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Title: Nathaniel's Nutmeg by Giles Milton ISBN: 0-14-029260-8 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 03 July, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.29 (51 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Profit and Treachery on the High Seas
Comment: This was a great read...just the kind of history book that makes learning fun. Who would have thought that so much blood could be shed over what is today a relatively common spice -- nutmeg. During the 16th and 17th centuries, nutmeg was as valuable as gold and all the big players of Western Europe (Spain, Holland, and England) were eager to get in on the action. Eventually Spain dropped out of the race leaving England and Holland to wreak havoc upon each other and the natives of several South Pacific Islands. Milton's prose is wonderfully descriptive with a dash of dry, British humor in all the right places. Beware...this book is not for the soft-hearted as contains ample bloodshed and vivid torture scenes. The complete disregard that the Dutch and English had for the natives and the ecological balance of the islands can also be a bit shocking to the 21st century mind. But it is a worthwhile read nonetheless. The only thing I didn't understand was the title...Nathanial shows up towards the end of the book and although he's quite heroic, his is by no means the only story told.
Rating: 4
Summary: Excellently researched, fascinating history...
Comment: For someone who tends to read novels, this refreshing and fascinating book about the discovery of, exploitation of, and fighting for the East Indian spice islands was a lovely hiatus for me. Although titled in honor of the British Nathaniel Courthope who managed to hold the Dutch off the tiny spice island of Run, the book only spends one chapter on him toward the end. One of the reasons for this seemingly skewed portrait of Courthope and his accomplishment is that his grip on the island of Run allowed the British to eventually trade it with the Dutch for the island of Manhattan (and let's face it, how many people have heard of Run and how many have heard of Manhattan!) The bulk of the book describes in detail the numerous and various voyages, battles, and wild 'transactions' between the British, Portuguese and Dutch in their fight for possession and control of the valuable spice-producing islands (what today are part of Malaysia, Indonesia and other smaller island nations in the South Pacific).
In general this is a fascinating and exciting tale - made more exciting by the fact that is was real - real history. Specifically, it was obvious that the author was British as the reader is led to believe that the Dutch and Portuguese were absolute barbarians when in fact, the British captains and crew were certainly not all tea and crumpet types either. I also had a little trouble with the author's tendency to jump back and forth between Atlantic and Pacific voyages, and mentioning protagonists in one chapter and bringing them back in subsequent chapters - it was sometimes hard to follow who was where when. The most impressive part of this book for me was the fact that the author must have had to read through thousands of very old diaries, letters, and other correspondance of the time to have built such a wonderfully complete tale of this period in history set in a place in the world very few people know a good deal about. Just wonderful.
Rating: 4
Summary: A well-written history of Run
Comment: The only failure of this book is that it is putting too much of an emphasis on the remotest island of the Banda group (where the English were most involved), even though the rest of the archipelago was actually more important.
So those inspired to get the full picture should also read the more thoroughly-written "Indonesian Banda" by W.A.Hanna which gives a more complete and balaced account of the history of these islands.
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Title: Samurai William: The Englishman Who Opened the East by Giles Milton ISBN: 0374253854 Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux Pub. Date: 18 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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Title: The Riddle and the Knight: In Search of Sir John Mandeville, the World's Greatest Traveller by Giles Milton ISBN: 031242129X Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 November, 2002 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: Big Chief Elizabeth: The Adventures and Fate of the First English Colonists in America by Giles Milton ISBN: 0312420188 Publisher: Picador USA Pub. Date: 01 September, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Scents of Eden: A History of the Spice Trade by Charles Corn ISBN: 1568362498 Publisher: Kodansha America Pub. Date: 01 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $16.00 |
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Title: Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel ISBN: 0140258795 Publisher: Penguin Books Pub. Date: 01 October, 1996 List Price(USD): $11.95 |
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