Cup of Gold

A Life of Sir Henry Morgan, Buccaneer, with Occasional Reference to History

By: John Steinbeck, Susan F. Beegel - introduction

Narrated by: Ronan Vibert

From the mid-1650s through the 1660s, Henry Morgan, a pirate and outlaw of legendary viciousness, ruled the Spanish Main. He ravaged the coasts of Cuba and America, striking terror wherever he went. Morgan was obsessive. He had two driving ambitions: to possess the beautiful woman called La Santa Roja and to conquer Panama, the “cup of gold.” Steinbeck’s first novel and sole work of historical fiction, Cup of Gold is a lush, lyrical swashbuckling pirate fantasy, and sure to add new dimensions to readers’ perceptions of this all-American writer. This edition features an introduction by Susan F. Beegel.

Critic reviews

By the Winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature

Nice story by the early Steinbeck.

A romantic adventure with sad end. Pirates, ships, rum smell and tobacco smoke mixed with love and passions.

Early Steinbeck Magical Realism

This pleasant first Steinbeck is a fictionalization of the historical pirate Henry Morgan. It is quite different than the rest of Steinbeck's fiction...Less stark, with romance and adventure. It is far from my favorite Steinbeck but I nevertheless enjoyed it quite a bit. The prose are excellent if the characters are a bit thin.

The narration was good, but not exceptional.

A different kind of Steinbeck

Some of the writing was little too flowery, but it was an interesting deviation from Steinbeck’s other work. It does make me want to listen to other buccaneer books though!

Steinbeck rules!

Steinbeck rules! One of the best writers of our time. I love John Steinbeck a lot.

Good, could have been better

Well told, skips over most of Morgan's pirate career in favor of fictional romance and mystical character exposition.