BIG BLOG
Monday Book Review
BY JEFF REDMON/BREAKTHROUGH IMPACT GROUP
Looking for a fun read to escape in?
Look no further than “In Search of a Kingdom” by Laurence Bergreen.
This novel captures the escapades of Sir Francis Drake and his impact on the fight between England and Spain for world domination.
Bergreen is a masterful narrator capturing the adventures and discovery of early explorers, author of Magellan in Over the Edge of the World, Columbus – The Four Voyages and Marco Polo – From Venice to Xanadu.
Bergreen shares with vivid details Drake’s circumnavigation of the globe. Magellan is given credit for being the first, but Drake was the first to survive the whole journey.
Interesting enough, one of his crew members was also on Magellan’s trip around the world.
Drake was a hot-tempered, red-haired hustling pirate who beguiles the young English Queen Elizabeth with his promises of expansion, gold, and silver from the new world.
The Queen, desperate for funds, sanctions his exploration and search for riches.
Drake’s pillaging, mostly at the expense of Spain, fills the Tower of London with riches and ultimately tips the balance of power between Spain and England.
Drake was literally the catalyst for England to move from an island nation to its British
Empire.
A fun read. Not a business book, not a leadership book, but a study in strategy, leadership, and funding a global enterprise.
With these books on history, particularly leaders under stress, I always take away insights on different leadership styles. Drake was a former slave owner that disavowed slavery but had no problem killing Spaniards or indigenous people in foreign lands to gain riches for himself and the Queen.
What books have you enjoyed recently?