Mini-Review: The Lost Hero of Cape Cod by Vincent Miles * I received this book from the author in trade for an honest review * Thank you Vincent and also Word Slinger Publicity! The Lost Hero of Cape Cod tells the story of an extraordinary nineteenth-century mariner… and of a morale-boosting victory for the young United States over Britain in the commercial battle that broke out on the Atlantic after the War of 1812. Born in a small village on Cape Cod in 1809, Asa Eldridge grew up to become one of the world’s greatest shipmasters. Even today, he still holds the record for the fastest crossing of the Atlantic by a sailing ship, which he set on a run from New York to Liverpool in 1854. But this record is only part of his story, which includes voyages to numerous countries, command of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s private yacht, an early move into steamships, and a mysterious end that eerily foreshadowed the Titanic disaster half a century later. In recounting Eldridge’s fascinating career, Vincent Miles also tells a much broader story—of the rise of America’s merchant navy to a dominant position over Britain’s in the decades following the War of 1812, and of the government-subsidized British response that created the legendary Cunard Line. And along the way, Miles offers a guided tour of the maritime trade that shaped America, and a memorial to the courageous men who made it possible. I want to start this by saying that I didn't finish this book, but not for the reasons you're probably thinking. This book wasn't terrible, it was actually very good, but it just wasn't for me. As I was sent this for review, I will still write a review of what I read down below as I was sent the book for that reason, but I won't be giving it a rating as I didn't finish it and don't know how the rest of the book would've been.
As you guys know, this year I'm trying to vary what I read slightly and venture into new genres that I otherwise wouldn't read. When I got the email about this book I was instantly intrigued and had an urge to read it, so I requested it. A BIG thank you to Vincent for sending a copy to me, you're very kind! I was so excited when it came so quickly (less than a week all the way from America!) and I couldn't wait to jump straight into it. I loved the prologue, it was written slightly like a story but also not, I'm not exactly sure how to explain it. Anyway, I really enjoyed that and was excited to see how the rest would go. As I've never read anything from this genre (historical biography/account) I wasn't exactly sure how it would be written. I knew that because it's historical it will have a lot of facts/details about the time period etc, but I didn't realise how much of that would be included. These are where my minor issues came from. One of my issues with it was the language. To be absolutely honest I think this issue is just one caused by me, but oh well. I found the language to be too confusing and I found myself thoroughly confused at times. I didn't know whether it was because I'm only young and that I'm not used to the sort of language, but I found it also slow and found myself stumbling over the words. To go along with this, I also found the sentences to be quite long and that just added to my confusion as it made it more difficult to understand. This also created the problem that I think that a lot of things dint need to be explained as thoroughly as they were. A lot of the points the author was putting across would've had a better effect (easier to understand) if they'd been shortened. These problems may be down tome and the fact that maybe I'm too young for this sort of thing and also that it's a new genre for me. Despite these points, I also loved this book. I learned so much from it (the parts that I could understand) and found it interesting to be able to delve into Captain Asa Eldridge's history and learn about this new-to-me historical figure. I think Vincent Miles did an excellent job of talking in detail about Captain Asa Eldridge's life and the lives of the people around him at that time. For what it is, this book was a good, actually excellent historical/biography as it was expertly detailed and written and you could tell how much hard work Vincent Miles had put into writing this book. I would just like to finish off by saying, don't let the negative points above that I made stop you from reading this book as those negatives were mainly down to me. If you like historical biographies, pirates, American history etc then I would definitely recommend this to you. BYE! GR - https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28001621-the-lost-hero-of-cape-cod?ac=1&from_search=1 BD - http://www.bookdepository.com/The-Lost-Hero-of-Cape-Cod/9780962506888
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AuthorHello and welcome to Books With Beth! I'm Beth and on this blog I share a mix of all my bookish thoughts through reviews, book tours and hauls. Have fun! Categories
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