Customer Reviews

Elizabeth I

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Elizabeth I is, perhaps, the English monarch that has caught the interest of more people than any other British ruler has before. David Loades has managed to write a detailed record of her reign and life that covers not only the facts, but also presents and analyzes the many hypotheses that historians have come up with over years of research.

The opening chapter of the book details the circumstances of Elizabeth's birth and goes on to explain how she eventually was recognized as the rightful heir to the throne. The following four chapters describe the events of her rise to power, and the middle section covers her forty-year reign. The final chapter examines the reasons for Elizabeth's success.

The book is written in a very analytical manner, especially on Elizabeth's motives for the actions she took as queen of England. It also provides a substantial amount of background information on other important figures, such as Henry VIII, Mary, and Catherine.

On the whole, David Loades' biography is a thorough and fascinating read for those who want to delve into the intriguing story of Elizabeth I.

David Loades' intelligent biography of Elizabeth I is a pleasure to read. An obviously erudite historian of the Tudor period he never tries to impress the reader with heavy going prose but his book is remarkably well written and should be read by anyone with an interest in the period. He starts with the stages in Elizabeth's life when she was the King's daugther, then the King's sister and then the New Queen, moving on through the French and Netherlands episodes to the war with Spain and then to the final years. There are times when one wishes he would have written more on some of the events he narrates and it is probably advisable to have a general idea of who was who at the time in order to fully enjoy the story. Some of the psychological interpretations he puts forward may or may not reflect what actually happened but they too are a pleasure to read. The book has - but that is not the author's faults - the curse of the modern world, namely the footnotes at the end instead of conveniently at the bottom of the page, so the reader interested in seeing what are the sources quoted has to engage in an exasperating gymnastic to keep the page he is reading whilst fingering to the end to look up the footnote. Readers should unite and demand that editors put an end to this abominable practice !