Real People/Real Stories – A Nonfiction Book Group: “Big Chief Elizabeth” by Giles Milton

Real People/Real Stories explores the best in nonfiction history, biography, science, nature, and the arts. This month’s title is Big Chief Elizabeth by Giles Milton.

In 1587, Queen Elizabeth sent a contingent of men, women, and children to establish a colony on Roanoke Island in Virginia. Three years later a supply ship from England discovered that the settlers had all disappeared without a trace. What happened to the famous lost colony is one of history’s great mysteries. Author Giles Milton explores the possibilities in this intriguing real-life adventure.

“Extraordinary . . . [an] astonishing saga of courage, derring-do, and endurance . . . Giles Milton is a great storyteller, and Big Chief Elizabeth is a great story.” ―Melissa Bennetts, Christian Science Monitor “[A] swashbuckling history . . . It’s impossible to summarize Milton’s book, from which marvellous, vivid stories spill out like swag-sack booty. If Patrick O’Brian had scripted Gladiator it would read something like this.” ―Sukhdev Sandhu, The Guardian

“A spellbinding narrative on the preliminary attempts at colonization of North America by the British . . . Diligent scholarship and brilliant storytelling: a fascinating study that dispels many popular myths regarding America’s colonization.” ―Kirkus Reviews “Giles Milton brings to life Raleigh’s exploits in glorious technicolor as he details Elizabethan attempts to establish settlements in America in the riveting Big Chief Elizabeth. This is a book that makes history fun, reliving the dreams and schemes of a parade of heroes and villains who dared to think big–and in doing so changed the world.” ―Ann Hellmuth, The Orlando Sentinel