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A Man Most Driven: Captain John Smith, Pocahontas and the Founding of America Paperback – September 15, 2015

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4.9 out of 5 stars 7 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Paperback: 416 pages
  • Publisher: Oneworld Publications (September 15, 2015)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 1780747101
  • ISBN-13: 978-1780747101
  • Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5 x 1.3 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #738,918 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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5.0 out of 5 starsDetective work and original source materials illuminates the truth about Captain John Smith's exploits
By Robin S. Hall on October 28, 2014
Format: Hardcover
From the evidence of his own writings, John Smith has a claim to be the foremost Founding Father of the early British presence in North America. But there is controversy about how reliable a witness he was. Some facts are independently documented, like the time he spent leading the Jamestown settlement and his later trip to New England where he mapped and named much of the coastline - the same map that guided the Pilgrim Fathers six years later to Plymouth Rock.
Peter Firstbrook approached the controversy over Smith from a reverse direction. In this book, he attempted to check the veracity of Smith's own autobiography of his life as a mercenary fighting the Ottoman Empire before his American expeditions. If the apparently fanciful accounts of shipwrecks, duels, battles in the political snakepit of Transylvania and his escape from slavery on the eastern shores of the Black Sea were probably true, this would give credence to Smith's reports of what happen later in his life in America. His researches took Firstbrook into the troubled heart of Eastern Europe, where he provided new insights and evidence of Smith's likely progress.
In concluding that Smith was probably an honest witness of a turbulent time, Firstbrook gives a new perspective on the realities of the Jamestown settlement. Applying information about the local Native American social and political structures at the time, he offers an explanation about a seminal moment in early American history, the intervention of Pocahontas in Smith's impending execution. Alas, this does nothing to support the Disneyfied romance story between a twelve years old girl and a grizzled 27 year old soldier.Read more ›
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5.0 out of 5 starsAmazing, entertaining, and valuable history
By S.A. Cranfill on February 28, 2016
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
This is a great and valuable read for anyone, but as an author, researcher, and historian myself, I absolutely loved it. And greatly appreciate all the hard, thoughtful, thorough, and fascinating work done by Firstbrook. Even though I had to wince through a few gruesome (but very real) events. Wow, should we value the sacrifices of those early settlers of America! As a documentary type of fellow, Firstbrook did his own out-of-the-way traveling to see just how much of the legendary and almost mythical John Smith's story he could verify. You may well be surprised. I now have a much, much clearer view of the deservedly famous Captain Smith, as well as a broader understanding of Europe, England, and America in the late 16th and early 17th Centuries. This is no dry history. This is an amazing and entertaining story, told well, and well documented. Though my own research leads me to believe the author fell down a notch on the Squanto kidnapping scenario (which is due to Sir Ferdinando Gorges' slightly faulty memory many years after the fact), I would require this book as reading in every high school.
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5.0 out of 5 starsI was really sad at the end when he died
By B. Brolin on February 2, 2015
Format: Hardcover
Even though I knew the story, I couldn't put this book down. I read it in three or four sittings and couldn't wait till the next sitting. This is an extraordinary book about an extraordinary man. I was really sad at the end when he died, as I felt I had shared John Smith's amazing adventures, hardships and joys and probably gotten closer to him than most people during his lifetime. A huge amount of research obviously went into this book. But it is never plodding. Smoothly written and easy to read.
Jean Richards
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4.0 out of 5 starsgood read
By Amazon Customer on January 16, 2015
Format: Kindle Edition Verified Purchase
Well written and easy to follow
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