Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. , 22 Oct 2008
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. , 22 Oct 2008
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

Dissapointing, 13 Nov 2008
I was really looking forwards to this book, I am an avid reader of anything to do with Tudor history and the wars of the roses and as there is relatively little written on the early years of Henry VIII I was keen to discover more about his personality, his friendships, his marriage, his life and what made him into the tyrant most people recognise him as. Starkey's introduction was promising, I was chomping at the bit to get into this book, but it never really got going for me. Maybe I have read too much on the subject and it was all old news to me, there were little nuggets but no real meaty information.
It is possible, of course, that there is no documented evidence other than what Starkey bought to his book, or that he did not want to make any inferences - he is an historian after all and not a novelist - but I just cannot help feeling that the reader doesn't really get an insight into the boy or the young man.
There is very little on his relationships with More or Catherine of Aragon, which I would consider pretty fundemental considering the parts they both played in his life and it would have been good to have had more of a background on this in order to appreciate the enormity his actions had on his own personality, not just the consequences for the country and the church.
Assuming that you are familiar with the backgound into which Henry VIII was born; the wars of the roses, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and the other main players then you can cut out two thirds of the book. I wanted to know about the man, what made him tick, his passions, his personality, his friendships, his enemies, his lifestyle and just as Starkey got going the book ended. The reader gets little more than a glimpse of 'The Virtuous Prince'.
On the plus side it is an easy read, if you know little or nothing about Henry VIII's early life then go for it.

Young Henry - a perfect read, 10 Nov 2008
David Starkey is said to be Britain's highest-paid historian and this book is prove why that is.

It is a mere pleasure to read, entertaining, but never shallow and giving you a real inside into the young Henry - the boy prince, the heir and the young king.

I especially liked that Starkey never looses the focus on Henry. Very often historians present the developments of the time in art, education, religion, politics in length but one have to make the connection to the person oneself. But not here. Starkey shows what this meant for Henry, what effects it had on him and his personality.

The chapters are very short and very easy to read.

All in all, this a book filling a real gap in the literature on Henry VIII. 100% recommended!!!

The other Henry Tudor, 30 Oct 2008
I bought this and started with anticipation. I can honestly say I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the book from start to finish, you can see how much David Starkey loves his subject matter. I must admit that after reading it I have new questions and not sure where to go to ask!! Currently waiting on part 2 but have the sneaky feeling I will have to wait till christmas for that.

Definitive and superb, 21 Oct 2008
It seems as though there is a never-ending flow of books around the Tudor dynasty, including both the fiction of Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir to the fiction of David Starkey and others.
This book, the first of two (the latter edition will cover the later and more well know part of his life) is superb. Historical biographies can sometimes be "heavy" reading. Starkey's passion for his subject is obvious and his often anecdotal style of writing makes this an immensely pleasurable read.
If Henry VIII life is of interest to you, there is no better book out there. Simply excellent.

Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. , 22 Oct 2008
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

Dissapointing, 13 Nov 2008
I was really looking forwards to this book, I am an avid reader of anything to do with Tudor history and the wars of the roses and as there is relatively little written on the early years of Henry VIII I was keen to discover more about his personality, his friendships, his marriage, his life and what made him into the tyrant most people recognise him as. Starkey's introduction was promising, I was chomping at the bit to get into this book, but it never really got going for me. Maybe I have read too much on the subject and it was all old news to me, there were little nuggets but no real meaty information.
It is possible, of course, that there is no documented evidence other than what Starkey bought to his book, or that he did not want to make any inferences - he is an historian after all and not a novelist - but I just cannot help feeling that the reader doesn't really get an insight into the boy or the young man.
There is very little on his relationships with More or Catherine of Aragon, which I would consider pretty fundemental considering the parts they both played in his life and it would have been good to have had more of a background on this in order to appreciate the enormity his actions had on his own personality, not just the consequences for the country and the church.
Assuming that you are familiar with the backgound into which Henry VIII was born; the wars of the roses, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and the other main players then you can cut out two thirds of the book. I wanted to know about the man, what made him tick, his passions, his personality, his friendships, his enemies, his lifestyle and just as Starkey got going the book ended. The reader gets little more than a glimpse of 'The Virtuous Prince'.
On the plus side it is an easy read, if you know little or nothing about Henry VIII's early life then go for it.

Young Henry - a perfect read, 10 Nov 2008
David Starkey is said to be Britain's highest-paid historian and this book is prove why that is.

It is a mere pleasure to read, entertaining, but never shallow and giving you a real inside into the young Henry - the boy prince, the heir and the young king.

I especially liked that Starkey never looses the focus on Henry. Very often historians present the developments of the time in art, education, religion, politics in length but one have to make the connection to the person oneself. But not here. Starkey shows what this meant for Henry, what effects it had on him and his personality.

The chapters are very short and very easy to read.

All in all, this a book filling a real gap in the literature on Henry VIII. 100% recommended!!!

The other Henry Tudor, 30 Oct 2008
I bought this and started with anticipation. I can honestly say I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the book from start to finish, you can see how much David Starkey loves his subject matter. I must admit that after reading it I have new questions and not sure where to go to ask!! Currently waiting on part 2 but have the sneaky feeling I will have to wait till christmas for that.

Definitive and superb, 21 Oct 2008
It seems as though there is a never-ending flow of books around the Tudor dynasty, including both the fiction of Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir to the fiction of David Starkey and others.
This book, the first of two (the latter edition will cover the later and more well know part of his life) is superb. Historical biographies can sometimes be "heavy" reading. Starkey's passion for his subject is obvious and his often anecdotal style of writing makes this an immensely pleasurable read.
If Henry VIII life is of interest to you, there is no better book out there. Simply excellent.

The National Reviews So Far, 12 Oct 2008
Reviews of Masters and Commanders

`Writing with clarity and elegance, Mr Roberts conveys how his four principals and their armies of aides and staff officers thrashed out the formulae for victory. This is an important book which, in its layered references to Waterloo, the Crimea and the Somme, sees Mr Roberts lay claim to the title of Britain's finest contemporary military historian.'
The Economist

`Despite eschewing the visceral drama of the battlefield for the less deadly, if no less hard-fought, debates of various Allied conferences, cabinets and committees, Roberts has produced a surprisingly gripping read. He has marshalled his material superbly and his warts-and-all assessment of his four subjects is invariable spot-on. Exhaustively researched and judiciously written, with a gimlet eye for telling detail, this may be his finest book yet.'
Saul David, Sunday Telegraph

`In Masters and Commanders, Roberts offers us a compelling analysis of American and British strategy during the war. He also tells a profoundly human story - of two soldiers who loyally served their masters, only to be each denied at the end the prize that would have made one of them world famous.'
Laurence Rees, Sunday Times

`Roberts displays a profound understanding of the interactions between strategy and politics, and his interpretation of British/US strategic relations between 1941 and 1945 is unlikely to be superseded.'
Prof Vernon Bogdanor, Financial Times

`Couched in elegant prose, this book is a masterpiece of robust historical analysis, steeped in scholarship and alive to every nuance of personality. Roberts re-evaluates each of the masters and commanders with scrupulous fairness.'
Christopher Silvester, Daily Express

`The author has crafted a masterly and fresh interpretation of the grand strategy of World War II. Roberts's pen-portraits, with their wealth of amusing and often acerbic anecdotes, reveal the evolution of that strategy by the master statesmen.'
John Crossland, Daily Mail

`The strength of Masters and Commanders lies in the power of the narrative and the fascinating detail used to construct it. Roberts has exploited a rich mine of private papers to fill in missing parts of the story, and although there is little new to be learned about the long strategic arguments between the British and the Americans over the best way to defeat Hitler, there is a lot to learn about the way that argument took place. Roberts has a shrewd grasp of the ins and outs of decision making.'
Prof Richard Overy, Literary Review

`Marshal Foch famously said that he had "less respect for Napoleon, now that I know what a coalition is". The high quality of the leadership of the coalition Andrew Roberts so expertly describes was a decisive factor in their success.'
Conrad Black, Mail on Sunday

`A wonderful page-turner, a really good read.'
Chris Patten, Start the Week

Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. , 22 Oct 2008
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

Dissapointing, 13 Nov 2008
I was really looking forwards to this book, I am an avid reader of anything to do with Tudor history and the wars of the roses and as there is relatively little written on the early years of Henry VIII I was keen to discover more about his personality, his friendships, his marriage, his life and what made him into the tyrant most people recognise him as. Starkey's introduction was promising, I was chomping at the bit to get into this book, but it never really got going for me. Maybe I have read too much on the subject and it was all old news to me, there were little nuggets but no real meaty information.
It is possible, of course, that there is no documented evidence other than what Starkey bought to his book, or that he did not want to make any inferences - he is an historian after all and not a novelist - but I just cannot help feeling that the reader doesn't really get an insight into the boy or the young man.
There is very little on his relationships with More or Catherine of Aragon, which I would consider pretty fundemental considering the parts they both played in his life and it would have been good to have had more of a background on this in order to appreciate the enormity his actions had on his own personality, not just the consequences for the country and the church.
Assuming that you are familiar with the backgound into which Henry VIII was born; the wars of the roses, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and the other main players then you can cut out two thirds of the book. I wanted to know about the man, what made him tick, his passions, his personality, his friendships, his enemies, his lifestyle and just as Starkey got going the book ended. The reader gets little more than a glimpse of 'The Virtuous Prince'.
On the plus side it is an easy read, if you know little or nothing about Henry VIII's early life then go for it.

Young Henry - a perfect read, 10 Nov 2008
David Starkey is said to be Britain's highest-paid historian and this book is prove why that is.

It is a mere pleasure to read, entertaining, but never shallow and giving you a real inside into the young Henry - the boy prince, the heir and the young king.

I especially liked that Starkey never looses the focus on Henry. Very often historians present the developments of the time in art, education, religion, politics in length but one have to make the connection to the person oneself. But not here. Starkey shows what this meant for Henry, what effects it had on him and his personality.

The chapters are very short and very easy to read.

All in all, this a book filling a real gap in the literature on Henry VIII. 100% recommended!!!

The other Henry Tudor, 30 Oct 2008
I bought this and started with anticipation. I can honestly say I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the book from start to finish, you can see how much David Starkey loves his subject matter. I must admit that after reading it I have new questions and not sure where to go to ask!! Currently waiting on part 2 but have the sneaky feeling I will have to wait till christmas for that.

Definitive and superb, 21 Oct 2008
It seems as though there is a never-ending flow of books around the Tudor dynasty, including both the fiction of Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir to the fiction of David Starkey and others.
This book, the first of two (the latter edition will cover the later and more well know part of his life) is superb. Historical biographies can sometimes be "heavy" reading. Starkey's passion for his subject is obvious and his often anecdotal style of writing makes this an immensely pleasurable read.
If Henry VIII life is of interest to you, there is no better book out there. Simply excellent.

The National Reviews So Far, 12 Oct 2008
Reviews of Masters and Commanders

`Writing with clarity and elegance, Mr Roberts conveys how his four principals and their armies of aides and staff officers thrashed out the formulae for victory. This is an important book which, in its layered references to Waterloo, the Crimea and the Somme, sees Mr Roberts lay claim to the title of Britain's finest contemporary military historian.'
The Economist

`Despite eschewing the visceral drama of the battlefield for the less deadly, if no less hard-fought, debates of various Allied conferences, cabinets and committees, Roberts has produced a surprisingly gripping read. He has marshalled his material superbly and his warts-and-all assessment of his four subjects is invariable spot-on. Exhaustively researched and judiciously written, with a gimlet eye for telling detail, this may be his finest book yet.'
Saul David, Sunday Telegraph

`In Masters and Commanders, Roberts offers us a compelling analysis of American and British strategy during the war. He also tells a profoundly human story - of two soldiers who loyally served their masters, only to be each denied at the end the prize that would have made one of them world famous.'
Laurence Rees, Sunday Times

`Roberts displays a profound understanding of the interactions between strategy and politics, and his interpretation of British/US strategic relations between 1941 and 1945 is unlikely to be superseded.'
Prof Vernon Bogdanor, Financial Times

`Couched in elegant prose, this book is a masterpiece of robust historical analysis, steeped in scholarship and alive to every nuance of personality. Roberts re-evaluates each of the masters and commanders with scrupulous fairness.'
Christopher Silvester, Daily Express

`The author has crafted a masterly and fresh interpretation of the grand strategy of World War II. Roberts's pen-portraits, with their wealth of amusing and often acerbic anecdotes, reveal the evolution of that strategy by the master statesmen.'
John Crossland, Daily Mail

`The strength of Masters and Commanders lies in the power of the narrative and the fascinating detail used to construct it. Roberts has exploited a rich mine of private papers to fill in missing parts of the story, and although there is little new to be learned about the long strategic arguments between the British and the Americans over the best way to defeat Hitler, there is a lot to learn about the way that argument took place. Roberts has a shrewd grasp of the ins and outs of decision making.'
Prof Richard Overy, Literary Review

`Marshal Foch famously said that he had "less respect for Napoleon, now that I know what a coalition is". The high quality of the leadership of the coalition Andrew Roberts so expertly describes was a decisive factor in their success.'
Conrad Black, Mail on Sunday

`A wonderful page-turner, a really good read.'
Chris Patten, Start the Week


Latest and best of his WW1 series, 10 Nov 2008
Richard Holmes is well known as a military historian who can not only make the details of military campaigns intelligible, but can recognise the human stories beneath. There is little in terms of campaign detail. There is not that much that is especially original, either. But these are trivial matters compared with the book's place as in my opinion one of the best annotated photo albums about WW1. Enormous knowledge is worn lightly; the choice of photos is without exception excellent, with most them having appeared rarely if at all before. The greatest strength is that Holmes teaches us (without seeming to do so) how to read photos of WW1 and probably all conflicts, drawing us into the detail of the picture with warmth and humanity. Highly recommended even at full price.

Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. , 22 Oct 2008
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

Dissapointing, 13 Nov 2008
I was really looking forwards to this book, I am an avid reader of anything to do with Tudor history and the wars of the roses and as there is relatively little written on the early years of Henry VIII I was keen to discover more about his personality, his friendships, his marriage, his life and what made him into the tyrant most people recognise him as. Starkey's introduction was promising, I was chomping at the bit to get into this book, but it never really got going for me. Maybe I have read too much on the subject and it was all old news to me, there were little nuggets but no real meaty information.
It is possible, of course, that there is no documented evidence other than what Starkey bought to his book, or that he did not want to make any inferences - he is an historian after all and not a novelist - but I just cannot help feeling that the reader doesn't really get an insight into the boy or the young man.
There is very little on his relationships with More or Catherine of Aragon, which I would consider pretty fundemental considering the parts they both played in his life and it would have been good to have had more of a background on this in order to appreciate the enormity his actions had on his own personality, not just the consequences for the country and the church.
Assuming that you are familiar with the backgound into which Henry VIII was born; the wars of the roses, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and the other main players then you can cut out two thirds of the book. I wanted to know about the man, what made him tick, his passions, his personality, his friendships, his enemies, his lifestyle and just as Starkey got going the book ended. The reader gets little more than a glimpse of 'The Virtuous Prince'.
On the plus side it is an easy read, if you know little or nothing about Henry VIII's early life then go for it.

Young Henry - a perfect read, 10 Nov 2008
David Starkey is said to be Britain's highest-paid historian and this book is prove why that is.

It is a mere pleasure to read, entertaining, but never shallow and giving you a real inside into the young Henry - the boy prince, the heir and the young king.

I especially liked that Starkey never looses the focus on Henry. Very often historians present the developments of the time in art, education, religion, politics in length but one have to make the connection to the person oneself. But not here. Starkey shows what this meant for Henry, what effects it had on him and his personality.

The chapters are very short and very easy to read.

All in all, this a book filling a real gap in the literature on Henry VIII. 100% recommended!!!

The other Henry Tudor, 30 Oct 2008
I bought this and started with anticipation. I can honestly say I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the book from start to finish, you can see how much David Starkey loves his subject matter. I must admit that after reading it I have new questions and not sure where to go to ask!! Currently waiting on part 2 but have the sneaky feeling I will have to wait till christmas for that.

Definitive and superb, 21 Oct 2008
It seems as though there is a never-ending flow of books around the Tudor dynasty, including both the fiction of Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir to the fiction of David Starkey and others.
This book, the first of two (the latter edition will cover the later and more well know part of his life) is superb. Historical biographies can sometimes be "heavy" reading. Starkey's passion for his subject is obvious and his often anecdotal style of writing makes this an immensely pleasurable read.
If Henry VIII life is of interest to you, there is no better book out there. Simply excellent.

The National Reviews So Far, 12 Oct 2008
Reviews of Masters and Commanders

`Writing with clarity and elegance, Mr Roberts conveys how his four principals and their armies of aides and staff officers thrashed out the formulae for victory. This is an important book which, in its layered references to Waterloo, the Crimea and the Somme, sees Mr Roberts lay claim to the title of Britain's finest contemporary military historian.'
The Economist

`Despite eschewing the visceral drama of the battlefield for the less deadly, if no less hard-fought, debates of various Allied conferences, cabinets and committees, Roberts has produced a surprisingly gripping read. He has marshalled his material superbly and his warts-and-all assessment of his four subjects is invariable spot-on. Exhaustively researched and judiciously written, with a gimlet eye for telling detail, this may be his finest book yet.'
Saul David, Sunday Telegraph

`In Masters and Commanders, Roberts offers us a compelling analysis of American and British strategy during the war. He also tells a profoundly human story - of two soldiers who loyally served their masters, only to be each denied at the end the prize that would have made one of them world famous.'
Laurence Rees, Sunday Times

`Roberts displays a profound understanding of the interactions between strategy and politics, and his interpretation of British/US strategic relations between 1941 and 1945 is unlikely to be superseded.'
Prof Vernon Bogdanor, Financial Times

`Couched in elegant prose, this book is a masterpiece of robust historical analysis, steeped in scholarship and alive to every nuance of personality. Roberts re-evaluates each of the masters and commanders with scrupulous fairness.'
Christopher Silvester, Daily Express

`The author has crafted a masterly and fresh interpretation of the grand strategy of World War II. Roberts's pen-portraits, with their wealth of amusing and often acerbic anecdotes, reveal the evolution of that strategy by the master statesmen.'
John Crossland, Daily Mail

`The strength of Masters and Commanders lies in the power of the narrative and the fascinating detail used to construct it. Roberts has exploited a rich mine of private papers to fill in missing parts of the story, and although there is little new to be learned about the long strategic arguments between the British and the Americans over the best way to defeat Hitler, there is a lot to learn about the way that argument took place. Roberts has a shrewd grasp of the ins and outs of decision making.'
Prof Richard Overy, Literary Review

`Marshal Foch famously said that he had "less respect for Napoleon, now that I know what a coalition is". The high quality of the leadership of the coalition Andrew Roberts so expertly describes was a decisive factor in their success.'
Conrad Black, Mail on Sunday

`A wonderful page-turner, a really good read.'
Chris Patten, Start the Week


Latest and best of his WW1 series, 10 Nov 2008
Richard Holmes is well known as a military historian who can not only make the details of military campaigns intelligible, but can recognise the human stories beneath. There is little in terms of campaign detail. There is not that much that is especially original, either. But these are trivial matters compared with the book's place as in my opinion one of the best annotated photo albums about WW1. Enormous knowledge is worn lightly; the choice of photos is without exception excellent, with most them having appeared rarely if at all before. The greatest strength is that Holmes teaches us (without seeming to do so) how to read photos of WW1 and probably all conflicts, drawing us into the detail of the picture with warmth and humanity. Highly recommended even at full price.

Disappointing and trivial, 15 Oct 2008
Deeply disappointing read to anyone genuinely interested in history and definately not one of Alison Weir's more successful works. here ius no depth to the book and the characters are shallow; there is some basis in historical fact but much of the book is conjecture. The style is stilted and uses the device of several different people taking up the tale to carry the story along. This patently does not work in this book as none of the characters develop a believable or sufficiently diiferentiated voice. The modernisation of the language and sentiment makes the book anachronistic and is rather patronising to the reader. It was so vacuous and trite that I nearly gave up on the book in boredom but the second half does gain some pace as it moves to it's inescapable conclusion and there are some little insights into Queen Mary's character that could bear further development.
Is this book trying to be reportage or a boddice ripper ? Whatever the genre it really does not work. Perhaps I should not have read it after Ives' excellent piece of scholarship on Anne Boleyn which really is well researched, highly entertaining and rewarding.

Sadly disappointed, 30 Sep 2008
History is my favorite subject and this author came highly recommended.
This is the first book I have read by her and was extremely disappointed.
It lacked a true atmosphere of the time,that this was set in.
I really could not picture any exacutioner, living during Mary's reign, thinking the thoughts that this author had written.
The terminology was all wrong, the dialogue sounded 1970's.
The characters all appeared wishy washy.
It is far more a type of Barbara Cartland for the history lover, than any serious attempt to understand or explain how these events really played out.
It is an easy light read, ideal for train travel or just before going to sleep.
The Tudor/War of the Roses have been far better written as stories by Rosemay Hawley Jarman, amoungest others, who REALLY make you smell the candle wax and hear the rustle of cloth of gold.
This book is not, in my opinion, true history at all. Just another story book.

Suspenseful even with a well-known ending, 11 Aug 2008
Alison Weir is a respected historian who is often recommended as an antidote to inaccurate representations in historical fiction as written by other authors. This is her first novel, and what a novel it is. I was entranced from the first line, and even though I knew how it was going to end, I still hoped that there would be a change at some point near the end. That's the sign of a good writer - someone who can write so compellingly and with such suspense that you hope they can even change historical facts for you.

Lady Jane Grey was a pawn in the ambition of her parents and of the Duke of Northumberland, almost from the moment she was born. Never forgiven for the cardinal sin of being born female, she was beaten and tortured into becoming a "lady" suitable for marriage to a monarch. When that ceased to be an option she was beaten into a marriage and a reign she never wanted, protesting even as the crown was being put on her head. These are facts that are known by most who have even read cursory information about this young lady. What is amazing is the way Alison Weir makes it seem like new information. The chorus of different voices in the telling of Jane's tale is exemplary and clever. I kept turning pages wanting to see what spin the next narrator would put on the story.

This novel did what historical fiction should do - it made me want to seek out the non-fiction bases for the story and do more reading. Anything that inspires further study can only be praised.

An Excellent Book into a Intresting Woman, 23 Jun 2008
Having known very little about the main character this book is based on, Lady Jane Grey, it was a refreshing and intresting read. I've been a fan of Philippa Gregory's book's but this surpasses them by leaps and bounds.

The characters are very much three dimension each with flaws. A previous reviewer had made the comment that Jane was too perfect, which I didn't find. To me she was flawed in the fact that she was too dogmatic in her views on religion, but this in itself was, at least to me, a form of rebelion against her parents. It was their disappointment in Jane and their ambition for power that ultimately led to her downfall.

The author has obviously done her homework and research and by intertwining known facts with certain key points in history that Jane 'Could' have witnessed, it brings it live.

I also began to fell for Queen Mary I, who even though knew that in order to give the country security of her marriage to Philip of Spain, and therefor give a heir to the throne, Jane had to die, Mary gave Jane many chances to live. First by trying to get her to convert and then to see if she was with child.

By the time that Jane's execution was drawing close, I found I could no longer read this book at bed time. I found myself getting very emotional at the scene.

All in all, an excellent book and I can't wait for the next one, which is sitting in my to-read pile.

good but nothing special, 11 Jun 2008
Ok so I really liked the whole concept of this story, as soon as I got the book I thought it was some thing special. I enjoyed the layout of being able to see the events taking place from various perspectives. But I feel the book and the protagonist is weak. I felt that at points Jane was too perfect and that it seemed like Alison weir had forgotten she was just a girl of 16 who would have had other hopes beyond religion and studies although I have not researched Jane so I would not know but I simply could not see her as a human. I did however enjoy her mother who seemed like a much more interesting and well developed character. I also disliked Jane's "wedding night" I felt the whole scene was unnecessary and very depressing, at points it became unbearable to read which really put me off finishing the rest of the book. I feel the problem with this book is that Jane lacked faults, she did not seem to me to be a real person who did actually live, she seemed more like a saint and I felt I simply could not relate to this character. I also felt some chapters were rather boring and I found myself skipping a few pages.

Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. , 22 Oct 2008
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

Dissapointing, 13 Nov 2008
I was really looking forwards to this book, I am an avid reader of anything to do with Tudor history and the wars of the roses and as there is relatively little written on the early years of Henry VIII I was keen to discover more about his personality, his friendships, his marriage, his life and what made him into the tyrant most people recognise him as. Starkey's introduction was promising, I was chomping at the bit to get into this book, but it never really got going for me. Maybe I have read too much on the subject and it was all old news to me, there were little nuggets but no real meaty information.
It is possible, of course, that there is no documented evidence other than what Starkey bought to his book, or that he did not want to make any inferences - he is an historian after all and not a novelist - but I just cannot help feeling that the reader doesn't really get an insight into the boy or the young man.
There is very little on his relationships with More or Catherine of Aragon, which I would consider pretty fundemental considering the parts they both played in his life and it would have been good to have had more of a background on this in order to appreciate the enormity his actions had on his own personality, not just the consequences for the country and the church.
Assuming that you are familiar with the backgound into which Henry VIII was born; the wars of the roses, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and the other main players then you can cut out two thirds of the book. I wanted to know about the man, what made him tick, his passions, his personality, his friendships, his enemies, his lifestyle and just as Starkey got going the book ended. The reader gets little more than a glimpse of 'The Virtuous Prince'.
On the plus side it is an easy read, if you know little or nothing about Henry VIII's early life then go for it.

Young Henry - a perfect read, 10 Nov 2008
David Starkey is said to be Britain's highest-paid historian and this book is prove why that is.

It is a mere pleasure to read, entertaining, but never shallow and giving you a real inside into the young Henry - the boy prince, the heir and the young king.

I especially liked that Starkey never looses the focus on Henry. Very often historians present the developments of the time in art, education, religion, politics in length but one have to make the connection to the person oneself. But not here. Starkey shows what this meant for Henry, what effects it had on him and his personality.

The chapters are very short and very easy to read.

All in all, this a book filling a real gap in the literature on Henry VIII. 100% recommended!!!

The other Henry Tudor, 30 Oct 2008
I bought this and started with anticipation. I can honestly say I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the book from start to finish, you can see how much David Starkey loves his subject matter. I must admit that after reading it I have new questions and not sure where to go to ask!! Currently waiting on part 2 but have the sneaky feeling I will have to wait till christmas for that.

Definitive and superb, 21 Oct 2008
It seems as though there is a never-ending flow of books around the Tudor dynasty, including both the fiction of Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir to the fiction of David Starkey and others.
This book, the first of two (the latter edition will cover the later and more well know part of his life) is superb. Historical biographies can sometimes be "heavy" reading. Starkey's passion for his subject is obvious and his often anecdotal style of writing makes this an immensely pleasurable read.
If Henry VIII life is of interest to you, there is no better book out there. Simply excellent.

The National Reviews So Far, 12 Oct 2008
Reviews of Masters and Commanders

`Writing with clarity and elegance, Mr Roberts conveys how his four principals and their armies of aides and staff officers thrashed out the formulae for victory. This is an important book which, in its layered references to Waterloo, the Crimea and the Somme, sees Mr Roberts lay claim to the title of Britain's finest contemporary military historian.'
The Economist

`Despite eschewing the visceral drama of the battlefield for the less deadly, if no less hard-fought, debates of various Allied conferences, cabinets and committees, Roberts has produced a surprisingly gripping read. He has marshalled his material superbly and his warts-and-all assessment of his four subjects is invariable spot-on. Exhaustively researched and judiciously written, with a gimlet eye for telling detail, this may be his finest book yet.'
Saul David, Sunday Telegraph

`In Masters and Commanders, Roberts offers us a compelling analysis of American and British strategy during the war. He also tells a profoundly human story - of two soldiers who loyally served their masters, only to be each denied at the end the prize that would have made one of them world famous.'
Laurence Rees, Sunday Times

`Roberts displays a profound understanding of the interactions between strategy and politics, and his interpretation of British/US strategic relations between 1941 and 1945 is unlikely to be superseded.'
Prof Vernon Bogdanor, Financial Times

`Couched in elegant prose, this book is a masterpiece of robust historical analysis, steeped in scholarship and alive to every nuance of personality. Roberts re-evaluates each of the masters and commanders with scrupulous fairness.'
Christopher Silvester, Daily Express

`The author has crafted a masterly and fresh interpretation of the grand strategy of World War II. Roberts's pen-portraits, with their wealth of amusing and often acerbic anecdotes, reveal the evolution of that strategy by the master statesmen.'
John Crossland, Daily Mail

`The strength of Masters and Commanders lies in the power of the narrative and the fascinating detail used to construct it. Roberts has exploited a rich mine of private papers to fill in missing parts of the story, and although there is little new to be learned about the long strategic arguments between the British and the Americans over the best way to defeat Hitler, there is a lot to learn about the way that argument took place. Roberts has a shrewd grasp of the ins and outs of decision making.'
Prof Richard Overy, Literary Review

`Marshal Foch famously said that he had "less respect for Napoleon, now that I know what a coalition is". The high quality of the leadership of the coalition Andrew Roberts so expertly describes was a decisive factor in their success.'
Conrad Black, Mail on Sunday

`A wonderful page-turner, a really good read.'
Chris Patten, Start the Week


Latest and best of his WW1 series, 10 Nov 2008
Richard Holmes is well known as a military historian who can not only make the details of military campaigns intelligible, but can recognise the human stories beneath. There is little in terms of campaign detail. There is not that much that is especially original, either. But these are trivial matters compared with the book's place as in my opinion one of the best annotated photo albums about WW1. Enormous knowledge is worn lightly; the choice of photos is without exception excellent, with most them having appeared rarely if at all before. The greatest strength is that Holmes teaches us (without seeming to do so) how to read photos of WW1 and probably all conflicts, drawing us into the detail of the picture with warmth and humanity. Highly recommended even at full price.

Disappointing and trivial, 15 Oct 2008
Deeply disappointing read to anyone genuinely interested in history and definately not one of Alison Weir's more successful works. here ius no depth to the book and the characters are shallow; there is some basis in historical fact but much of the book is conjecture. The style is stilted and uses the device of several different people taking up the tale to carry the story along. This patently does not work in this book as none of the characters develop a believable or sufficiently diiferentiated voice. The modernisation of the language and sentiment makes the book anachronistic and is rather patronising to the reader. It was so vacuous and trite that I nearly gave up on the book in boredom but the second half does gain some pace as it moves to it's inescapable conclusion and there are some little insights into Queen Mary's character that could bear further development.
Is this book trying to be reportage or a boddice ripper ? Whatever the genre it really does not work. Perhaps I should not have read it after Ives' excellent piece of scholarship on Anne Boleyn which really is well researched, highly entertaining and rewarding.

Sadly disappointed, 30 Sep 2008
History is my favorite subject and this author came highly recommended.
This is the first book I have read by her and was extremely disappointed.
It lacked a true atmosphere of the time,that this was set in.
I really could not picture any exacutioner, living during Mary's reign, thinking the thoughts that this author had written.
The terminology was all wrong, the dialogue sounded 1970's.
The characters all appeared wishy washy.
It is far more a type of Barbara Cartland for the history lover, than any serious attempt to understand or explain how these events really played out.
It is an easy light read, ideal for train travel or just before going to sleep.
The Tudor/War of the Roses have been far better written as stories by Rosemay Hawley Jarman, amoungest others, who REALLY make you smell the candle wax and hear the rustle of cloth of gold.
This book is not, in my opinion, true history at all. Just another story book.

Suspenseful even with a well-known ending, 11 Aug 2008
Alison Weir is a respected historian who is often recommended as an antidote to inaccurate representations in historical fiction as written by other authors. This is her first novel, and what a novel it is. I was entranced from the first line, and even though I knew how it was going to end, I still hoped that there would be a change at some point near the end. That's the sign of a good writer - someone who can write so compellingly and with such suspense that you hope they can even change historical facts for you.

Lady Jane Grey was a pawn in the ambition of her parents and of the Duke of Northumberland, almost from the moment she was born. Never forgiven for the cardinal sin of being born female, she was beaten and tortured into becoming a "lady" suitable for marriage to a monarch. When that ceased to be an option she was beaten into a marriage and a reign she never wanted, protesting even as the crown was being put on her head. These are facts that are known by most who have even read cursory information about this young lady. What is amazing is the way Alison Weir makes it seem like new information. The chorus of different voices in the telling of Jane's tale is exemplary and clever. I kept turning pages wanting to see what spin the next narrator would put on the story.

This novel did what historical fiction should do - it made me want to seek out the non-fiction bases for the story and do more reading. Anything that inspires further study can only be praised.

An Excellent Book into a Intresting Woman, 23 Jun 2008
Having known very little about the main character this book is based on, Lady Jane Grey, it was a refreshing and intresting read. I've been a fan of Philippa Gregory's book's but this surpasses them by leaps and bounds.

The characters are very much three dimension each with flaws. A previous reviewer had made the comment that Jane was too perfect, which I didn't find. To me she was flawed in the fact that she was too dogmatic in her views on religion, but this in itself was, at least to me, a form of rebelion against her parents. It was their disappointment in Jane and their ambition for power that ultimately led to her downfall.

The author has obviously done her homework and research and by intertwining known facts with certain key points in history that Jane 'Could' have witnessed, it brings it live.

I also began to fell for Queen Mary I, who even though knew that in order to give the country security of her marriage to Philip of Spain, and therefor give a heir to the throne, Jane had to die, Mary gave Jane many chances to live. First by trying to get her to convert and then to see if she was with child.

By the time that Jane's execution was drawing close, I found I could no longer read this book at bed time. I found myself getting very emotional at the scene.

All in all, an excellent book and I can't wait for the next one, which is sitting in my to-read pile.

good but nothing special, 11 Jun 2008
Ok so I really liked the whole concept of this story, as soon as I got the book I thought it was some thing special. I enjoyed the layout of being able to see the events taking place from various perspectives. But I feel the book and the protagonist is weak. I felt that at points Jane was too perfect and that it seemed like Alison weir had forgotten she was just a girl of 16 who would have had other hopes beyond religion and studies although I have not researched Jane so I would not know but I simply could not see her as a human. I did however enjoy her mother who seemed like a much more interesting and well developed character. I also disliked Jane's "wedding night" I felt the whole scene was unnecessary and very depressing, at points it became unbearable to read which really put me off finishing the rest of the book. I feel the problem with this book is that Jane lacked faults, she did not seem to me to be a real person who did actually live, she seemed more like a saint and I felt I simply could not relate to this character. I also felt some chapters were rather boring and I found myself skipping a few pages.

Another Layer to the Story, 21 Nov 2008
Alison Weir shows yet again that she is a skilled novelist, this time taking on the complex and hazy story of Elizabeth Tudor's childhood and leading up to her accession.

Elizabeth, as depicted by Weir, is savvy, politically-minded and ambitious. She is also sometimes naive and all-too-human, especially in her dealings with Thomas Seymour. Seymour's behavior would now be properly referred to as molestation, and the sequences where he invades Elizabeth's space, and betrays his wife in the process, were vividly written - so vividly that I was almost uncomfortable. His fate was not an unwelcome one, and he could have taken Elizabeth down with him.

I continue to be fascinated by Tudor historical fiction, and by Elizabeth in particular. Alison Weir is an excellent author, and while I didn't love this novel as much as I did Innocent Traitor, it is firmly in the four-star tier.

Hmmm, 18 Nov 2008
I didn't really enjoy this book to the chagrin of all of my friends who loved it. I didn't particularly enjoy innocent traitor either. Miss Weir write factual history much better... whilst reading her novels I always feel she is still giving me a history lesson explaining silly things which ruins the flow of the story.

Not recommended., 16 Nov 2008
I have read several of Alison Weir's non-fiction work, and also her first novel, Innocent Traitor. I thought Innocent Traitor was OK, and hoped that her second would be better.

Unfortunately, I feel it was worse. I found it quite difficult to read through to the end. The characters are quite wooden, and I didn't find the dialogue believable, particularly at the beginning. Elizabeth as a toddler certainly doesn't act or sound like a toddler! I know she is supposed to be intelligent, but I just couldn't find it believable. The dialogue could also have been a little bit more historically accurate at times (less modern colloquial terms).

There are also inaccuracies, which I found disappointing for a historian - Anne Boleyn's necklace was a 'B', not an 'A'. She also did not have a sixth finger; if she had, there is no way that she would have been allowed to (let alone popular at!) the French and English courts.

And, sometimes, she is perhaps too accurate - name-dropping titles of books that Elizabeth is reading. Maybe this was to 'set the scene' a litte, but I found it irritating, and felt like the author was showing off her historical knowledge of the period, rather than developing the description or story further. I've not read any other books that do this.

Personally, I feel that the subject, for a second novel, was a poor choice, especially as popular Tudor fiction author Philippa Gregory has had one published recently. (And does it better too, in my opinion!) Overall this is quite a clunky, wooden and slow read, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it. I will be avoiding any of Weir's future fiction works.

Not as good as Innocent Traitor, 09 Oct 2008
Incredibly I picked this book out of my bookcase and couldn't remember whether I'd read it or not!!! I had to check the last few pages! Not good...

This book wasn't a patch on Innocent Traitor by the same author which was incredibly moving. Maybe it's just that there have been too many books written about the young Elizabeth, I don't know...

Wooden, 09 Oct 2008
I was so disappointed by The Lady Elizabeth. Alison Weir is a reputed historian who has written a number of books about the Tudors. However this fictionalized story of the life of Elizabeth 1 before she became Queen is wooden, clunky and tedious. It's so wordy that it gets bogged down, rather than carrying the reader along. Here's an example: "As more worrisome days passed, ominous with a dearth of news, Elizabeth's condition did not improve; however, the malaise in her body was as nothing to the fever of anxiety in her heart". Weir's dialogue is written in what is probably a reasonably historically accurate idiom (unlike other historical novelists such as Philippa Gregory), but as a result it always keeps the reader at a distance.

There's a school of thought that a good writer will show the reader what characters are feeling rather than telling them, but Weir spells out every thought for us throughout.

I was also surprised and disappointed that she included a significant plot twist that she freely admits in the epilogue is something that as a biographer she doesn't believe ever took place. At this point I moved from being bored with the book to actively disliking it. There's non-fiction and there's good fiction. This book is clearly well researched (and some of the details about Elizabeth's life are very interesting), but ultimately it falls somewhere between the two, achieving neither.

Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. , 22 Oct 2008
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

Dissapointing, 13 Nov 2008
I was really looking forwards to this book, I am an avid reader of anything to do with Tudor history and the wars of the roses and as there is relatively little written on the early years of Henry VIII I was keen to discover more about his personality, his friendships, his marriage, his life and what made him into the tyrant most people recognise him as. Starkey's introduction was promising, I was chomping at the bit to get into this book, but it never really got going for me. Maybe I have read too much on the subject and it was all old news to me, there were little nuggets but no real meaty information.
It is possible, of course, that there is no documented evidence other than what Starkey bought to his book, or that he did not want to make any inferences - he is an historian after all and not a novelist - but I just cannot help feeling that the reader doesn't really get an insight into the boy or the young man.
There is very little on his relationships with More or Catherine of Aragon, which I would consider pretty fundemental considering the parts they both played in his life and it would have been good to have had more of a background on this in order to appreciate the enormity his actions had on his own personality, not just the consequences for the country and the church.
Assuming that you are familiar with the backgound into which Henry VIII was born; the wars of the roses, Edward IV, Richard III, Henry VII and the other main players then you can cut out two thirds of the book. I wanted to know about the man, what made him tick, his passions, his personality, his friendships, his enemies, his lifestyle and just as Starkey got going the book ended. The reader gets little more than a glimpse of 'The Virtuous Prince'.
On the plus side it is an easy read, if you know little or nothing about Henry VIII's early life then go for it.

Young Henry - a perfect read, 10 Nov 2008
David Starkey is said to be Britain's highest-paid historian and this book is prove why that is.

It is a mere pleasure to read, entertaining, but never shallow and giving you a real inside into the young Henry - the boy prince, the heir and the young king.

I especially liked that Starkey never looses the focus on Henry. Very often historians present the developments of the time in art, education, religion, politics in length but one have to make the connection to the person oneself. But not here. Starkey shows what this meant for Henry, what effects it had on him and his personality.

The chapters are very short and very easy to read.

All in all, this a book filling a real gap in the literature on Henry VIII. 100% recommended!!!

The other Henry Tudor, 30 Oct 2008
I bought this and started with anticipation. I can honestly say I was not disappointed. I enjoyed the book from start to finish, you can see how much David Starkey loves his subject matter. I must admit that after reading it I have new questions and not sure where to go to ask!! Currently waiting on part 2 but have the sneaky feeling I will have to wait till christmas for that.

Definitive and superb, 21 Oct 2008
It seems as though there is a never-ending flow of books around the Tudor dynasty, including both the fiction of Phillipa Gregory and Alison Weir to the fiction of David Starkey and others.
This book, the first of two (the latter edition will cover the later and more well know part of his life) is superb. Historical biographies can sometimes be "heavy" reading. Starkey's passion for his subject is obvious and his often anecdotal style of writing makes this an immensely pleasurable read.
If Henry VIII life is of interest to you, there is no better book out there. Simply excellent.

The National Reviews So Far, 12 Oct 2008
Reviews of Masters and Commanders

`Writing with clarity and elegance, Mr Roberts conveys how his four principals and their armies of aides and staff officers thrashed out the formulae for victory. This is an important book which, in its layered references to Waterloo, the Crimea and the Somme, sees Mr Roberts lay claim to the title of Britain's finest contemporary military historian.'
The Economist

`Despite eschewing the visceral drama of the battlefield for the less deadly, if no less hard-fought, debates of various Allied conferences, cabinets and committees, Roberts has produced a surprisingly gripping read. He has marshalled his material superbly and his warts-and-all assessment of his four subjects is invariable spot-on. Exhaustively researched and judiciously written, with a gimlet eye for telling detail, this may be his finest book yet.'
Saul David, Sunday Telegraph

`In Masters and Commanders, Roberts offers us a compelling analysis of American and British strategy during the war. He also tells a profoundly human story - of two soldiers who loyally served their masters, only to be each denied at the end the prize that would have made one of them world famous.'
Laurence Rees, Sunday Times

`Roberts displays a profound understanding of the interactions between strategy and politics, and his interpretation of British/US strategic relations between 1941 and 1945 is unlikely to be superseded.'
Prof Vernon Bogdanor, Financial Times

`Couched in elegant prose, this book is a masterpiece of robust historical analysis, steeped in scholarship and alive to every nuance of personality. Roberts re-evaluates each of the masters and commanders with scrupulous fairness.'
Christopher Silvester, Daily Express

`The author has crafted a masterly and fresh interpretation of the grand strategy of World War II. Roberts's pen-portraits, with their wealth of amusing and often acerbic anecdotes, reveal the evolution of that strategy by the master statesmen.'
John Crossland, Daily Mail

`The strength of Masters and Commanders lies in the power of the narrative and the fascinating detail used to construct it. Roberts has exploited a rich mine of private papers to fill in missing parts of the story, and although there is little new to be learned about the long strategic arguments between the British and the Americans over the best way to defeat Hitler, there is a lot to learn about the way that argument took place. Roberts has a shrewd grasp of the ins and outs of decision making.'
Prof Richard Overy, Literary Review

`Marshal Foch famously said that he had "less respect for Napoleon, now that I know what a coalition is". The high quality of the leadership of the coalition Andrew Roberts so expertly describes was a decisive factor in their success.'
Conrad Black, Mail on Sunday

`A wonderful page-turner, a really good read.'
Chris Patten, Start the Week


Latest and best of his WW1 series, 10 Nov 2008
Richard Holmes is well known as a military historian who can not only make the details of military campaigns intelligible, but can recognise the human stories beneath. There is little in terms of campaign detail. There is not that much that is especially original, either. But these are trivial matters compared with the book's place as in my opinion one of the best annotated photo albums about WW1. Enormous knowledge is worn lightly; the choice of photos is without exception excellent, with most them having appeared rarely if at all before. The greatest strength is that Holmes teaches us (without seeming to do so) how to read photos of WW1 and probably all conflicts, drawing us into the detail of the picture with warmth and humanity. Highly recommended even at full price.

Disappointing and trivial, 15 Oct 2008
Deeply disappointing read to anyone genuinely interested in history and definately not one of Alison Weir's more successful works. here ius no depth to the book and the characters are shallow; there is some basis in historical fact but much of the book is conjecture. The style is stilted and uses the device of several different people taking up the tale to carry the story along. This patently does not work in this book as none of the characters develop a believable or sufficiently diiferentiated voice. The modernisation of the language and sentiment makes the book anachronistic and is rather patronising to the reader. It was so vacuous and trite that I nearly gave up on the book in boredom but the second half does gain some pace as it moves to it's inescapable conclusion and there are some little insights into Queen Mary's character that could bear further development.
Is this book trying to be reportage or a boddice ripper ? Whatever the genre it really does not work. Perhaps I should not have read it after Ives' excellent piece of scholarship on Anne Boleyn which really is well researched, highly entertaining and rewarding.

Sadly disappointed, 30 Sep 2008
History is my favorite subject and this author came highly recommended.
This is the first book I have read by her and was extremely disappointed.
It lacked a true atmosphere of the time,that this was set in.
I really could not picture any exacutioner, living during Mary's reign, thinking the thoughts that this author had written.
The terminology was all wrong, the dialogue sounded 1970's.
The characters all appeared wishy washy.
It is far more a type of Barbara Cartland for the history lover, than any serious attempt to understand or explain how these events really played out.
It is an easy light read, ideal for train travel or just before going to sleep.
The Tudor/War of the Roses have been far better written as stories by Rosemay Hawley Jarman, amoungest others, who REALLY make you smell the candle wax and hear the rustle of cloth of gold.
This book is not, in my opinion, true history at all. Just another story book.

Suspenseful even with a well-known ending, 11 Aug 2008
Alison Weir is a respected historian who is often recommended as an antidote to inaccurate representations in historical fiction as written by other authors. This is her first novel, and what a novel it is. I was entranced from the first line, and even though I knew how it was going to end, I still hoped that there would be a change at some point near the end. That's the sign of a good writer - someone who can write so compellingly and with such suspense that you hope they can even change historical facts for you.

Lady Jane Grey was a pawn in the ambition of her parents and of the Duke of Northumberland, almost from the moment she was born. Never forgiven for the cardinal sin of being born female, she was beaten and tortured into becoming a "lady" suitable for marriage to a monarch. When that ceased to be an option she was beaten into a marriage and a reign she never wanted, protesting even as the crown was being put on her head. These are facts that are known by most who have even read cursory information about this young lady. What is amazing is the way Alison Weir makes it seem like new information. The chorus of different voices in the telling of Jane's tale is exemplary and clever. I kept turning pages wanting to see what spin the next narrator would put on the story.

This novel did what historical fiction should do - it made me want to seek out the non-fiction bases for the story and do more reading. Anything that inspires further study can only be praised.

An Excellent Book into a Intresting Woman, 23 Jun 2008
Having known very little about the main character this book is based on, Lady Jane Grey, it was a refreshing and intresting read. I've been a fan of Philippa Gregory's book's but this surpasses them by leaps and bounds.

The characters are very much three dimension each with flaws. A previous reviewer had made the comment that Jane was too perfect, which I didn't find. To me she was flawed in the fact that she was too dogmatic in her views on religion, but this in itself was, at least to me, a form of rebelion against her parents. It was their disappointment in Jane and their ambition for power that ultimately led to her downfall.

The author has obviously done her homework and research and by intertwining known facts with certain key points in history that Jane 'Could' have witnessed, it brings it live.

I also began to fell for Queen Mary I, who even though knew that in order to give the country security of her marriage to Philip of Spain, and therefor give a heir to the throne, Jane had to die, Mary gave Jane many chances to live. First by trying to get her to convert and then to see if she was with child.

By the time that Jane's execution was drawing close, I found I could no longer read this book at bed time. I found myself getting very emotional at the scene.

All in all, an excellent book and I can't wait for the next one, which is sitting in my to-read pile.

good but nothing special, 11 Jun 2008
Ok so I really liked the whole concept of this story, as soon as I got the book I thought it was some thing special. I enjoyed the layout of being able to see the events taking place from various perspectives. But I feel the book and the protagonist is weak. I felt that at points Jane was too perfect and that it seemed like Alison weir had forgotten she was just a girl of 16 who would have had other hopes beyond religion and studies although I have not researched Jane so I would not know but I simply could not see her as a human. I did however enjoy her mother who seemed like a much more interesting and well developed character. I also disliked Jane's "wedding night" I felt the whole scene was unnecessary and very depressing, at points it became unbearable to read which really put me off finishing the rest of the book. I feel the problem with this book is that Jane lacked faults, she did not seem to me to be a real person who did actually live, she seemed more like a saint and I felt I simply could not relate to this character. I also felt some chapters were rather boring and I found myself skipping a few pages.

Another Layer to the Story, 21 Nov 2008
Alison Weir shows yet again that she is a skilled novelist, this time taking on the complex and hazy story of Elizabeth Tudor's childhood and leading up to her accession.

Elizabeth, as depicted by Weir, is savvy, politically-minded and ambitious. She is also sometimes naive and all-too-human, especially in her dealings with Thomas Seymour. Seymour's behavior would now be properly referred to as molestation, and the sequences where he invades Elizabeth's space, and betrays his wife in the process, were vividly written - so vividly that I was almost uncomfortable. His fate was not an unwelcome one, and he could have taken Elizabeth down with him.

I continue to be fascinated by Tudor historical fiction, and by Elizabeth in particular. Alison Weir is an excellent author, and while I didn't love this novel as much as I did Innocent Traitor, it is firmly in the four-star tier.

Hmmm, 18 Nov 2008
I didn't really enjoy this book to the chagrin of all of my friends who loved it. I didn't particularly enjoy innocent traitor either. Miss Weir write factual history much better... whilst reading her novels I always feel she is still giving me a history lesson explaining silly things which ruins the flow of the story.

Not recommended., 16 Nov 2008
I have read several of Alison Weir's non-fiction work, and also her first novel, Innocent Traitor. I thought Innocent Traitor was OK, and hoped that her second would be better.

Unfortunately, I feel it was worse. I found it quite difficult to read through to the end. The characters are quite wooden, and I didn't find the dialogue believable, particularly at the beginning. Elizabeth as a toddler certainly doesn't act or sound like a toddler! I know she is supposed to be intelligent, but I just couldn't find it believable. The dialogue could also have been a little bit more historically accurate at times (less modern colloquial terms).

There are also inaccuracies, which I found disappointing for a historian - Anne Boleyn's necklace was a 'B', not an 'A'. She also did not have a sixth finger; if she had, there is no way that she would have been allowed to (let alone popular at!) the French and English courts.

And, sometimes, she is perhaps too accurate - name-dropping titles of books that Elizabeth is reading. Maybe this was to 'set the scene' a litte, but I found it irritating, and felt like the author was showing off her historical knowledge of the period, rather than developing the description or story further. I've not read any other books that do this.

Personally, I feel that the subject, for a second novel, was a poor choice, especially as popular Tudor fiction author Philippa Gregory has had one published recently. (And does it better too, in my opinion!) Overall this is quite a clunky, wooden and slow read, and I certainly wouldn't recommend it. I will be avoiding any of Weir's future fiction works.

Not as good as Innocent Traitor, 09 Oct 2008
Incredibly I picked this book out of my bookcase and couldn't remember whether I'd read it or not!!! I had to check the last few pages! Not good...

This book wasn't a patch on Innocent Traitor by the same author which was incredibly moving. Maybe it's just that there have been too many books written about the young Elizabeth, I don't know...

Wooden, 09 Oct 2008
I was so disappointed by The Lady Elizabeth. Alison Weir is a reputed historian who has written a number of books about the Tudors. However this fictionalized story of the life of Elizabeth 1 before she became Queen is wooden, clunky and tedious. It's so wordy that it gets bogged down, rather than carrying the reader along. Here's an example: "As more worrisome days passed, ominous with a dearth of news, Elizabeth's condition did not improve; however, the malaise in her body was as nothing to the fever of anxiety in her heart". Weir's dialogue is written in what is probably a reasonably historically accurate idiom (unlike other historical novelists such as Philippa Gregory), but as a result it always keeps the reader at a distance.

There's a school of thought that a good writer will show the reader what characters are feeling rather than telling them, but Weir spells out every thought for us throughout.

I was also surprised and disappointed that she included a significant plot twist that she freely admits in the epilogue is something that as a biographer she doesn't believe ever took place. At this point I moved from being bored with the book to actively disliking it. There's non-fiction and there's good fiction. This book is clearly well researched (and some of the details about Elizabeth's life are very interesting), but ultimately it falls somewhere between the two, achieving neither.

excellent historical read, 16 Oct 2008
This book is very informative and incredibly interesting, from the second i picked it up I was unable to put it down! Alison Weir has a brilliant way of laying down all the facts and explaining which are more reliable accounts of what happened to each of Henry VIII wives. The way Alison Weir writes makes this book accessible to anyone and i reccomend it as a must read for everyone.
I find most interesting how the people of the courts lives are en-twined and how one person actions became the downfall of others. The book also gives you a strong sense on the life of a queen and in respect of how difficult it actually would have been! Being any of henry VIII wifes was no means an easy task!
Excellent!!! if your reading this review now i hope you've already clicked the add to basket button!!!

Brings the Tudors to life, 11 Oct 2008
After watching the TV series the Tudors. I was interested in finding out more about the real events. This book is fantastic I couldn't put it down and will be buying more books by Alison Weir.

Excellent, 12 Aug 2008
An extremely readable book. The author gives a wonderfully real picture of the wives and the King and why the various relationships ultimately ended. History comes alive in this book and I can't pay a higher compliment than that.

very enlightning very hard to put down, 18 Jul 2008
I was very impressed by this book, after reading 'The other Boleyn girl' my appetite for reading up on my history was wettened. This book is a real eye opener for how England used to be and what the people of court were required to do in their day to day lives and what they grew to fear. It shows us what an insecure man Henry was and how the people who he surrounded himself with influenced and manipulated him turning him from a man who was seemingly nice to a feared man, however it shows us that even then he was much loved by most. It explores how Henry could be ruthless in pursuing what he wanted and in a cruel way but then he was easily distracted and if things did not please him he was quick to and with no conscience to rid himself of the things that stood in his way with no back glance. It shows us how Henrys wives modelled the king and what each of them offered him. A true insight to years lived long ago.

Informative & intriguing, 28 Apr 2008
I must admit I didn't know it would be a biography-style book when I bought it, but it also had aspects of a story in it which made it a good read.

I liked the way the book progressed from one wife to another and particularly liked the way the book was divided into parts and chapters which seemed to produce a sound organisation and clear, easy navigation of the book not only as a fictional read but also as a reference book.

Alison Weir is clearly a very dedicated historian writer. Facts and fiction carefully fused together and arguments sorted out (paintings and portrait descriptions were argued very well). I liked the way she sometimes brings the 21st century into her writing, explaining for example, what remains today of the palaces and houses of Henry VIII and the burial sites of the monarchs. Very interesting stuff.

All in all, i enjoyed reading it although in future may stick to Alison's fiction.

Excellent read, American history with the red meat on.. , 22 Oct 2008
This book is for those of you who like history as a sweep of events and with interlocking sections that you have to piece together to get your overall picture. Although this makes reference to the current election I think its only because I think the author sees the two candidates as potentially the Hamilton and Jefferson characters of this age - one quite happy to use American military strength and the other very sey against it. And its this split in the US approach that the four sections of the book address. The four sections cover war, religion , what is an american, and the belief you can have it all if you just try hard enough and while I don;t think you get a full final view I think the observation at the end that the role of government is about making people happy and not to destroy life is hard to argue with.
Apart from the violence of the Civil War which had some horrific parts what these sections bring to vivid life in the internal violence in US history , the programs against the Cherokee, the violence and hatred against the black population as they battled for civil rights, the mis tratment of Chinese and Mexicans and they were killed with impunity and with legal sanction makes for some grim reading. The section on religion makes it very clear why religion plays such a big part in US politics and you can see why as it was and till is a vital way to express a sense of community. The best part for me was the section on multiculturalism where its clear that you can retain a sense of your roots in the US AND still be an American with a fierce committment to the country
It was with a sense of diappointment that I finished this book simply bacause I had not had enough of the American story which is spite of the things done still seems essentially optimistic - and so if Obama wants to use the phase 'Yes we can' then this book will help explain why his audience responds to it

Dissapointing, 13 Nov 2008
I was really looking forwards to this book, I am an avid reader of anything to do with Tudor history and the wars of the roses and as there is relatively little written on the early years of Henry VIII I was keen to discover more about his personality, his friendships, his marriage, his life and what made him into the tyrant most people recognise him as. Starkey's introduction was promising, I was chomping at the bit to get into this book, but it never really got going for me. Maybe I have read too much on the subject and it was all old news to me, there were little nuggets but no real meaty information.
It is possible, of course, that there is no documented evidence other than what Starkey bought to his book, or that he did not want to make any inferences - he is an historian after all and not a novelist - but I just cannot help feeling that the reader doesn't really get an insight into the boy or the young man.
There is very little on his relationships with More or Catherine of Aragon, which I would consider pretty fundemental considering the