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Title: The Armada by Garrett Mattingly ISBN: 0-395-08366-4 Publisher: Mariner Books Pub. Date: 13 December, 1974 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.57 (7 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Absolutely Amazing!
Comment: This has got to be one of the absolute best historical books on the Armada. Not only on the Armada but on the politics on the continent as it pertained to England and Spain. It is very accurate in its facts and portrays them in a way that brings the characters and events alive, leaving you with a craving feeling to read more and more. Written like a novel yet with the facts of a history book. A recommend for anyone looking for a gripping historical account of the struggle between Spain and England that resulted in the Armada's attempt to invade England.
Rating: 5
Summary: Debunking Collective Memory and Highlighting Diplomacy
Comment: Given Mattingly's insight into Mendova's political manuevers in Paris, Philip II's understanding of European powers, and the role of the Catholic Church in European politics, this was required reading for a college course on European Diplomacy (1500-1918). While a naval historian might find fault in the lack of details and maps, Mattingly does cover the moves and countermoves by the English and Spanish reasonably well, especially for novice sailors like me. However, Mattingly correctly focuses on the lasting influence of the English Enterprise by the Spanish Armada: the flawed belief of a power shift in European politics and the myth(s) it produced.
Yes, in keeping with the title of the book, the moves by Spanish Armada are covered in a "daily diary" format, which actually serves to better highlight the real driving force of this work. Mattingly loves to dive into all the source material available and gain a sense of the diplomacy, delayed communication, and potential thoughts of the majors players. In doing so, Mattingly presents all the rumors and views (circa 1588), shows how historians have ran with those "facts" (now rooted in a collective memory), but he then corrects and deals those assumptions as flawed, baseless, or plausible. For example, Drake is often given credit for defeating the Spanish Armada, though he was not in command of the British fleet. Contrary to some stories, the Spanish were not damned by poor weather, but actually had the best seas imaginable. These are minor points, but were often touchstones for historical and political spinning. Mattingly does well in not only debunking these "truths" but in determining when and why they began.
This is not revisionist history in the "politically correct" sense of the word. Rather, it lays out the various stories, notes the points of the bias, and seeks to synthesize a coherent story given the available primary sources. Mattingly presents history as it should be - a clear story driven by primary sources which respects the prism of bias inherent in sources.
Buy this book.
Rating: 3
Summary: Hail Britiannia
Comment: A very readable account of (one of) the moment(s) England was challenged by a continental power and Europe hung in the balance.
Like Churchill more than three centuries later, Elizabeth I was helped quite mightely by the English Channel, but in her case the seemingly miraculous destruction of the Spanish fleet resulted in her near-deification. And rightfully so.
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Title: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea by ROBERT K. MASSIE ISBN: 0679456716 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Dreadnought by Robert K. Massie ISBN: 0345375564 Publisher: Ballantine Books Pub. Date: 15 September, 1992 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: Renaissance Diplomacy by Garrett Mattingly ISBN: 0486255700 Publisher: Dover Pubns Pub. Date: 01 February, 1988 List Price(USD): $10.95 |
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Title: Six Galleons for the King of Spain: Imperial Defense in the Early Seventeenth Century by Carla Rahn Phillips ISBN: 0801845130 Publisher: Johns Hopkins Univ Pr Pub. Date: October, 1992 List Price(USD): $37.00 |
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Title: The Spanish Armada: Revised Edition by Colin Martin, Geoffrey Parker ISBN: 1901341143 Publisher: Manchester Univ Pr Pub. Date: 06 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $22.95 |
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