The Story of Bermuda

by Hudson Strode, Walter Rutherford (Photographer), Vernon Haggard (Foreword)

Genres: Nonfiction

374 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1932

Reviews

[Jessica Rowe · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was an interesting book, which was published in 1932. Just out of curiosity, I picked it up and decided to read it. I thought it would be a good way to educate myself about Bermuda's history / past. The book was very descriptive but simply written, and therefore it was a quick and easy read. The first chapter titled "History" was the most intriguing for me. Many subjects that were written about, I had a little knowledge of already, but was not totally clear on, e.g. I did not know of all the little details of Juan de Bermudez's discovery of Bermuda in 1515, and about Hernando Camelo's want to establish Bermuda, and about Henry May's landing in Bermuda (who was the first Englishman to ever set foot on the island). Furthermore, it was also interesting to discover where the island Parish names derived from, and to read about the island's first Governors and other members of Authority. In addition to these topics which I found especially interesting, other subject areas were also written about such as Bermuda Architecture and Gardens, and about Bermuda in the "present" (i.e. as it was in the 1930s, at the time when Strode published his book).

[Jim Zubricky · Rating 3 out of 5]

I picked this up thinking that this would be a very good general history of Bermuda. It does give you a very brief section on the history of Bermuda, and then gives the idea of life in Bermuda in 1932. The sections on history and literature/writers in Bermuda, and the chapters on Bermuda's life during Lend-Lease and the post-war world of 1945/1946 was very cool.

There are sections that are incredibly dated and the author's choice in phrases and words - while it may have been appropriate in 1932 when it was first published - are not appropriate today. Otherwise, it's a pretty quaint, fast read!

[Tim O · Rating 2 out of 5]

Ancient history !!! The story of the discovery and settlement is great, but the rest is obsolete.
Too bad they couldn’t have included a few colour photographs to show the natural beauty ( pointing out an oleander bush in a dark black and white photo seems rather ridiculous! I guess they didn’t have colour photographs in 1932? But they managed to include a lovely reproduction of a colour painting of old St. George’s
This book was written , and photos taken in 1932, with an “update” in 1946, do the descriptions are dated. However, there are some very interesting pictures of cetsils of old Bermuda homes (some going back as far as three hundred years) and their gardens