This book, based on a mass of published and unpublished sources in Portuguese and other languages, delineates Gama's career and social context, focusing on the delicate balance between 'career' and 'legend'. It argues that Gama's political position in Portugal makes him an unlikely candidate for the role of nationalist hero.

However, by exploiting creatively the symbolic capital of a legend that existed in his own lifetime, Gama, his descendants and panegyrists (notably Camoes) transformed an obscure nobleman from the Alentejo into the Great Argonaut. Thus the book addresses larger questions of myth-building and nationalism, while never losing sight of Gama himself.