Patriot or Traitor: The Life and Death of Sir Walter Ralegh

A BBC History Magazine Book of the Year

‘Talking much is a sign of vanity, for the man who is lavish with words is cheap in deeds.’

Sir Walter Ralegh

Sir Walter Ralegh was a writer, poet, soldier, politician, courtier, spy and explorer. He lived more lives than most in his own time, in any time.

We do not even know when this fifth son of a Devonshire gentleman was born, yet he went on to ‘climb full high’ in the England of Queen Elizabeth I. How was such a man able to do this?

His life was romantic, irresistible and of central importance to early modern history. Prone to periods of extreme melancholy alternating with extreme activity, here was a liar who believed his own lies. He had a hunger for life, a longing for death, a passion for words … and a love of silk stockings.

Always driven, and always consumed with wonder, Ralegh was a man who pored over maps, asking dangerous questions of the world around him.

His death is a convoluted and contested tale of bargaining, failure and betrayal. Through the Elizabethan golden age and Ralegh’s famous adventures to the final act, Anna Beer presents his stranger-than-fiction life in all its richness.