Andrew Lawler at Slover Library

Andrew Lawler

The Secret Token

Myth, Obsession and the Search for the Lost Colony

 Book Signing & Presentation  
Thursday, July 5th, 2018
7:00 PM at Slover Library

235 E Plume St, Norfolk, VA 23510

What happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? That question has consumed historians, archaeologists, and amateur sleuths for four hundred years. In The Secret Token, Lawler sets out to gather clues of the fate of the missing settlers at archaeological digs, in European archives, and among the people living today in the Carolina swamps. Along the way he discovers that the story of the lost Elizabethans shines fresh light on the issues of race, gender, and immigration consuming present-day America and introduces readers to a host of characters—from Sir Walter Raleigh and Queen Elizabeth to Virginia Dare, the first English baby born in America. Lawler’s deftly researched and absorbing book offers a surprising answer to the old question of the colonists’ fate, as well as a new understanding of how this story continues to haunt and define America.

Andrew Lawler is the author of Why Did the Chicken Cross the World?: The Epic Saga of the Bird That Powers Civilization. He has written more than a thousand newspaper and magazine articles from more than two dozen countries, his byline has appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, National Geographic, Smithsonian, and many other publications. He is a contributing writer for Science and a contributing editor for Archaeology. His work has appeared in The Best of Science and Nature Writing.