Impressed with this one. You can see very clearly that the author takes the best information available and carefully discerns the most logical "truth" with the scant and aged information we have on the Tudors. I don't mean to imply that all "facts" are definitive facts but they are the most logical conclusions and you get a glimpse into why the author sees the events in particular ways. Some of the best detail I've come across when it comes to The Pilgrimage of Grace. I found one small contradiction that actually made me like the author more because it is obviously a product of the process of this kind of researched book, you state what you believe based on the facts you have and amend that belief as more is learned. Would not hesitate to buy any work by G.J Meyer based on this work. ( )

This is the first book I've read about the Tudors and even though I consider myself somewhat educated, my image of the Tudors has been surprisingly shaped by popular culture. I thought Henry VIII was a larger than life great king whose main problem was too many wives, and that the Elizabethian era a high point in English history. Turns out I've been duped by propaganda as old as the 16th century itself. The Tudors were awful for England and their self-aggrandizement has fooled generations of historians even up to the present. There is now a revisionism occurring in Tudor studies and how far the scales weigh to the other side remains to be seen. Overall, this book describes the Tudors as second-rate rulers, lacking in humanity and compassion, cold-blooded killers and otherwise unpleasant people. Meyer's says England had many stronger and better kings in the Plantagenets but Tudor image-making overshadowed them. G. J. Meyer has been accused of "bias" but that might be true if he took a position in the contemporary debates (eg. if he was pro-Catholic), but a history that re-evaluates the record is historical revisionism, a necessary process of cutting through the propaganda and finding the truth. ( )

Really good overview of the period, with super interesting and useful sidebar chapters. ( )

Author has good writing style that makes the story easy to follow. But the magnitude of the time period covered means there are lots of names introduced and the story moves too fast at times ( )

What a dynasty even if it only lasted less than 100 years. ( )