The events surrounding the sailing and the ultimate destruction of the Spanish Armada have received much scholarly attention. Particularly since the 400th anniversary, in 1988, of the English victory over the Armada, scholars have intensively studied this topic. Neil Hanson, in The Confident Hope of a Miracle: The True History of the Spanish Armada, joins this already active discussion.

Hanson provides a very detailed account of the Spanish Armada's fate. He begins by describing the international politics that shaped Philip II's decision to invade England. In elaborate terms, he discusses the execution of Mary Queen of Scots, the revolt of the Netherlands, the French Wars of Religion, English privateers’ activities in the Spanish colonies, and the Spanish crown's attempts to foment rebellions in Ireland and Scotland. Hanson also provides insight into the problems plaguing the construction and outfitting of the Armada as well as the almost insurmountable problems its commanders faced in trying to organize the sailing of such an enormous fleet. The author contrasts the problems the Spanish leaders faced with the greater success that the English commanders experienced in creating a smaller, but more efficient and effective, naval force. While the Spanish crown had relied on sheer numbers of ships and soldiers to awe the English on the sea, the English crown had commissioned the building of smaller, faster ships that carried fewer men but had greater fire power. When the Armada reached the English Channel and engaged the English naval forces, it was the English ships’ long-range firing power along with advantageous weather, which allowed the English to prevent a Spanish invasion. After the Armada's defeat, Hanson describes the Spaniards’ attempts to sail around the north coast of Scotland and Ireland in order to return to Spain. In lurid details, he discusses how the battered and broken ships limped along the coast of the British Isles and how those who sought shelter on the hostile shores either crashed and drowned in attempting to land or were slaughtered once they reached shore. In the end, only a fraction of the ships returned safely to Spain. Hanson concludes that the Armada's defeat did not immediately spell the end of Spain's political and economic power in the Europe and the Americas, but it set the stage for Spain's slow decline in influence throughout the seventeenth century.

Hanson provides an exhaustively detailed account of the Spanish Armada's fate. Based upon archival research from throughout England and extensive reading within the published secondary material, the author leaves few stones unturned in describing the events surrounding the Armada. Individuals looking for specific details on the international setting behind the sailing of the Armada, the naval battle between the English and Spanish fleets, and the ultimate fate of the individual ships and their crews will find the book to be very useful. Hanson's account will also be particularly appealing to students because his engaging and entertaining writing style make this an easy and pleasurable book to read. Scholars will not, however, find the book to be as useful. The book is purely descriptive and lacks an analytical framework that would provide insight into how Hanson's study differs from previous accounts, why the author chose to study the Armada, or the overall importance of this work. Additionally, while the book is based on archival research in England, it lacks research in Spanish archives. Information regarding the Spanish viewpoint comes from published secondary sources. This poses a significant problem because much of the book is written from the viewpoint of Philip II and the Spanish naval and military commanders. While the author does not give an unfair portrayal of the Spanish, he might have reached different conclusions if he had performed research in the Spanish archives.