November 1587. A report reaches London that Sir Walter Raleigh’s expedition, which left England months before to land the first English settlers in America, has foundered. On Roanoke Island, off the coast of North Carolina, a tragedy is unfolding. Something has gone very wrong, and the colony—115 men, women, and children, among them the first English child born in the New World, Virginia Dare—is … Dare—is in trouble. But there will be no rescue. Before help can reach them, all will vanish with barely a trace.
The Lost Colony is America’s oldest unsolved mystery. In this remarkable example of historical detective work, Lee Miller goes back to the original evidence and offers a fresh solution to the enduring legend. She establishes beyond doubt that the tragedy of the Lost Colony did not begin on the shores of Roanoke but within the walls of Westminster, in the inner circle of Queen Elizabeth’s government. As Miller detects, powerful men had reason to want Raleigh’s mission to fail. Furthermore, Miller shows what must have become of the settlers, left to face a hostile world that was itself suffering the upheavals of an alien invasion. Narrating a thrilling tale of court intrigue, spy rings, treachery, sabotage, Native American politics, and colonial power, Miller has finally shed light on a four-hundred-year-old unsolved mystery.
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Lee Miller’s title pretty much says it all. Miller sets out to understand how an entire colony could have disappeared, the questions that his intrigued generations of historians, archaeologists, and others.
Does she solve the mystery? I actually have no idea. I tried so hard to finish this book. I am deeply interested in history and have dragged …
Nice perspective on a eternal mystery. The outcome makes so much sense. It tends to drag with the politics but that’s not a hardship.
Excellent source book for people interested in Roanoke
Still reading, since I tend to read history books in installments, then take a break and read a novel. Well-written and interesting, emphasizing the Elizabethan era politics that backed up New World exploration.
Full of information about world events and settling of colonies.
I can’t say that I learned much. OK, no one knows much, but it doesn’t take an entire book to say that.
I own this book in hard back and on Kindle. Well researched, informative, well written. A fascinating piece of history.
Boring. To much repetition I couldn’t even finish the book. If I would have repeatedly read one more line about the same rivers again I just couldn’t!
Interesting information but the author’s writing style is maddening. The author uses the present tense and doesn’t use complete sentences. It’s like reading someone’s notes.
Slow. Difficult read. Couldn’t finish it.
Incredible first source research.
Very good book. I actually found it at a book fair at my son’s school and was intrigued by it. I came home that night, laid in bed and read it cover to cover. It was the first non-fiction that I had read. I don’t read too many non-fiction but, I recommend this one to anyone who is interested in historical mysteries.
Wow. Talk about research, this guy has it down. I’m a historian. This is probably the most considered and plausible explanation for the disappearance of the Roanoke Colony. I always thought the whole “CROATOAN carved on a tree” story sounded like something was missing. This book tells the whole backstory of the goings-on in England, the …
This book hooked me so much by the way the author took me through the scenarios ‘he’ ( more on this in a minute) established , as if ‘he’ were leading me through it explaining in great detail what was transpiring, (perhaps I’m not making a lot of sense here), but it truly was amazing to me. I decided to look into the author’s background , …
Not into conspiracies
Irritating narrative style
I appreciate the amount of research that went into this book. It was obviously a lot of work. However I have some reservations about the organization and the writing style. Perhaps in order to fill out a book on a subject about which there is mostly mystery the author takes us into general history on early Virginia.
Some is necessary but it …
Not written very well. I gave up after about 10 pages.
I absolutely love this book and this series!
Too technical.