Customer Reviews

A Brief History of the Wars of the Roses

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With all the books available offering a comprehensive examination of the Wars of the Roses, it was only a matter of time before a helpful primer was written. This "Brief History" is just that, a sort of "Wars of the Roses for Dummies."

Fortunately, it is lively and well-written, with a pace more like a novel than a history text. By hitting the high points of the period, Seward is able to keep the story moving, without the hundreds of details that would bog down the narrative. This primer achieves its goal of providing the reader with a concise exposition of the main characters, the "whats and the why's".

Those who know the period in detail know that the period makes for a good yarn, and Seward tells it as well as any. Of course, those hundreds of details left out of this book are readily available in lengthier histories of the period. The "Brief History" is just that -- an intelligent and highly readable survey, perfect for those who want to just hit the high points, and an excellent "first book" for those just beginning to learn the period in depth.

While I enjoyed Seward's approach to this topic - he examines the civil strife as it affected the lives of William Hastings, Margaret Beaufort, John Morton, John de Vere and Jane Shore - it's not a book for those without some knowledge of the Wars of the Roses. The transition is often difficult to follow. It's as if the book were edited to reduce the size of the content so that a paragraph may contain a series of pronouns with no obvious name to attach to them.

I also found the citations to information stated as fact to be inconsistent. Some claims were cited; many were not. Although certainly by the sections on Richard III, it was obvious that the majority of his sources were the controversial early chroniclers, such as Sir Thomas More.

Despites these problems, I enjoyed the book. I don't necessarily swallow Seward's interpretation of events, but they do inform about the traditionalist viewpoint. He could have toned down his bias against the Yorkists, but that would have made for very dry reading.

If you have a basic handle on the time period, or if you're a student of Ricardian history, this book adds to the body of literature available because of its focus on the lives of lesser known players.

I read this book to get an overview of the War of the Roses after reading a novel entitled "The White Queen." This is a complex topic with a lot of different players to keep straight. Rather than focus on the major players or take a strict chronological approach, the author follows the lives of four minor individuals. Overall, I think this was effective, though at times I found it a bit dull reading about the details of some of their lives because I was more interested in the major players. Those more knowledgeable about this time period may not feel the same.

One complaint I have is that the book had no maps. Considering there were battles throughout the country and where someone was from mattered, it would have been nice to see those places on a map. As an American I am not as familiar with British geography as perhaps I ought to be.

My only other criticism is that I found it difficult to keep track of the many players when they were referred to by their titles alone. Even in the list of people in the front of the book they were listed by their title first, then by their given name. As an American these titles are almost meaningless to me other than to indicate that these men had standing in English society. It only added to the confusion that so many people died or were killed that these titles were constantly being transferred from one person to another. It would have been easier to keep track of these people if they had been referred to by their names instead of by their titles. Eventually, I just gave up trying to keep them all straight.

There is entirely too much repetition here, primarily because the author attempts to track the lives and experiences of far too many people. Seward compounds this serious narrative issue with unwarranted speculation and outright errors. Instead of borrowing so heavily from Barbara Tuchman's structural techniques, Seward would have done well to emulate her research skills.