Paradise of the Damned: The True Story of an Obsessive Quest for El Dorado, the Legendary City of Gold

Elizabethan-era English explorer Walter Raleigh’s quest for the mythical gold-filled city of El Dorado is vividly recreated in this rollicking account from bestseller Thomson (Born to Be Hanged). Shifting between Raleigh’s South American expeditions and his futile attempts to protect his interests at court as the Tudor dynasty gave way to the Stuarts, Thomson depicts the quick-witted Raleigh as surprisingly more effective in the former endeavor. Raleigh’s jungle treks reveal his strength as a diplomat and his personal integrity; he convinced multiple Indigenous communities that England wanted to protect them from their common enemy, Spain, and followed through on his promises, establishing long-lasting, comradely relationships that rewarded him with the location of a “secret” gold mine (somewhere in modern-day Venezuela) and key military alliances. Back in England, Raleigh’s political acumen crumbled as he was sidelined by courtiers who outcompeted him for royal favor, resulting in a long imprisonment. However, the never-idle prisoner’s popularity was propelled to new heights by the 1614 publication of his Historie of the World and his constant output of medicinal recipes concocted in his jail-cell chemistry lab. Thomson’s breezy and puckish narration makes the historical subject matter sizzle (“On ships... the confines... could give undue prominence to something as picayune as the way a man cleared his throat”). Readers will relish this enticing romp through the Age of Exploration. Illus. (May)