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

(Hardback)

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Description

From the bestselling author of Born to Be Hanged comes a transporting, richly researched account of Sir Walter Raleigh's scramble to find El Dorado, set against the backdrop of Elizabethan England's political intrigues and the rival Spanish conquistadors vying for El Dorado's treasure.

Reviews

"This swashbuckling history recounts a two-yearlong pirate raid in the 17th century along the Pacific coastline, with over 300 dastardly buccaneers in search of Spanish gold."--USA Today
"Thomson does a fine job mining the historical record for all this swash and buckle . . . A larger-than-life tale . . . It reads, quite literally, like a pirate novel."--New York Times Book Review
"Thomson is an engaging and enthusiastic writer."--The Economist
"Unleashes an epic history of a band of 'gentlemen pirates.'"--Washington Post
Praise for Born to Be Hanged:

Author Bio

Keith Thomson is the author of the nonfiction book Born to Be Hanged, as well as several novels, including Pirates of Pensacola and the New York Times bestseller Once a Spy. The former Columbia history major also writes nonfiction for the New York Times, Garden & Gun, and the Huffington Post on a range of topics, including national security and piracy. He lives in Birmingham, Alabama.