The Defeat Of The Spanish Armada by Mattingly, Garrett - 1961

UK: The Reprint Society, 1961. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. THE DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA GARRETT MATTINGLY'S book on the Spanish Armada has already established itself as the classic account of that epoch-making event. As scholarship it is final, and indispensable; but it is also magnificent reading. It is true to say that it holds the attention like a very fine historical novel-one reads on with absorbed interest. Though Mattingly does full justice to the naval kernel of his story, he gives us much more than that. A distinguished diplomatic historian, he portrays for us the line-up of the powers in Europe, he makes clear the complexities of the political and religious conflict, he makes real to us the personalities involved. The book is without bias. One of its prime advantages is that it tells the story, for the first time from both the English and the Spanish viewpoints. He has an equal mastery of the Spanish as well as the English sources.