Book Review: The Story of Sir Walter Raleigh by Margaret Duncan Kelly

This is another of several antique books gifted to me by my mother. It is a miniature book, squared off, brown hardback, and stamped with library identification stamps. It even still boasts the last checkout card yet in its sleeve pasted to the back inside cover with signatures of patrons and dates as far back as the early 1930s (more information about the book is available in the descriptive overview of this article on my Content Page). It seems there are several copies of this book available online from various sellers. Although no copyright date is listed in the book itself, a diligent inquiry seems to put it circa 1906.

The book was used as an historical text for children within American school systems. It is written very simply with some terms explained within the text. It is also generously illustrated in color with what looks like renaissance-style plates.

Sir Walter Raleigh is undoubtedly historical and certainly some of the events mentioned must be true, but the whole thing reads very much like a fairy tale or a work of fiction. Details are omitted even where including them would not have interfered with the simple, child-centered story-telling technique so prized by its author and possibly necessary for its intended audience. Along these same lines are the word choices which celebrate the unquestioned superiority of Sir Walter Raleigh and the burgeoning British Empire.

I might have enjoyed reading the book more had its contents not been touted as historical fact since the style of writing does not in any way suggest history- unless the sad ending of Sir Walter Raleigh's execution can be considered as nullifying its fairy tale feeling. In my opinion, it does not. Many well known fairy tales originally had sad endings which were later rewritten in oral and/or other traditions to suit mankind's need to sugar-coat things. The story presented in this book is much more palatable as a set of myths. It is even enjoyable as such, but cries out to be rewritten if it is to stand up as anything resembling history. It might squeeze by as historical fiction.

"But, this was written for children," you might say. Indeed, it was. However, even a children's author must admit that packaging such a book as history amounts to dumbing history down and teaching gross inaccuracies. Even children can tell the difference between a nice story and truth.

This may seem harsh, so just let me say that the book is a great one in terms of momentum and story-line. It grabs the interest, keeps it, and is a swift read. If viewed as merely a story, it is even a very satisfying and pleasant experience. And the illustrations are well done and fun.