Over the last few nights I’ve mentioned the latest history book I’ve bought, Rebellion by Tim Harris with the subtitle of Britains first Stuart Kings. I have to say that the book holds a lot of promisr, starting with the fly leaf which informs potential readers that the book covers the period from 1567 (The coronation of King James VI of Scotland) through to 1642, the outbreak of the civil war. This is exactly the period I have been looking for.
The intoduction adds to the promise, at the bottom of page 7 of the prolog, it declares that the purpose of the book to be “to explore why things went so disastrously wrong for the early Stuart Monarchy. Again, perfect, exactly what I have been looking for.
As I said yesterday, when I bought Diane Purkiss’s book The English Civil War back in August 2023 (the paperback version, with the gruesome cover, yes, that one – I’m still shocked it was so long ago) I don’t think I had read more than two or three pages when I stopped and asked myself OK, I know it happened, but why did it happen? Which was what started me on what I consider to be a rather magnificent historical adventure, and I still have a bit of a way to go.
I really liked the style of Dan Jone’s writings in The Plantagenets and The Wars of The Roses and the rise of the Tudors, and I liked the story of Elizabeth’s Bedfellows, which finished with her death and the coronation of James VI of Scotland as James I of England. I don’t mind that these two books will cross over in their timing.
I know that Tim Haris’s writing style will be different to the previous authors but even though I am just on the prologue, I’m finding it very readable, and am eager to get into the book.
Bills Posts 