Wars of the Roses: 9

While I enjoyed Seward's approach to this topic - he examines the civil strife as it affected the lives of William Hastings, Margaret Beaufort, John Morton, John de Vere and Jane Shore - it's not a book for those without some knowledge of the Wars of the Roses. The transition is often difficult to follow. It's as if the book were edited to reduce the size of the content so that a paragraph may contain a series of pronouns with no obvious name to attach to them. I also found the citations to information stated as fact to be inconsistent. Some claims were cited; many were not. Although certainly by the sections on Richard III, it was obvious that the majority of his sources were the controversial early chroniclers, such as Sir Thomas More. Despites these problems, I enjoyed the book. I don't necessarily swallow Seward's interpretation of events, but they do inform about the traditionalist viewpoint. He could have toned down his bias against the Yorkists, but that would have made for very dry reading. If you have a basic handle on the time period, or if you're a student of Ricardian history, this book adds to the body of literature available because of its focus on the lives of lesser known players.

This history follows five second tier players through the War of the Roses: William Hastings, Edward IV's best friend; Jane Shore, their mistress; Margaret Beaufort, the mother of Henry Tudor - the top Lancastrian during the second phase of the war; Archbishop Morton, Henry's crafty advisor and the Earl of Oxford, a ranking Lancastrian.This is not a good introduction to the war, not really revolving around the major players like Edward, Henry, Margaret of Anjou and Richard III - but if you are already familiar with the basics (read: Allison Weir), this should be the second book on your shelf about the subject. Each of the five protagonists changed the tide of the war at some point in either the battlefield, bedroom or negotiating room, and Seward makes their stories as riveting as the latest tabloid even when you know what's going to happen next. Especially interesting is the summary about the rest of the lives of the four survivors - most accounts of the war end with Richard III's death, their fates lost in the shuffle. Here, in this book, they get their due.

This book is fast-paced, realistic, and superbly written. I recommend it to anyone who wants to learn about the Wars of the Roses, or who wants the story to be told in a more personal matter. It's another two thumbs up!

The author writes a very interesting book of a very complex time. Although I am no medevilist, Seward's presentation allowed me to follow the events and charactors through the story.This book would interest anyone who exists in an environment devoid of rules or strong central aughority figures where the actors have strong interests they must advance or defend. Anyone in a large corporation or the political world will recognize this Machevellian climate where getting things done requires alliances with those who may abandon you around the next bend in pursuit of their objectives. I serve in a legislative body and this book at times bore strong resemblance to the tussles and battles waged on the inside of the assembly. Seward's book is very readable and fascinating for the historical era it evokes and the inteplay of interests displayed in the ruthless struggle to come out on top.

The author consciously attempted to write a book in the style of Tuchman's "A Distant Mirror" and was 80% successful. That still makes it a very good book and the reader has quite a bit of fun while learning about the bizarre civil war in 15th century England. Why only 80%? Because instead of following ONE person (a la Tuchman) he follows FIVE and that gets a bit confusing for the casual reader and leads to some discontinuities in the history. Still -- buy it and enjoy!