Over the Edge of the World - by Laurence Bergreen (Paperback)

About the Book

"Features a new introduction on the 500th anniversary of the voyage"--Cover.

Book Synopsis

"A first-rate historical page turner." --New York Times Book Review

The acclaimed and bestselling account of Ferdinand Magellan's historic 60,000-mile ocean voyage.

Ferdinand Magellan's daring circumnavigation of the globe in the sixteenth century was a three-year odyssey filled with sex, violence, and amazing adventure. Now in Over the Edge of the World, prize-winning biographer and journalist Laurence Bergreen entwines a variety of candid, firsthand accounts, bringing to life this groundbreaking and majestic tale of discovery that changed both the way explorers would henceforth navigate the oceans and history itself.

Now updated to include a new introduction commemorating the 500^th anniversary of Magellan's voyage.

From the Back Cover

In 1519, Ferdinand Magellan, armed with five ships and about 260 men, set sail from Spain in search of a water route to the West Indies. Despite suffering starvation, disease, torture, and death, they discovered the passageway known today as the Strait of Magellan. In the masterful telling of award-winning historian Laurence Bergreen, one of the most epic voyages of the age of exploration comes to life.

Review Quotes

"Prodigious research, sure-footed prose and vivid descriptions make for a thoroughly satisfying account... it is all here in the wondrous detail, a first-rate historical page turner." - New York Times Book Review
"Bergreen's vivid account benefits from extensive research and his own navigation of the Strait of Magellan and other key parts of thr route. But it's the epic survival drama that grips, spanning mutiny, torture and Magellan's death in the Philippines." - Los Angeles Times
"Engrossing . . . Bergreen has done a fine job of telling Magellan's story. He portrays the explorer as a complex man--driven, disciplined and often cruel but with extraordinary vision and seemingly limitless courage." - Cleveland Plain Dealer
"A marvelous piece of scholarship" - New Zealand Herald
"Bergreen's research is so filled with wondrous discoveries, his writing so filled with unforgettable scenes..." - Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
"In delivering this excellent, highly readable account of the first circumnavigation of the globe, Bergreen does full justice to Magellan, the visionary captain who sailed west into the great unknown." - San Antonio Express-News