About this title: This history of the reign of King Henry VIII of England is told through the lives of his wives--Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boleyn, Jane Seymour, Anne of Cleves, Katherine Howard, and Katherine Parr.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Description: Acceptable. Book shows wear to cover edges and spine. Spine has creases. Corners bent/rounded. Cover may have folds or creases. Otherwise in good reading condition. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Grove Press
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780802136831ISBN:0802136834
Description: Good. No dust jacket as issued. Good+ 643 pp. softcover. Spine is lightly creased, binding still feels quite solid. Pages are unmarked, very clean overall. A little edgewear present. read more
Edition: Reprint. 1st Ballantine Books ed.
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books/Random House, New York
Date Published: 1993
ISBN-13:9780345380722ISBN:034538072X
Description: New. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 642 p. Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. New. Not a remainder. First U.S. release. Originally published in England. "As reliable and scholarly as it is readable and thank goodness, it is unpartisan, " Evening Standard (London). "Brilliantly written and meticulously researched, " San Francisco Chronicle. "Enthralling, " Chicago Tribune. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Date Published: 1993-03-02
ISBN-13:9780345380722ISBN:034538072X
Description: New. New softcover book in very good condition, clean and tightly bound. First edition. Abbyz Attic always offers 100% guarantee. PRIORITY SHIPPING available. Ships next business day from Oklahoma. read more
Description: Acceptable. ACCEPTABLE with noted wear to cover and pages. Binding intact. May contain highlighting, inscriptions or notations. We offer a no-hassle guarantee on all our items. Orders generally ship by the next business day. Default Text. read more
Description: Fair. 034538072X Books in acceptable condition may show significant wear and have writing or highlighting. Will be shipped promptly! read more
Description: Fair. 034538072X Books in acceptable condition may show significant wear and have writing or highlighting. Will be shipped promptly! read more
Description: Satisfaction Guaranteed. Shipped quickly. 1993. Paperback. Used, very good. Very good overall with light to moderate wear. No dust jacket. read more
"As one of my good friends commented when she saw this book on my Kindle, "that's one of my favorite books--it reads like a novel". Yes, Samantha, it does. There is a continuing fascination with Henry VIII and much of that fascination deals with the increasingly bloody nature of his reign and, of course, the fact that he had six wives. Alison Weir is able to use primary sources to make each of these six women come alive. She is also able to place them into the historical context in which they lived and died. I thought that I knew quite a bit about each of these women and it turns out that I only had the slightest grasp of the complexity of their lives and the situations in which they found themselves. Equally interesting was the information about how Henry VIII "evolved" during his reign from a king beloved by his people to a monarch feared by those around him. This was made abundantly clear by his ever changing attitude toward his two daughters and by his increasing willingness to use execution as a means of policy control. This is the first Alison Weir book that I've read and I plan to read all of her other nonfiction books in the near future."
"Watch "The Other Boleyn Girl." Then watch an episode of "The Tudors." Afterward, immediately go to confession for such shameful and useless acts. Do penance by reading "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" to save your soul lest ye go through life thinking that the Tudors were all about bad acting and awkwardly placed sex scenes. Be warned that ye may lose friends when someone tries to talk to you about an episode of "The Tudors" and you turn it into a teachable moment about what *really* happened because you...you know...read one book so, of course, you know everything."
"A well-written, readable account of the marriage saga of Henry VIII. What I liked about this one over the David Starkey book (Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII) is that it didn't spend over half the book on Katherine of Aragon. It certainly covered the pertinent points, but didn't go into minute detail on her career as queen. I am glad I read both because every historian's got their own opinion on the motivations of the people involved, and it's interesting to contrast the different ideas of the two authors. Another thing I liked about this book is that the last chapter gives a quick overview of what happened to the three royal children; since those children were often discussed in other parts of the book it was nice to have a little wrap-up of what happened to them after Henry died."
"This was a thoroughly enjoyable and informative book. I had trouble putting it down -- it compelled me to continue reading because the author was able to give me the idea of how these women felt; what they went through in their hearts.
Although I had previously read Henry VIII; The King and His Court, I got much more detailed information about each of the wives in this book -- I don't think you can read one without the other. I was particularly touched by Katherine of Aragon and everything she endured. Aside from the problems she had with Henry himself, she suffered greatly during her widowhood, after the death of her first husband, the king's brother, and her marriage to Henry. Since women were chiefly considered chattel, she was treated as a burden only, and her own father refused to support her even though the king (Henry VII) refused to do so after Arthur's death. She was truly amazing in her ability to withstand the treatment she received during her lifetime. She was a hero.
I am looking forward to continuing to read about Tudor England, specifically by reading biographies of Mary I and Elizabeth I."
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