but are largely glossed over, usually in favour of listing the loot pillaged by Drake and Cavendish.
woolfardis's review
1.0
Exceedingly boring. I thought perhaps it would give an insight to what Drake was like as a man and leader, but it barely even mentions him: I'm assuming "our general" is Drake. Who knows, really? I don't even know who the second bloke is and can't bring myself to care. It offers nothing, except a slight historical note on where these voyagers went. Still not as bad as those haikus, though.
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urlphantomhive's review
1.0
This was horrible! One of the worst in the collection, of that I am sure.
When reading historical accounts it is always difficult, because their actions have to be put in the historical context rather than how we would judge these actions today. However, The Voyage of Sir Francis Drake Around the Whole Globe, is a piece of propaganda which wants to show the greatness of the British at sea, but instead shows it at its worst. Terrorizing the people of the globe.
I really didn't enjoy this at all and recommend you stay away from it...
~Little Black Classics #65~
Find this and other reviews on my blog https://www.urlphantomhive.com
When reading historical accounts it is always difficult, because their actions have to be put in the historical context rather than how we would judge these actions today. However, The Voyage of Sir Francis Drake Around the Whole Globe, is a piece of propaganda which wants to show the greatness of the British at sea, but instead shows it at its worst. Terrorizing the people of the globe.
I really didn't enjoy this at all and recommend you stay away from it...
~Little Black Classics #65~
Find this and other reviews on my blog https://www.urlphantomhive.com
ricksilva's review
2.0
At twelve years old, I considered Sir Francis Drake a hero, owing mostly to a collection of childrens picture books on the major European explorers of the Age of Exploration that was kept in my fourth grade classroom and was my go-to for free-reading time.
Having learned some history since then, I have a more realistic view of the explorers and colonialists. This book, containing two excerpts from a collection published in 1589 still attempts to lionize the leaders of these voyages, but the straightforward narrative style of the author lays bare the brutality of captains Drake and Candish (whose voyage makes up the second half of this collection).
Drake comes off as more of a straight-up pirate, with a style that reads like old school 1st edition Dungeons & Dragons warstories. Encounter. Loot. Encounter. Loot. Encounter. Loot. And so on, ad nauseum. Drake was clearly all about the money, and with the element of surprise on his side in most of his encounters with the Spanish, he was able to show some mercy once the gold and silver were handed over.
Candish got into some more desperate straits at times, and there is more brutality, particularly toward indigenous populations, in the account of his voyage (Drake is hardly innocent in this regard, though).
In spite of these being tales of piracy on the high seas, the pacing is dull, and the descriptions felt uninspired.
I was also a little disappointed to find no notes or context from the editors, which were a nice component of Henry Mayhew's Of Street Piemen from this same Penguin series.
While not the most enjoyable read, this is still a valuable bit of history (biased, certainly; Hakluyt is renowned as the great propagandist of English sea power), and a decent sample to get the flavor of Hakluyt's work.
Having learned some history since then, I have a more realistic view of the explorers and colonialists. This book, containing two excerpts from a collection published in 1589 still attempts to lionize the leaders of these voyages, but the straightforward narrative style of the author lays bare the brutality of captains Drake and Candish (whose voyage makes up the second half of this collection).
Drake comes off as more of a straight-up pirate, with a style that reads like old school 1st edition Dungeons & Dragons warstories. Encounter. Loot. Encounter. Loot. Encounter. Loot. And so on, ad nauseum. Drake was clearly all about the money, and with the element of surprise on his side in most of his encounters with the Spanish, he was able to show some mercy once the gold and silver were handed over.
Candish got into some more desperate straits at times, and there is more brutality, particularly toward indigenous populations, in the account of his voyage (Drake is hardly innocent in this regard, though).
In spite of these being tales of piracy on the high seas, the pacing is dull, and the descriptions felt uninspired.
I was also a little disappointed to find no notes or context from the editors, which were a nice component of Henry Mayhew's Of Street Piemen from this same Penguin series.
While not the most enjoyable read, this is still a valuable bit of history (biased, certainly; Hakluyt is renowned as the great propagandist of English sea power), and a decent sample to get the flavor of Hakluyt's work.