A major historical biography: the dramatic, harrowing and contested story of Sir Walter Ralegh
A BBC History Magazine Book of the Year
A writer, soldier, politician, courtier, spy and explorer, Sir Walter Ralegh lived more lives than most in his own time, in any time. The fifth son of a Devonshire gentleman, he rose to become Queen Elizabeth's favourite, only to be charged with treason by her successor.
Less than a year after the death of his Queen, Ralegh was in the Tower, watching as the scene was set for his own execution.
Patriot or Traitor is the dramatic story of his rise and fall.
‘Much of what we think we know about Sir Walter Ralegh – potatoes, tobacco, spreading his cloak over a “plashy place” – is fable. The real story is far more exciting. Here was a man who both achieved and failed extravagantly, who was both hated and loved excessively, and who both lived life and faced death courageously. In this fascinating, eloquent and scholarly new book, Anna Beer reveals the full measure of the man.’
