Captain from Castile [Paperback]

Samuel Shellabarger (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1980

A new edition of the mid-20th century popular classic of a Spanish nobleman who accompanies Cortez to conquer Mexico.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

"Captain from Castile, a classic of American popular fiction, is the story of a young Spanish nobleman, Pedro de Vargas, who goes with Cortes to conquer Mexico. His swashbuckling adventures move at a fast pace from sword fights to romantic and political intrigue. Readers often have compared this Samuel Shellabarger novel to Alexandre Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo" and "The Three Musketeers."

When "Captain from Castile" was first published in 1945, it became an overnight best-seller, had 20 hardcover printings, was republished in 19 countries and was made into a Tyrone Power movie. Now, re-reading the novel half a century after he first read it, Washington Post critic and Pulitzer Prize-winner Jonathan Yardley says in his introduction he "was astonished at how well it has survived. . . . It is accurate, meticulously researched history, and it is a sympathetic, nuanced account of a young man's moral education; for both reasons it should be as appealing to younger readers now as it was to me so many years ago, while older readers will be impressed by how superior it is in literary terms to most popular fiction of today."

"Captain from Castile" is set principally in Spain and Mexico during the early sixteenth century, amid the Spanish Inquisition and the conquest of the New World. When Pedro de Vargas' family is denounced to the Inquisition on trumped-up charges by the avaricious Diego de Silva, the 19-year-old Pedro flees to Cuba. There he enlists in Cortes' campaign to take Mexico from the Aztecs and present its riches and territory to the King of Spain. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Samuel Shellabarger (1888-1954) was a U.S. Army intelligence officer in World War I, a professor of English at Princeton, and headmaster of a girls' school in Ohio. He was a Renaissance scholar and the author of nonfiction books on Lord Chesterfield and on the fading age of European chivalry. He also wrote six historical novels, one of which, "Prince of Foxes," the best-seller about the Italy of the Borgias, is being republished simultaneously with "Captain from Castile." --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Avon Books (Mm) (June 1980)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380010852
• ISBN-13: 978-0380010851
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #8,294,265 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars In my Top Ten books of all time, January 14, 2005

By 

Tracy Middlebrook (Seattle, WA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Captain From Castile: The Best-Selling Historical Epic (Paperback)

I love this book completely. I found it in a used bookstore when I was thirteen (1993) and completely fell under its spell. It's an incredibly EPIC and rich tale, following Pedro de Vargas from the Spanish Inquisition at home to the New World, with lots of drama and swashbuckling in between. I must have read this yearly through early high school. However, it has probably sat on my shelf for the last 6 or 7 years, which is a tragedy. (Confession time: I am a NUT for historical epics, in both literature and film, I love the grandure, the sweeping scale, the broad vistas). Recently, I was gripped by a need to partake in something EPIC so I pulled this off the shelf and it's been such a delightful ride, again. I've been long enough removed from the story that, while it is familiar, I am still in suspense for all but the largest of plot twists. I'm so glad that this is being published again. This was written in the 40s and deserves a chance at a new audience.

After re-reading this recently, I found that it is even BETTER than I remembered. The story is so rich and complex...warm fuzzies! I stayed up WAY TOO LATE last night trying to get past all the "tense" moments so I could get some sleep. UG! But then, there were only twenty pages left so I stopped because I didn't want it to be over just yet. It was very interesting seeing the 16th Century Spaniards' sentiments toward the Native Americans, and then Shellabarger (the author) as an "enlightened" 1930's male trying to justify/explain them. Yet, the author had NO ISSUE with his characters' treatment of women. While several of the female characters are much more than dish rags (yay!) the concept of beating a woman into obedience is treated as an acceptable solution. I had forgotten that part and how it had rankled me during my readings of this a dozen years ago. Still, it's a tiny 2 page blight on a 500 page great adventure.

17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love historical adventure...., November 15, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Captain from Castile (Hardcover)

...you'll love this book! I have to agree with "No from Seattle." This is one of my five all-time favorites as well. I first read it about 35 years ago when I was a kid, and have re-read it probably 5-6 times since (it's pretty intense and not a once-a-year read). Its compelling characters, graphic and historically accurate account of the Inquisition and the Conquest, heroes and villains, tough hombres and scoundrels, are no less real to me now than they were 35 years ago. Pedro de Vargas has been my archetypical hero since my first read, and few others have matched or exceeded him in my mind. Cortez was every bit as complex in reality as he is portrayed in the book, and the Conquistadores' audacity and greed in believing that a few hundred men could conquer a martial civilazation was realistically and breathtakingly portrayed. The period in Tenochtitlan is portrayed in a detail rarely seen anywhere else, including in histories I've been inspired to read as a result of this book. The account of the Sad Night was grim, desperate, and exciting. The author's descriptions of the Aztecs, a tough warrior race with a strange mixture of brutality and beauty, gave me a much better sense of the high culture present in North America when the Europeans arrived. And of course we can't forget the romantic storyline - enough to satisfy any romance addict. Be warned - the movie doesn't really do the book justice: it only covers about the first half of the story, with a contrived ending, and Tyrone Power was a little too old and a little too wooden to play Pedro de Vargas with conviction. But don't let that stop you from reading this book! It has to be one of the all-time great adventure stories.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A must read swashbuckler, September 15, 2005

By 

Kara Ortiez (Hamilton, Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Captain From Castile: The Best-Selling Historical Epic (Paperback)

"On the evening of June 28th, 1518, young Pedro de Vargas, aged nineteen, confessed his sins of the month to Father Juan Mendez."

So begins Captain from Castile, a great adventure set in Renaissance era Spain. Pedro de Vargas is an eminently likable young man who gets by through quick thinking and a deft hand. The story is quick paced, taking the reader on a journey that leaps from imprisonment in the dungeons of the Inquisition, to the invasion and conquest of Mexico to intrigues in the court of Emperor Charles V. The treatment of the native populations may come across as dated but definitely true to the views of the 1500s. This is pure swashbuckling action written at a time when Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn ruled the box office. Swashbuckler fans won't be disappointed with this book.