Week 12 Prompt

A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke by James Horn

*I have not read this book, so my analysis is based upon reading samples from the text and reading the summary on the back cover.

1.     Where is the book on the narrative continuum?

o   Highly narrative (reads like fiction)

o   A mix (combines highly narrative moments with periods of fact-based prose)

-        This book is a mix, with the majority of the text being narrative. For example, at one point there is some fact-based prose regarding why certain people/groups of people may have wanted to leave England, specifically Puritans, that is several pages long and then the narration continues (Horn, 2010, pp. 129-134). However, this type of fact-based prose stopping the narration does not seem to be common throughout the book, so narration appears to be the dominant format.

o   Highly fact based (has few or no narrative moments)

2.     What is the subject of the book?

The subject of the book is the Roanoke Colony and what happened to it.

3.     What type of book is it?

A mostly narrative historical tale about the Roanoke Colony

4.     Articulate appeal

·       What is the pacing of the book?

The pacing seems to be relatively fast-paced. There do not appear to be many long sections of facts or details being laid out, but rather the narrative keeps going at a good pace.

·       Describe the characters of the book.

It appears that one of the primary characters is Walter Ralegh, who wanted to be a part of the plans “to establish a colony in North America” (Horn, 2010, p. 25) (Horn, 2010, pp. 6-9, 34-35). John White appears to be another primary character, whom Ralegh decided to place “in charge of the colony” (Horn, 2010, p. 121) (Horn, 2010, p. back cover).

·       How does the story feel?

Anticipatory, uncomfortable, foreboding  

·       What is the intent of the author?

To explain what happened to the people of the Roanoke Colony (Horn, 2010, p. back cover).

·       What is the focus of the story?

The focus of the story is the history of the Roanoke Colony and the people involved with it

·       Does the language matter?

The language does not seem to be particularly important; the story seems to be told in a straightforward fashion.

·       Is the setting important and well described?

The setting is important because this story is about a specific colony in a specific place and what happened to it, but there do not appear to be many descriptive details about the setting itself. For example, the description of Roanoke Island when the group first reaches it is relatively spare (Horn, 2010, p. 151); however, the island might be described in more detail elsewhere in the book in a section I did not read.

·       Are there details and, if so, of what?

There are many details given relating to the dates on which certain things happened; years and months are mentioned on many pages throughout the book. For example, the date the group arrived at Roanoke (Horn, 2010, p. 151) and the date shortly after when White’s daughter had a baby (Horn, 2010, p. 159) are both mentioned. There is also a Chronology at the end of the book (Horn, 2010, pp. 239-244).

·       Are there sufficient charts and other graphic materials? Are they useful and clear?

There are a good number of illustrations in this book and they each have a note by them to describe what they are, so yes they are useful and clear. Some examples include multiple maps (Horn, 2010, pp. 23, 36, 69, 203, 213) and portraits (Horn, 2010, pp. 19, 65).

·       Does the book stress moments of learning, understanding, or experience?

From reading samples from the text, it does not appear that this book stresses these types of moments for individuals. Instead, the book seems to focus more on the overarching story of how the Roanoke Colony was founded and what happened to it. What individuals thought about certain things is sometimes discussed briefly (Horn, 2010, pp. 108-110, 148-150), but the book overall does not necessarily stress the way in which people learned or understood things on a deeply personal level (from what I can tell from a non-thorough reading).

5.     Why would a reader enjoy this book (rank appeal)?

            1. Learning about a centralized historical event/series of events

            2. Fast-paced

            3. The various illustrations that enhance the text

Works Cited

Horn, J. (2010). A Kingdom Strange: The Brief and Tragic History of the Lost Colony of Roanoke. New York: Basic Books.