All facets of Ralegh’s life are wonderfully drawn by historian Alan Gallay. Gallay’s biography is more than just a portrait of one of the world’s most interesting men; it is also an exhaustive study of the first age of the English Empire ... corrects the assumption that he was a 'failed colonizer' given that his experiment in North America never materialized. Gallay also goes to great lengths to show that 'reading history backward from what occurred at its end' is a grave mistake in regard to the first English Empire ... Gallay exposes fascinating pieces of Ralegh’s personality, interests, and the magical world he inhabited ... a brilliant biography of a true one of a kind.
... vividly conjured ... a richly researched and engagingly written biography ... While Mr. Gallay strives commendably to see the colonial experiment in America from the Indian point of view, he tells us frustratingly little about how the Irish felt about their coerced assimilation. This lacuna is all the more puzzling in a book that reaches so effectively beyond simple biography in its effort to plumb the character of an age.
Gallay describes British forays into Ireland, North America and South America in extensive, sometimes suspenseful, detail, and takes an in-depth look at the politics behind Ralegh’s imprisonments in the Tower of London and his eventual punishment by death ... Gallay has crafted a richly detailed portrait of a courtier, poet, author and alchemist who, he argues, should inspire readers to approach history from a different angle.
... distinguishes itself from the general pack through the ambition of its ideological scope ... Gallay’s book is a thorough and detailed interpretation of just what colonization meant in Elizabethan times ... Throughout his book, Gallay seeks to draw a wide line between conquest and colonization – sometimes a wider line than the facts support ... There’s quite a bit of that justifying happening in these pages ... Fortunately, the huge majority of Gallay’s narrative isn’t quite so freighted in his hero’s favor. Architect of Empire is mostly a detailed and spirited chronicle of one of history’s most colorful lives ... Gallay writes about this familiar story with a great deal of fresh energy and a thorough command of his sources. His version of Walter Ralegh is a refreshingly material creature, a climber and schemer very distinct from the romanticized gallant who too often appears in biographies. This is very much a Ralegh for the anti-colonial 21st century.
Galley refers to Ralegh as a colonizer throughout this latest work, but tries to soften the term in a way that is not quite successful ... What this book does reveal, however, are the ways in which English colonization of the Americas was similar to contemporary efforts in Ireland, in which Ralegh also played a key role. This does not lighten the impact of American colonization but rather adds a sinister tone to English settlement of Ireland ... A good choice for those already familiar with the broad strokes of Elizabethan England, and for readers seeking to expand their knowledge of Ralegh’s life and works.
Though Gallay is unfortunately not interested in Ralegh’s personal life, he manages to convey the enormous sense of how the gallant courtier, alchemist, humanist, and author helped create the cult of the goddess queen—who summarily ejected him out of her orbit ... An enriching, sympathetic consideration of an extraordinary character in the fraught time of Tudor England.
