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29 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent tale of intrigue, September 2, 2005
This review is from: Her Majesty's Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage (Hardcover)
In the 16th century England was at a crossroads. She couldn't possibly hope to match the sheer man power or size of the fleets at sea and hope to dominant world affairs. England would always end up playing catch up with Spain, France and other European powers with better resources. Intelligence and spying seemed to offer the key to help the islands in the Atlantic to dominate the world of politics. Queen Elizabeth turned to people like Sir Francis Walsingham.
Walsingham may not have invented spying or been the ultimate spymaster but he honed it to a fine art as did others in Queen Elizabeth's court. This was the time when monarchy was absolute rule after all and anything hinting at dissent was met swiftly and usually resulted in death. Author Stephen Budiansky has made this period fascinating by grafting a breezy style to this story. While people think they know a lot about the Elizabethan era in England, usually it's bits and pieces gleaned from studying Shakespeare or a course in college on the history of England during this time. The spying and doublecrosses that went on during this era are largely unknown to the average reader and, as a result, this may prove enlightening and entertaining.
This isn't written for academics. Like a lot of history books written for popular consumption this book escapes the dry, stilted text that makes you feel like you're buried in undergraduate classes again and it does bring to light an era largely forgotten by others and it makes it exciting. Based on what I know of the period, Budiansky does a good job with his scholarship and manages to make history---gasp!---entertaining as well as enlightening.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great book for an undergrad or the casual reader!, November 26, 2005
This review is from: Her Majesty's Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage (Hardcover)
Having just read the review by the esteemed Lisa Jardine (her "Worldly Goods: A New History of the Renaissance" is a great book)for the Washington Post, I felt compelled to respond.
She's rather harsh with it I think. I don't think Budiansky's history is any less accurate just because he is writing to an audience wider than us nerdy historians. It's just a lot less technical. I'm sure she misses all the footnotes and endnotes that we tend to live for, but I think that his narrative style gives his subject life and makes it a lot more fun to read than most history that is written for historians.
I think this book is a great introduction into the world of Elizabethan politics and espionage. Budiansky's work should not be compared to one such as Conyers Read's (still a great historian if a bit outdated), for they have completely different audiences for which they are writing. That said, perhaps Jardine was trying to say as much when she cited "Shakespeare in Love", but I think that's an unfair comparison... Budiansky takes FAR fewer liberties with fact.
So, if you are a non-historian, a casual reader, or if you're looking for a book for your undergraduate students, I recommend this book. If you are a history junky, and/or trying to find an authoritative work on Walsingham for graduate studies, you'll probably only want to use this book as a quick summary (it's an easy/fast read) of the carreer of Mr. Secretary Walsingham, if at all. There are certainly more authoritative books out there, but few as entertaining to read. And shouldn't history be fun to read?
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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Reads Like a Modern Spy Novel, September 11, 2005
This review is from: Her Majesty's Spymaster: Elizabeth I, Sir Francis Walsingham, and the Birth of Modern Espionage (Hardcover)
In a time of an abosolute monarch, the court revolves around people who specialize in providing that monarch with what she wants. Walsingham obviously supplied Elizabeth with what she wanted. Using techniques that sound like they come from a James Bond novel, he was able to set up an intelligence network that gave the queen proof of the actions of traitors, vital information about the Spanish Armada, and more. He did this without the nicieties of Miranda warnings, or search warrents, his men opened the mail and copyed letters (especially bad for Mary Queen of Scots).
Mr. Budiansky's writing style is open and easy. It reads fast, not like a history book. There are no footnotes (but there are some notes at the back of the book), there's not even an index (sorely missed if you want to look up something like where does he talk about Dudley).
I'm not so sure that Walsingham's spy networks fit into today's world quite as easily as he believes. Then again during World War II with the 'Man Who Wasn't There,' and other activities, maybe it was pretty close.
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