June 4, 2019

The Secret Token by Andrew Lawler - Review


Book details
Hardcover: 448 pages
Publisher: Doubleday; 1st Edition edition (June 5, 2018)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0385542011
ISBN-13: 978-0385542012

Book description
A sweeping account of America's oldest unsolved mystery, the people racing to unearth its answer, and the sobering truths--about race, gender, and immigration--exposed by the Lost Colony of Roanoke

In 1587, 115 men, women, and children arrived at Roanoke Island on the coast of North Carolina. Chartered by Queen Elizabeth I, their colony was to establish England's first foothold in the New World. But when the colony's leader, John White, returned to Roanoke from a resupply mission, his settlers were nowhere to be found. They left behind only a single clue--a "secret token" carved into a tree. Neither White nor any other European laid eyes on the colonists again.

What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? For four hundred years, that question has consumed historians and amateur sleuths, leading only to dead ends and hoaxes. But after a chance encounter with a British archaeologist, journalist Andrew Lawler discovered that solid answers to the mystery were within reach. He set out to unravel the enigma of the lost settlers, accompanying competing researchers, each hoping to be the first to solve its riddle. In the course of his journey, Lawler encounters a host of characters obsessed with the colonists and their fate, and he determines why the Lost Colony continues to haunt our national consciousness.

Thrilling and absorbing, The Secret Token offers a new understanding not just of the first English settlement in the New World but of how its disappearance continues to define--and divide--America.

Meet the author - Andrew Lawler
Andrew Lawler is author of two books, The Secret Token: Myth, Obsession, and the Search for the Lost Colony of Roanoke, a national bestseller, and the widely acclaimed Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird that Powers Civilization. As a long-time journalist, he has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles, and his byline has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and many others. He is a contributing writer for Science and a contributing editor for Archaeology. Andrew’s work has appeared several times in The Best of Science and Nature Writing. For more, see www.andrewlawler.com

My thoughts
I thought this book was interesting and I learned a few things reading it. Like the author mentions when you start thinking about the mystery behind Roanoke Island it just sucks you in and does not let you go. I have watched many shows on this and keep hoping that by some miracle we will find out what happened to this lost colonists.  I like how the author explored all the options and did his research in trying to find the truth. I am not sure we will ever find out what happened but it is nice to think we have.  I was also shocked about how some groups use Virginia Dare as a model for their own agenda. I don't want to say what I mean by this as I want you to read the book for your own thoughts. For me I hope that the Native Americans did take them in and they became a part of their family rather that to think they all just perished. A very informative book. 

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