Paradise of the Damned: The True Story of an Obsessive Quest for El Dorado by Keith Thomson
Thank you to Netgalley and Little, Brown and Company for
allowing me to read this advanced copy of Keith Thomson’s Paradise of the
Damned: The True Story of an Obsessive Quest for El Dorado.
Thomson’s book was a well-researched and detailed story of Sir Walter Raleigh’s
lifelong quest to find El Dorado, starting from Elizabethan England and moving
to Colombia, Venezuela, Guiana and the Orinoco River in South America. The book
primarily follows Raleigh, tracing his early years spent in Elizabeth’s court
and how he came to exploration and sailing. Thomson’s book features much
adventure and many mishaps, especially around the war for the New World in the
Americas between Spain and England. The book’s best parts are when Raleigh is
in South America, looking for El Dorado while also navigating uncharted rivers,
streams, waterfalls, and avoiding unknown predators like anacondas, alligators,
and piranhas. It was fascinating to gain a deeper insight into how dangerous
the new world was, mostly because of how unknown the terrain was. I also
enjoyed learning more about Raleigh’s earlier approaches to diplomacy and
finding ways to ensure that the Spanish would not beat him to El Dorado and how
he sought out indigenous support from existing tribes. The other parts of the
book that took place in England were not as exciting to me. I did not know much
about Sir Walter Raleigh, so this book provided an engaging biography, but I
was surprised to learn that in England at the time, the rule of law, especially
things like evidence and due process were not really part of the society. Thus,
reading about Raleigh’s years in prison for a kind of hearsay association with
a plot to overthrow King James was important to know about. This also somewhat
mirrored Raleigh’s earlier experiences with Queen Elizabeth when he was
imprisoned for having a child with his future wife without informing the Queen.
Thomson’s sharing of these events and the injustices that Raleigh faced helped
to illustrate the kind of whims of the crown that many people, especially
prominent people, faced. Although these parts dealing with the legal practices
of England were important, I found them to be not as exciting as the chapters
set in South America and dealing with the quest for El Dorado. It was also
surprising that King James let Raleigh return to find El Dorado, despite being
imprisoned for pretty much treason (even if the charges were never really
tried). Raleigh’s second campaign, when he was in his 60s, did not go well.
Like his initial quest to El Dorado, the hope was to bring money back to
England in the form of gold. However, with a strong Spanish presence in the
areas in Venezuela, Colombia, and Guiana he struggled to return to some of the
areas he visited in 1590s (about 20 years prior). I won’t spoil the ending, but
Raleigh does return to England without any gold, failing once again to find El
Dorado and dealing with a hungry, tired, and mutinous crew. This leads Raleigh
to face King James’s wrath and power. Most of this book was exciting, and I
loved the images that Thomson selected to accompany these chapters. They really
helped to illustrate the challenges and individuals involved in Raleigh’s
various quests. While the book primarily focused on Raleigh’s quest, there were
some other chapters that dealt with English and Spanish relations during this
time, as well as Raleigh’s time spent imprisoned. These were necessary to
understand some of Raleigh’s motivations for seeking out El Dorado once again,
and the consequences of his failure to find it and bring home any gold. These
sections were not as exciting but helped understand the broader perspective of
this society.
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