Fain Would I Climb: Sir Walter Raleigh Tells His Life Story - Tapa blanda

If it weren't for a certain English Queen, what we know as the Elizabethan Age might well be called the Waltonian Age.One of the most colorful personalities at the court of Queen Elizabeth I, Sir Walter Raleigh was an explorer, poet, ship designer, essayist, soldier, sailor, political philosopher, founder of colonies, amateur scientist, and privateer (a euphemism for pirate).In his wide-ranging interests and adventurous life, Raleigh personifies the spirit of the Elizabethan Age – thrusting, intensely curious, ceaselessly creative, and perhaps a bit amoral. Truly, in the figure of Walter Raleigh the Elizabethan Age is writ small – if such a word could be applied to such a large-hearted, ambitious, and fecund figure.Sir Walter Raleigh has been the subject of numerous biographies, but Raleigh Barlowe's fictional autobiography is the first account of Raleigh's life told from his point of view. Although devoted to his own interests and career, Raleigh is not so self-absorbed that he ignores the world around him – the intrigue ridden Elizabethan court, as dangerous in its way as the Atlantic storms that buffet Raleigh's ships as he seeks a place for a New England in the Old World.Writing as a prisoner in the Tower of London, Raleigh chronicles his youthful adventures as a pirate, details his attempts to run an English comb through the unruly locks of the Irish, and tells of his last, heartbreaking journey to the Americas and his return to an uncertain future, a future clouded by the shadow of the scaffold.Raleigh Barlowe's assumption of the persona of Sir Walter Raleigh brings the adventure's world vividly to life. The author's skill is such that the reader may, indeed, wonder if the Elizabethan Age isn't misnamed.

A descendant of the Devonshire Raleighs, author Raleigh Barlowe grew up on a ranch in Montana. His early work experience included stints at the Rockefeller Foundation, the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the Food Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. He joined the staff of Michigan State University in 1948, where he was designated Distinguished Professor in 1981 and served as chairman of the university's Department of Resource Development before his retirement in 1984.