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A review by alexandraidonea
The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke by Andrew Lawler
2.0
I finally finished this book last night.
It was terrible. Which obviously needs explanation.
As someone who studied early (EARLY) American colonialism as a sort of sub-focus for my history degree, and took a course specifically about Roanoke and Jamestown, I was so excited to see this cross my desk at work. I added it to my to-read list immediately and put it on hold at the library, where it was still in processing. I was the first person to get it, and devoured the first of three sections the book is split into because, what did it promise me? but new insights into the mystery!
This first section was dedicated to what we know of the voyages to Roanoke and those left there from primary sources, which is not altogether that much, though thank goodness for White's drawings and watercolours. A little bit of this section was out of chronological order, which I can't stand because I think chronologically, but overall I was impressed with the research and the narrative.
The second part, which dragged on and on and on, is devoted to all the "leads" on the Lost Colonists over the intervening centuries - which all but one turn out to be hoaxes, and even that one may be as well. It's important to discuss that mythos of these people, these voyages, the foundation of (English) Europeans in America, but to be promised new insight and led down rabbit holes again and again (once again, not in a strict chronological order, and with many asides) felt like pointless reading. In half the pages a similar summation could have been made.
The third and final section explores how the myth of the Lost Colonists has taken shape and persisted over time - from the way Virginia Dare has been used to market different items to exploring different Native American Tribes that do, or do not, believe they are descended from the Lost Colonists (or a mix of Lost Colonists, Native Americans, and Africans). This again drew a lot of my attention as I am interested in cultural repercussions (more so than Southern men digging things up and then refusing to work with other people or organizations to determine their authenticity, which happened time and time again). But, it remained repetitive and I felt that the messages could have been relayed in fewer pages, fewer words. It's not even that Lawler's prose is indirect, because it isn't: it's more that he is incessantly repetitive. From someone who was funded largely by National Geographic and writes for them, I expected more.
In the end, we do have a new synthesis of thoughts and ideas, interviews with dozens of scholars, archaeologists, and amateurs who were never written about together before. But as Lawler becomes more and more obsessed with the mystery, the entire endeavor seems more amateurish, and I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless you only planned to skim it.
It was terrible. Which obviously needs explanation.
As someone who studied early (EARLY) American colonialism as a sort of sub-focus for my history degree, and took a course specifically about Roanoke and Jamestown, I was so excited to see this cross my desk at work. I added it to my to-read list immediately and put it on hold at the library, where it was still in processing. I was the first person to get it, and devoured the first of three sections the book is split into because, what did it promise me? but new insights into the mystery!
This first section was dedicated to what we know of the voyages to Roanoke and those left there from primary sources, which is not altogether that much, though thank goodness for White's drawings and watercolours. A little bit of this section was out of chronological order, which I can't stand because I think chronologically, but overall I was impressed with the research and the narrative.
The second part, which dragged on and on and on, is devoted to all the "leads" on the Lost Colonists over the intervening centuries - which all but one turn out to be hoaxes, and even that one may be as well. It's important to discuss that mythos of these people, these voyages, the foundation of (English) Europeans in America, but to be promised new insight and led down rabbit holes again and again (once again, not in a strict chronological order, and with many asides) felt like pointless reading. In half the pages a similar summation could have been made.
The third and final section explores how the myth of the Lost Colonists has taken shape and persisted over time - from the way Virginia Dare has been used to market different items to exploring different Native American Tribes that do, or do not, believe they are descended from the Lost Colonists (or a mix of Lost Colonists, Native Americans, and Africans). This again drew a lot of my attention as I am interested in cultural repercussions (more so than Southern men digging things up and then refusing to work with other people or organizations to determine their authenticity, which happened time and time again). But, it remained repetitive and I felt that the messages could have been relayed in fewer pages, fewer words. It's not even that Lawler's prose is indirect, because it isn't: it's more that he is incessantly repetitive. From someone who was funded largely by National Geographic and writes for them, I expected more.
In the end, we do have a new synthesis of thoughts and ideas, interviews with dozens of scholars, archaeologists, and amateurs who were never written about together before. But as Lawler becomes more and more obsessed with the mystery, the entire endeavor seems more amateurish, and I would not recommend this book to anyone, unless you only planned to skim it.