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16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
A bold and provocative study, June 20, 2010
This review is from: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions (Hardcover)
For many years now Professor Bernard has been producing essays about various aspects of the life of Anne Boleyn. Most of these essays have focused on debunking various myths surrounding Anne, or challenging images about her which, although accepted in the mainstream and repeated as fact by other academics, are not always dependable when placed under close scrutiny. This book serves to bring many of these myths and images together, offering a new and in-depth analysis of the primary sources dealing with the various areas that stand as landmarks to Anne's life. Bernard introduces his work with a short study of Anne's fall - important because it is often the first thing people remember about Anne and the part of her life everyone `knows'. This is followed by a general introduction, asking `who was Anne Boleyn? Topics now move on to Henry's infatuation with Anne; Henry's divorce and Anne's part in it; Anne as queen; the relations between Anne and the discarded Catherine; Anne's religion; the fateful miscarriage. Bernard now returns to Anne's fall, looking at the various aspects of it: the conspiracy surrounding Anne; Lady Worcester's involvement; Anne's lovers. The book concludes with an attempt to answer the question of Anne's guilt. A nice appendix discusses Anne's portraits, with interesting speculation regarding the famous `B' necklace portraits. Bernard's book is, as expected, erudite, beautifully written and is a must for anyone interested in Anne Boleyn, the court of Henry VIII and the Tudor period in general.
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18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A different take on Queen Anne's story, July 9, 2010
This review is from: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions (Hardcover)
I enjoyed this book very much. The point of view is quite different from the books by Alison Weir and Eric Ives on the same topic that I have read. Weir and Ives seemed to take as a premise that Anne was powerful in a political way, building factions, deciding fates, championing religious causes, skillfully and cunningly holding Henry at bay for years, demanding that he divorce Katherine, targeting people for destruction, etc., and was the boss in her relationship with Henry and in the court. In Bernard's book, he seems to begin from a point of view of what the culture was as far as women's behavior and role, even for very rich and important women, and then interprets the letters, facts and other evidence from there. In Bernard's book, Anne is influential but not a mover/shaker in her own right as she is in the other books. She is not the power in the relationship, but rather Henry is. He also does not hold to the position that it was Anne who held off Henry during their long courtship but rather that it was Henry who decided on the scope of their relationship and he gives reasons/evidence for his conclusion. He also has a different view of Anne's guilt or innocence and the reasons for her fall and whether it was a trumped up conspiracy or not as well as on her religious beliefs and views. I honestly have no idea who is correct, but it was interesting to read the story from a totally different point of view by a historian who reached some different conclusions.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Fascinating and Provocative, August 24, 2010
This review is from: Anne Boleyn: Fatal Attractions (Hardcover)
This book is a long-overdue breath of fresh air in Tudor studies. "Fatal Attractions" is not a conventional biography of Anne Boleyn (Bernard himself tacitly admits that the paucity of reliable information about her life makes such a project difficult, if not impossible.) Rather, it is an effort to take a new look at many of the traditional assumptions surrounding her marriage to Henry VIII and her subsequent arrest and execution. Bernard's Anne is a more helpless figure than is generally imagined, a woman who had some share of influence but, from first to last, was entirely in the control of her king. The most controversial part of his book is undoubtedly his suggestion that she was guilty of at least some of the charges made at her trial, and--although he does not belabor the point--he indirectly casts doubt on the paternity of the future Queen Elizabeth I. The author is forced by necessity to resort to speculation throughout the book, but his arguments are logical, intelligently and responsibly argued, and, on the whole, convincing. He rejects most of the elaborate (and often quite bizarre) theories that have sprung up in recent years about Anne (I was particularly pleased to see him debunk the ridiculous claim that her downfall was precipitated when she miscarried a deformed child.) Instead, he argues that the most obvious, most simple explanations are the ones most likely to be true. This book is far from being the "last word" on Anne Boleyn's oft-disputed life--that "word," unfortunately, can never really be written--but it is a novel and welcome addition to the historical debate.
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