Most accounts of the French attempt to settle Florida have focused on the Spanish reaction to this alleged invasion. Thus, this reviewer looked forward to an effort to balance the historiography. John McGrath definitely presents a new point of view in this meticulously researched and well-written study, but the activities in Florida take a back seat to the political and religious maneuvers in France.
If one is looking for a narrative of the hardships and struggles of these intrepid French settlers, it will not be found in this book. What McGrath has accomplished is a very detailed and painstakingly researched study of mid-sixteenth-century France in so far as it related to the attempts of Admiral Gaspard de Coligny to establish a French colonial empire in the New World. Most general accounts of his efforts, however, do not describe the incredible obstacles, the shifting alliances of French politics, and the royal...
