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Living in East Java now, this is something I can’t imagine at all, which makes details like this fascinating. And when he is forced to relate distasteful behavior on the part of the British (such as the men in Henry Hudson's expedition who made a sport of shooting American Indians with muskets from the deck of their ship) he seems extremely grieved by it, whereas similar behavior by the Dutch can pass without comment. ON CHRISTMAS DAY, 1616, an English adventurer, Nathaniel Courthope, stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a most secret and dangerous mission.
Having read White gold, I was educated in historical events I was otherwise unaware of, but thought I liked Milton's style. Giles Milton leaves many of his primary sources verbatim, quoted in 17th century English like what Shakespeare used.Other authorities, turning Borde's misfortune to good effect, began to claim that far from dampening sexual desire, nutmeg was actually a powerful aphrodisiac. I do not normally read non-fiction, but my dad shoved this book into my hands after a recent visit and said "Read it" in hushed tones, as if this book contains all the hidden truths I could possibly need. This book is actually most interesting in its history of naval exploration, including Henry Hudson's exploration of North America in his attempts to find a Northwest Passage. When describing the English diplomacy with the natives, he used positive-sounding adjectives such as “apt” and “ingenious”, while when describing the Dutch and Portuguese’ attempts in dealing with the natives, he used negative-sounding adjectives such as “guileful” and “ruthless”.
In this fascinating story, Milton describes the incredible effort it took to make it to Run and its neighboring islands. He fails to give much personality to his characters or build any significant story lines in the book.These tiny specks on the map were vital for only one reason:the most exquisite spices grew there and only there.