Big Chief Elizabeth
How England’s Adventurers Gambled and Won the New World
Preface by Giles Milton
Greed, romance and desperation abound in Giles Milton’s exploration of the colonial enterprise that paved the way to the United States of America. At the book’s heart lies the vanishing of the 1587 settlement on Roanoke Island, whose 115 inhabitants met with a grisly end.
The colonial enterprise that paved the way to the United States of America was effectively a gamble on the part of a handful of adventurers motivated by a combination of greed, romance and desperation. Fired by envy of the vast gains being made by the Spanish in the south, succeeding waves of merchants and swashbuckling noblemen attempted to build a permanent colony in the north. Under the aegis of the energetic Walter Ralegh, several expeditions set out, and Queen Elizabeth was persuaded to give her name to the fledgling colony of Virginia.
Bound in cloth blocked with an illustration by Joe McLaren
Set in Granjon with Gryphius display
Frontispiece and 16 pages of colour and black & white plates
Printed map endpapers
9½˝ × 6¼˝