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14+ Works 4,306 Members 84 Reviews 2 Favorited

About the Author

Laurence Bergreen is a bestselling author of Over the Edge of the World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation of the Globe. His other books include Columbus: The Four Voyages, 1492-1504; Marco Polo: From Venice to Xanadu; and Voyage to Mars: NASA's Search for Life Beyond Earth. A graduate of show more Harvard, Bergreen lives in Manhattan. show less
Image credit: Photo by Lilithcat

Works by Laurence Bergreen

Associated Works

MHQ: The Quarterly Journal of Military History — Summer 1990 (1990) — Author "Oh! How He Hated to Get Up in the Morning" — 14 copies

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13th century (16) 16th century (45) adventure (59) American history (22) Asia (38) bio (23) biography (412) China (54) Christopher Columbus (20) circumnavigation (29) Columbus (21) discovery (26) Europe (17) European History (43) exploration (242) explorers (83) Ferdinand Magellan (16) geography (21) historical (18) history (667) Italy (26) jazz (20) Magellan (76) Marco Polo (61) maritime (24) maritime history (23) medieval (16) music (45) non-fiction (315) Portugal (25) read (19) sailing (23) science (16) Silk Road (28) Spain (50) to-read (239) travel (94) unread (17) Venice (33) world history (59)

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Reviews

It is almost unimaginable-what these men braved and experienced, but-thanks to a painstaking reliance on primary sources-the author brings it all vividly too life
really interesting
 
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cspiwak | 50 other reviews | Mar 6, 2024 |
Even thoiugh this is the period of British history with which I am most familiar, I still learned a great deal from this well written book. It works as a biography for both Drake and Elizabeth. I was especiallly engrossed with Drake's circumnavigation, whihc I had previously known little about, other than it happened and he explored the whole from woulod later become the California, Oregon and Washington coast. I also did not know the full extent of his success as a pirate on this voyage with many millions in today's dollars liberated from the Spanish. The court intrigue is as interesting as court intrigue gets for me, but I would have enjoyed more detail on the techniques Drake used so successfully to subdue all those ships without any serious difficulties. The Spanish Armada sections were also enlightening. I had forgotten the devastation wrought by the weather on the Spanish ships and the superior range of English cannon. Of course, everyone knew about the speed difference.… (more)
 
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SamMelfi | Jan 22, 2024 |
A good recapitulation, exposition, and explanation of Marco Polo, the Pax Mongolica, and Polo's book. Interesting, resting on good scholarship, nice pictures, and more accessible than Rustichello's/Polo's late medieval prose.
½
 
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tuckerresearch | 14 other reviews | Aug 24, 2023 |
This book is a unique blend of historical fact and gripping narration. One would learn of the age of exploration in general, so much about the Magellan-Elcano trip, and the perspectives and ideas of that era. Antonio Pigafetta's chronicles are referenced at many places in detail and add another layer of information to the narrative. The stories, the opinions of 16th century explorers, the tragedies and the lessons learnt are all things one would come to appreciate on reading. You'd also come across the history of discovery of so many places, of Tierra Del Fuego, of Guam, of the straits of Magellan, even of the first observations recorded by Europeans of the dwarf Magellanic galaxies! The path taken by the Armada of Molucca will pretty much be hardcoded into your memory once you get through this book.… (more)
 
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Rahul_Mogalapalli | 50 other reviews | Apr 12, 2023 |

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Works
14
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1
Members
4,306
Popularity
#5,828
Rating
3.9
Reviews
84
ISBNs
115
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15
Favorited
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