“The Golden Bowl,” the first major work by one of the most famous American writers of the 20th century, is an unusual historical novel that will reveal new facets of John Steinbeck’s talent.
Written in the style of a fictionalized biography, the novel tells the story of the mysterious and vicious Henry Morgan—a real pirate who devastated the coasts of Central America in the second half of the 17th century. As a young man, Morgan spent several years in slavery; later he became renowned as a skilled commander and vice-governor of Jamaica.
But the relentless criminal’s main goals were to possess the beauty Santa Roha and to conquer the Golden Bowl—that is, Panama. In Morgan’s hands comes all the splendor of the richest city in the West Indies, yet it brings him no happiness…