Great Harry [Paperback]

Carolly Erickson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 15, 1997

St. Martin's Griffin is proud to reissue acclaimed biographer Carolly Erickson's lives of the Tudor monarchs.

In this full-scale popular biography of Henry VIII, Carolly Erickson re-creates the extravagant life and times of one of history's most complex and fascinating men.

Based on voluminous records of the period, the story of Henry's life covers his troubled youth, his triumphant early reign, and his agonizing old age.

Against the lively backdrop of the Tudor world, with all its splendors and squalors, Carolly Erickson gives us an unforgettable and human portrait of Henry VIII.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This historical biography reads like the liveliest fiction. Erickson's portraits of Henry VIII, Catherine of Aragon, Cardinal. Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, and Anne Boleyn are carefully drawn-and utterly fascinating." --Chicago Tribune

"An admirable biography, graphic, judicious, carefully researched, skillfully constructed, and full of those telling details that are an essential ingredient of the narrator's art." --Christopher Hibbert, The New York Times Book Review

"A book of considerable literary distinction. Erickson's training as a professional historian keeps the main structure of the story firmly tied to the evidence. The result commands belief as well as respect." --John Kenyon, Washington Post Book World

About the Author

Distinguished historian Carolly Erickson is the author of Rival to the Queen, The Memoirs of Mary Queen of Scots, The First Elizabeth, The Hidden Life of Josephine, The Last Wife of Henry VIII, and many other prize-winning works of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel The Tsarina’s Daughter won the Romantic Times Reviewer's Choice Award for Best Historical Fiction. She lives in Hawaii.

Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin (August 15, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0312168586
• ISBN-13: 978-0312168582
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #764,493 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #56 in Books > Biographies & Memoirs > Historical > British > King Henry VIII

More About the Author

Carolly Erickson is the bestselling author of many distinguished works of nonfiction and a series of historical entertainments, blending fact and invention. She lives in Hawaii.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost, but not quite, December 19, 2000

By 

Adam A. Fine "Caretaker of the Arts" (Las Vegas) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Harry (Paperback)

Erickson is a great biographer, and her Tudor quartet are lively and throughly enjoyable. But one of her strengths--her ability to write as a novelist--makes her inevitably biased to her hero or heroine. In Great Harry, it's clear that she has no great love of the man, perhaps a grudging admiration, and certainly a good deal of pity as relates to his later years. That said, this is still an excellent bio, highly recommended to Tudor enthusiasts more interested in Henry's wives than his statesmanship--but they would be better served reading Alison Weir.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Gives a great picture of the man and his times., November 18, 1999

By 

Lost_in_the_horizon (Austin, Texas USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Great Harry (Paperback)

The book showed a different side of Henry VIII, not just thestereotype of the cruel, evil, lecherous king. A great picture of hisearly life and his life with Catherine of Aragon is given, along with the difficulties he faced while on the throne throughout his life. It showed how loved and admired he was through his life (at least until the last part of his life) and gives another perspective of the heir-to-the-throne problem.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Biography, February 5, 2000

By 

P A Brown (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Great Harry (Paperback)

Carolly Erickson's Tudor and Stuart biographies are all splendid affairs. "Great Harry" attacks the personality of this man and the issues with which he graplled in a compelling and well-researched fashion without ever losing the reader's attention. Henry VIII was as big and grand as the Tudor age and this book captures both well. I also recommend Erickson's other biographies, especially "The First Elizabeth," about Henry and Anne Boylen's (she was the second wife, the first to lose her head) daughter. Truly one of the best popular historians writing about this period.