Thomas Harriot

As Robyn Arianrhod shows in this new biography, the most complete to date, Thomas Harriot was a pioneer in both the figurative and literal sense. Navigational adviser and loyal friend to Sir Walter Ralegh, Harriot--whose life was almost exactly contemporaneous to Shakespeare''s--took part in the first expedition to colonize Virginia in 1585. Not only was he responsible for getting Ralegh''s ships ...