In a time when the world itself has contracted, when we can be at any destination on the globe within hours, it's hard to imagine the trials and hardships that earlier explorers suffered through simply to see what was beyond the horizon. And as the western civilization that birthed this quest for knowledge becomes increasingly under attack at home and abroad, it's good to remind ourselves of the brave men and women who stepped out to make their future, and our present reality, possible. Francis Drake: Echoes of the Dragon's Drum introduces us to Sir Francis Drake, the daring English Elizabethan captain who circumnavigated the globe from 1577 to 1580. Francis Drake: Echoes of the Dragon's Drum is neither scholarly history nor exhaustive biography, but instead, an entertaining biographical sketch that will hopefully encourage you to learn more about the man who so indelibly touched our present and, as one biographer stated, is the very reason we have this country, the United States of America, today. In every man's life there are defining moments-events that set the course of his future, the lasting impressions he leaves, and a whole range of intangibles that can only be called Providence. Francis Drake: Echoes of the Dragon's Drum brings to life the defining moments in the life of Sir Francis Drake-captain, explorer, and faithful servant to God and queen.