Customer Reviews

The Tudors (Revealing History)

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The Tudors is a wonderfully written book. Instead of focusing on mundane little details about each monarch's personal life, this book focuses on what each one did while ruling England. This is a great book for those who want an overview of the Tudor dynasty, and would make an excellent textbook for a course on Tudor history.

Richard Rex is Director of Studies at Queens' College in Cambridge and the author of numerous papers on Tudor England, so his introduction THE TUDORS comes from a richly researched background, making it a `must' for in-depth English history collections at the college level. The public and private lives of the Tudors of England's `golden age' are examined in a guide which considers how dukes and kings influenced one of the greatest ages in English history.

My interest in the Tudor period of English history was piqued after I started to watch the Showtime series "The Tudors". The show is very good and I wanted to get some more background on the period and the monarchs that ruled England at that time. This book provides a sufficient introduction to the reigns of Henry VII, Henry VIII, Edward VI, Mary Tudor, and Elizabeth I. The author seems to be at times almost apologetic in his portrayal of these rulers in a more positive light than other historians. Maybe 'apologetic' is too strong, but he seems to give them the benefit of historical doubt. In any event, it is a worthwhile read to brush up on this period of history. The book is quite accessible to the general audience and avoids being bogged down with too many details. There are some areas where the author presumes some knowledge about events and people of the the times that are not explicated (e.g the Lollards - who they were and why they were treated as they were), but in fairness to do so may have turned the book into a tome. All in all a good read.