An exceptionally well researched biography traces Sir Walter Ralegh from his humble origins to his rise to power in the court of Queen Elizabeth I to his fall, ending in imprisonment and death. His search for the legendary city of gold in the Americas became the focus of his life as an adventurer and is the strand that will carry young readers along. But what is most remarkable, perhaps, is Aronson’s skill at placing Ralegh so firmly in the context of his times, so that we can understand him as a complex person living in a turbulent time. (Ages 12-18)