'A wonderfully stylish, gloriously technicolour book' - NANDINI DAS
'An absolute joy to read' - DR STEPHANIE PRATT
'Rich, original, and eye-opening' - ALICE HUNT
'A sparkling cabinet of curiosities' - CAROLINE DODDS PENNOCK
From rumours of lost Amazonian cities of gold to the silver running through the mountains of Bolivia, hopes for dazzling wealth fuelled the imperial fantasies of the Tudors and Stuarts. But while stories of treasure ships and privateers like Walter Raleigh have become entrenched in national myths - what did Elizabethans actually know about Mexico, the Amazon rainforest, or the Chesapeake? How did Indigenous people and knowledge enter the art, fashion, and literature of Shakespeare's time - and at what cost?
A Golden World illuminates how the Americas became a visible and material presence in English culture, through a range of unexpected objects: from tobacco leaves strewn in playhouses to a boy wearing a pearl earring. Award-winning historian Lauren Working presents an altogether new history of the 'golden age' of 16th century England, that considers the desire for power, land and resources in the first era of colonization, alongside the craft and labour of those in the Americas who contributed to the English Renaissance as we know it.
| ISBN: | 9780571393831 |
| Publication date: | 4th June 2026 |
| Author: | Lauren Working |
| Publisher: | Faber & Faber |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 304 pages |
| Genres: |
History European history: Renaissance |
'A wonderfully stylish, gloriously technicolour book' - NANDINI DAS
'An absolute joy to read' - DR STEPHANIE PRATT
'Rich, original, and eye-opening' - ALICE HUNT
'A sparkling cabinet of curiosities' - CAROLINE DODDS PENNOCK
From rumours of lost Amazonian cities of gold to the silver running through the mountains of Bolivia, hopes for dazzling wealth fuelled the imperial fantasies of the Tudors and Stuarts. But while stories of treasure ships and privateers like Walter Raleigh have become entrenched in national myths - what did Elizabethans actually know about Mexico, the Amazon rainforest, or the Chesapeake? How did Indigenous people and knowledge enter the art, fashion, and literature of Shakespeare's time - and at what cost?
A Golden World illuminates how the Americas became a visible and material presence in English culture, through a range of unexpected objects: from tobacco leaves strewn in playhouses to a boy wearing a pearl earring. Award-winning historian Lauren Working presents an altogether new history of the 'golden age' of 16th century England, that considers the desire for power, land and resources in the first era of colonization, alongside the craft and labour of those in the Americas who contributed to the English Renaissance as we know it.
A Golden World features in the following genres: History, European history: Renaissance
A Golden World is available in Hardback
A Golden World was written by Lauren Working and published by Faber & Faber
A Golden World has 304 pages
£19.80