Product Description

Extravagant, whimsical, and hot-tempered, Elizabeth was the epitome of power, both feared and admired by her enemies. Dubbed the "pirate queen" by the Vatican and Spain's Philip II, she employed a network of daring merchants, brazen adventurers, astronomer philosophers, and her stalwart Privy Council to anchor her throne—and in doing so, planted the seedlings of an empire that would ultimately cover two-fifths of the world.

In The Pirate Queen, historian Susan Ronald offers a fresh look at Elizabeth I, relying on a wealth of historical sources and thousands of the queen's personal letters to tell the thrilling story of a visionary monarch and the swashbuckling mariners who terrorized the seas to amass great wealth for themselves and the Crown.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #647295 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-24
• Released on: 2008-06-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 512 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780060820671
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From Publishers Weekly
When Elizabeth Tudor became queen in 1558, her religiously fractured kingdom was in financial chaos and under constant threat from superpower Spain. How the iron-willed, financially astute monarch utilized piracy and plunder as a vital tool in guaranteeing English independence from foreign domination and in transforming a backwater nation into a nascent empire is the tantalizing focus of Ronald's (The Sancy Blood Diamond) latest effort. To wreak vengeance on the Spanish perpetrators of the Inquisition, Elizabeth granted swashbuckling John Hawkins permission for his first slaving voyage to Guinea in 1562. On a 1577 mission to raid Spanish shipping in the Pacific, Francis Drake became the first European commander to sail around the southernmost tip of South America from the Atlantic into the Pacific, and in 1588, he destroyed the invading Spanish Armada. Charismatic, massively ambitious Walter Raleigh founded Virginia, popularized smoking tobacco and spent the 1590s in a futile search for the fabled El Dorado. Authoritative, assiduously researched and with a knack for making the intricacies of sea skirmishes accessible and absorbing, this is a surprisingly fresh perspective on one of the most popular subjects of royal biography. 16 pages of b&w illus.; maps.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
*Starred Review* Biographies of the great Tudor queen abound, but this solid, even exciting one pursues a particular tack and thus takes itself outside the usual run of standard treatments. Ronald is interested in pursuing the life and reign of Elizabeth I in terms of her specific effect on the founding of what was to become the vast British Empire, which reached its zenith in the nineteenth century. As seen here, it was paramount for the queen to make herself secure on the English throne in the face of Catholics at home and abroad, who preferred her cousin Mary, Queen of Scots; in addition, her personal security had to be founded on the security of her kingdom on the world stage—the two, as she saw it, went hand in hand. The queen was, as Ronald has it, an "astute businesswoman" who realized that for state-security purposes, she needed lots of money. Although Ronald insists Elizabeth Tudor was "no empire builder," the fascinating picture drawn here is of her intense working relationship with the merchant and gentleman adventurers who, out on the high seas, would secure money for their beloved monarch, and, in the process, "inadvertently," as Ronald posits it, move England into a solid financial status that would, in turn, foster empire. Hooper, Brad

About the Author

Susan Ronald, author of The Sancy Blood Diamond, has consulted for five British government departments and The National Trust. Born and raised in the United States, she has lived in England for more than twenty years.

Customer Reviews

This one is it....
Normally I would not want to be so effusive with a book, but I have been waiting for a book on Queen Elizabeth that would not praise her on every page but really see her as a fallible human, for about 10 years. And well Susan Ronald has not fallen short of my expectations. Her didactic quality she lends to the book does not diminish or dilute the flow and pace other histotrians would fall foul of at most turns. She offers a tangible sense of the queen as a woman and a cunning naval commander with an eye on the financial and an ear and knowledge that as we know did set her apart from other queens or even kings.

Imbued with this Ronald ends on a high note (I won't give it away) but what I thought I knew about the 16th century queen I really did not. Her research is second to none and it was well worth the wait for it. It really did not disapoint.

It's a MUST to read
Susan Ronald has written a highly informative but above all entertaining history of Elizabeth I and her adventures that had me riveted to my chair! I had no idea that England was in such a fragile state when this young, single queen we all thought we knew so well had taken the throne. Ronald weaves Elizabeth's (and England's)journey to world power with verve and erudition...but has that unique gift of keeping the reader glued to the page. It's a fabulous fabulous read! Every high school and university library shoud have it: it puts a prespective on the British Empire that few of us knew existed, I suspect.

A fascinating book!
I was at Vroman's Bookstore in Pasadena and heard Susan Ronald speak about her book The Pirate Queen - Queen Elizabeth I, Her Pirate Adventurers and the Dawn of Empire. Frankly, I hadn't intended to buy it until I heard her speak; but she had a way of making Elizabeth, her men and her times come alive like a storyteller of old, so I bought the book. All I can say is that for someone who has done such in-depth research, Ronald has succeeded in creating a book that reads like the most thrilling adventure story. Until I read The Pirate Queen, I thought I knew all there was to know about Elizabeth I, her lovers, and her life. What a treat that Ronald has opened up an entirely fresh perspective for us non-academics who want to understand the "whys" in history! I heartily recommend this to anyone who is not interested in history (as well as those who are)... it has tremendous resonance for the times we live in today! Five stars for Ronald!!