Peter Mancall

Publications

Hakluyt’s Promise: An Elizabethan’s Obsession for an English America
Peter Mancall (NEH Fellow, 2004-05)

Richard Hakluyt the younger, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, advocated the creation of English colonies in the New World at a time when the advantages of this idea were far from self-evident. This book describes in detail the life and times of Hakluyt, a trained minister who became an editor of travel accounts. Hakluyt's Promise demonstrates his prominent role in the establishment of English America as well as his interests in English opportunities in the East Indies.