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A Brief History of British Kings and Queens: British Royal History from Alfred the Great to the Present (The Brief History) Paperback – Bargain Price, January 6, 2003

by Mike Ashley (Author)
3.9 out of 5 stars 9 customer reviews
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Product Details

  • Series: The Brief History
  • Paperback: 464 pages
  • Publisher: Running Press (January 6, 2003)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0786711043
  • ASIN: B00AZ8IVNU
  • Product Dimensions: 7.9 x 5.2 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,477,565 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful
Hefty tome covering all Brit royals
By Anonymous on November 17, 2003
Format: Paperback
With individual portraits of all the kings of Britain, no one could accuse this of incompleteness, but the solemn tone and lengthy paragraphs make for a rather dry read.

Billed as from "Alfred the Great to the Present" it begins long before Alfred, with overviews of the Celts, the Roman Occupation, and the Dark Ages. Ashley's organising principle, unity versus disunity within Britain, results in some confusing arrangement of material. For example, in the first Section, Kingdom Against Kingdom: Early Britain: after "The House of Normandy 1066-1154" he backtracks several hundred years to the Kingdoms of Wales (500-1240) and Scotland (850-1165). Then the narrative resumes in 1154 with The House of Anjou.
This mine of information, though daunting at first glance, covers monarchs' appearance, character, consorts, political, social, religious and cultural history. Among 100 pages of appendices are lists of Roman emperors and governors, kings of British provinces, royal consorts, family trees. The massive bibliography, handy for historic royal watchers, precedes the index.
You would probably want something more snappy and anecdotal on your shelf as well as this. However it's worth investing in as a reference source.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
British kings and queens
By vic-tor on May 15, 2010
Format: Paperback
This book was great. I really learned a lot about kings and queens i was not very familar with. Also, when I read something in passing about a monarch, I went back to this book to get more information. I am really glad I bought this, however I do not recomend reading the whole thing through, unless that is your thing. I did, and my head sort of hurt afterwards because of all the information. One thing that sort of bothered me about the book was I would read some information that I had not read in any other sources that I have read about a certain king or queen. It made me a little uneasy about the accuracy of some parts, but it did add something interesting.
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful
Land of a thousand kings
By Peter Durward Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 500 REVIEWER on June 13, 2011
Format: Paperback
I previously reviewed a book that gave a basic overview of the kings and queens of England, and while it is good for what it is, I eventually realized that I wanted a more detailed history that also covered Scotland. If it covered Wales and Ireland too, even better. This book covers Wales but not Ireland (though Ireland gets mentioned a few times), while having the additional merit of attempting to go right back to the earliest British kings, way before the Romans arrived. Very little is known about the really early kings, but it is good to find some information about them here.

Because of the book's starting point, it covers the Roman period, but if you really want to read about the Roman Empire, you'll need a different book. This being a history of royalty, it covers the basics, including the walls built by Hadrian and Antonius. Well, not built by them personally, but built in their names. Of course, one could say the same about any given period. This book is an excellent history of British royalty, but while it mentions some of the major changes that took place in society, it cannot dwell on them.

Actually, this book is titled a brief history because it is a carefully edited version of a much larger tome The Mammoth Book of British Kings and Queens (Mammoth Books) in which the same author provided a very comprehensive study of the subject. Apparently realizing that it would be too much for most people, he set about producing a book that was more readable while preserving the essence of the story.Read more ›
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Who carried the Scepter throughout the ages...and why.
By D. George on June 2, 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
My interest in British Royalty tends to ebb and flow with the times. But I was looking for a good reference to research many of the BBC productions I view on Amazon Prime and Netflix. My background and the vast majority of my ancestors were from Great Britain. I was able to read about the characters in the show, "The Tutors," as an example as well as 'The Vikings." What depth this book has, just enough to carry you from age to age covering every Royal since two people settled in the back of beyond and one claimed to be king to the modern day we watch on TV. What a rowdy sexed group, what treachery, what Oaks and what weeds they were. "What happen to who, who cut off Mary's head, why was Anne Boleyn treated so bad by Henry. Its all here. Not too much detail, not too little, just right. Be prepared to learn about people you have never heard of before. Its not, to me at least a page turning that you can't put down but more an encyclopedia of who's, who's that held the scepter.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Great Reference
By susan on April 19, 2014
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I bought this as a gift because I owned a previous printing of this history. Great as a reference book.
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