The Armada (urspr publ 1959; utgåvan 1959)

This book stayed on my shelf for quite some time because I thought it was a bit of a stuffy history tome and heavy going. Once I got past the first couple of pages I could not put it down. A wonderful insight into religious nonsense of 1588 and how it ruined the lives of so many Europeans. . . . For nothing. Much as it still does today when children are indoctrinated into a “faith” * before they are old enough to think for themselves.

One of the saddest things the book relates is that the sailors who fought so bravely and worked so hard and survived, returned to their respective countries and starved to death.

* Faith: OED: Belief without evidence. ( )

Possibly the best, modern book ever published on the Spanish Armada. ( )

One of the finest histories ever writ. SEL ( )

This book was in my house growing up, and I read it over and over -- it's wonderfully written. It needs to be pointed out, though, that Mattingly was a diplomatic historian. N.A.M. Rodger, in the bibliography to the first volume of his magisterial naval history of Britain, Safeguard of the Seas, says that this book is still valuable on the political and diplomatic background to King Phillip's assault -- but as far as the actual sea combat goes, it's negligible.

Incredibly intelligent and compelling framing of the world surrounding a cataclysmic event. ( )