Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony Paperback – January 1, 2012

I thoroughly enjoyed Roanoke: Solving the Mystery of the Lost Colony. The story was certainly different, and much more complete than any of the other versions I have heard. Instead of focusing on what happened after the colony disappeared, this book goes into the history of the voyages to the site where the colony was left that preceded its location there, and into what was happening back in England at the time.Although some other factors played into the colony’s fate, such as a drought that was affecting Roanoke and its environs at the time, and the well-known history of the terrible depredations on the Native American tribes caused by the spread of smallpox and other contagious diseases carried by the white men when they arrived in North America, it appears that the Roanoke colonists were set up to fail. The author speculates that this was done deliberately by enemies of Sir Walter Raleigh to bring him down politically. It seems to have begun well before the colonists ever left for the New World.Some of the evidence cited by the author seems a little thin and circumstantial, but other incidents are backed up by diaries or other accounts of other members of the relevant expeditions at the time. The never-ending quest for gold figured in the events, although it seems that copper mining was much more a part of the culture of the Native Americans in the area.In addition to all the other damage of various kinds done by the earlier explorers, there was at least one vicious attack on a Native American village that destroyed it completely. Sorry, but this seems to me to have been a seriously bad idea that can’t have had any good effects on the later relations between the Native Americans and the English settlers for many years after the entire Roanoke experiment disappeared into the mists of time.I was not bothered much by the tendency, noted by other reviewers, of the author to neglect the use of complete sentences in many cases. I sort of viewed it as a voice narrative where these phrases were used to give an atmospheric color to the story. But, of course, that is just me. If you are vastly annoyed by that sort of thing, you might want to give this book a pass. Otherwise, it was mostly a great read.

The book is written in a teacher's style. It is very drawn out out times but also informative. Direct quotes evidence history and add style, however some of these quotes can make reading a little tougher since so many words are indecipherable today. Overall it is very informative if not overdone.

First off this was written as a mystery and not as a historical narrative. The writer states this up front so it was not surprise. In my opinion it would have been better as a narrative. That's the reason I gave it four stars and not five. But aside from that this was a very good book on the lost colony of Roanoke. The writer did some fine research. It had to be incredibly difficult to dig up facts from something happened over 500 years ago about a time that is nothing like today. The research about the Indian nations in North America is fantastic. The writer does come up with some well documented and well reasoned conclusions as to what happened these people. We will never know the full answer but with this book we do know much more than we ever did. It is well worth the time to read id you want to know more about this lost colony and the times that surrounded it.

Most Americans are probably familiar with the bare outlines of the story of Raleigh's colony at Roanoke. Many will, like me, remember history text pictures of the stunned John White staring in awestruck perplexity at that awful word, CROATOAN. Few will, like me, have mothers who explained that the Croatians came for them.The basic story is familiar. Miller presents us with the entire story, from the Spanish pressure on England that led to privateering, to the court intrigues. We learn about the social and political situation in England, with much interesting detail that helps us understand how these people lived. Lane's dealings with the Native Americans, killing and burning for a wretched silver cup, are sickening. The poor Indians must have felt that unwonted doom had descended on them out of a clear blue sky.Miller's research is highly impressive. All the pieces slide into place, even the preposterous Welsh Indians. I know nothing about American languages, so I cannot comment authoritatively on her conclusions there, but if this stands up to peer review, it should settle the case. If nothing else, she has convinced me. (Samuel Morison's Oxford History of the American People says the Lumbee Indians believe the blood of Raleigh's colonists runs in their veins. I wonder what Miller says about that.)The case should be settled, but the melodramatic writing style has caused comment. A writing gimmick, used sparingly, is clever, often repeated becomes distracting, obnoxious, and causes you to wonder about the writer. Her health. Her qi. She can barely build up the steam to write a complete sentence. Fragments. Almost the whole book. She's okay when she's concentrating on scholarly evidence, and oh how she piles on the footnotes! But when she's telling a story, you want to stand by her desk and cheer, Take a deep breath, Lee, push that pen! All the way to the end! You can do it, you can do it! Push that pen! Rah rah rah!If you can muck your way through all those fragments, you will find a superb story, nailed down with meticulous scholarship. One thought will not leave my mind. The lost colonists who survived must have heard that their countrymen were searching in the region, but as slaves they were unable to meet them. Pity their despair!