Over The Edge Of The World: Magellan's Terrifying Circumnavigation Of The Globe

in 1519 Magellan And His Fleet Of Five Ships Set Sail From Seville, Spain, To Discover A Water Route To The Fabled Spice Islands In Indonesia, Where The Most Sought-after Commodities - Cloves, Pepper, And Nutmeg - Flourished. Three Years Later, A Handful Of Survivors Returned With An Abundance Of Spices From Their Intended Destination, But With Just One Ship Carrying Eighteen Emaciated Men. During Their Remarkable Voyage Around The World The Crew Endured Starvation, Disease, Mutiny, And Torture. Many Men Died, Including Magellan, Who Was Violently Killed In A Fierce Battle.

this Is The First Full Account In Nearly Half A Century Of This Voyage Into History: A Tour Of The World Emerging From The Middle Ages Into The Renaissance; A Startling Anthropological Account Of Tribes, Languages, And Customs Unknown To Europeans; And A Chronicle Of A Desperate Grab For Commercial And Political Power.

the New York Times

prodigious Research, Sure-footed Prose And Vivid Depictions Make For A Thoroughly Satisfying Account Of The Age In Which Iberian Seafarers Groped Their Way Around The World. Binding It All Together Is The Psychology Of Magellan's Flawed Leadership, The Source Of Constant Tension In His Fleet. Driven By A Fanatical Dream To Find The Spice Islands, Magellan Was A Frustrated Portuguese Nobleman Sailing For The King Of Spain And A Complicated Man With Absolute Power Of Life And Death Over His Crew. Almost Five Centuries After Embarking On His World-changing Voyage, He Emerges Here In The Hands Of A Capable Biographer Who Is Simultaneously Attracted And Repelled By His Excesses. — w. Jeffrey Bolster