The Wars of the Roses: Book Club Reads a Non-Fiction Book!
I'm back! I've been MIA for a little while because I was preparing for my daughter to arrive. She was born last Saturday! We're in good health and now that we're starting to get a routine down I can work on my blog again.
I was really excited when one of the book club members requested that we read The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones. Not only am I an avid attendee of both the Renaissance fairs in my area, but I've always been interested in the history behind the British throne. I recently found out through ancestry.com that one of my ancestors, William Duke of Hastings, was pretty heavily involved in the events that occurred under the rule of King Edward V so I was interested to see what this book would have to say about him.
I was initially worried that this book would be dry, since it's a history book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Jones has written this book in a way that makes in both interesting and informative. It's almost like reading a novel. I think the subject matter helps with that though. This was a very eventful period in British history and there was a lot of plotting and fighting going on. Fans of George R.R. Martin will be interested to know that he drew a lot of inspiration from this period for his Song of Ice and Fire series.
Since there was so much going on to write about, there wasn't as much detail about my 16th great grandfather as I had hoped there would be. I did discover that he was the leader of one of the three divisions of Edward V's royal army and he was a very close friend to the King. He was one of the few people present when Edward passed away. He ended up paying for his loyalty with his life when King Richard III had him beheaded because he thought he was plotting to overthrow him and put Edward's son on the throne.
The book club really enjoyed this book even though it wasn't your typical book club pick. Everyone thought it was both interesting and well-written. I liked it so much that I plan to pick up more of his work. Jones is a historian and a journalist and he's written several books on British history, including The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England which details the history leading up to the events that take place in The Wars of the Roses. I think I'll be picking up that one next.
I was really excited when one of the book club members requested that we read The Wars of the Roses: The Fall of the Plantagenets and the Rise of the Tudors by Dan Jones. Not only am I an avid attendee of both the Renaissance fairs in my area, but I've always been interested in the history behind the British throne. I recently found out through ancestry.com that one of my ancestors, William Duke of Hastings, was pretty heavily involved in the events that occurred under the rule of King Edward V so I was interested to see what this book would have to say about him.
I was initially worried that this book would be dry, since it's a history book, but I was pleasantly surprised. Jones has written this book in a way that makes in both interesting and informative. It's almost like reading a novel. I think the subject matter helps with that though. This was a very eventful period in British history and there was a lot of plotting and fighting going on. Fans of George R.R. Martin will be interested to know that he drew a lot of inspiration from this period for his Song of Ice and Fire series.
Since there was so much going on to write about, there wasn't as much detail about my 16th great grandfather as I had hoped there would be. I did discover that he was the leader of one of the three divisions of Edward V's royal army and he was a very close friend to the King. He was one of the few people present when Edward passed away. He ended up paying for his loyalty with his life when King Richard III had him beheaded because he thought he was plotting to overthrow him and put Edward's son on the throne.
The book club really enjoyed this book even though it wasn't your typical book club pick. Everyone thought it was both interesting and well-written. I liked it so much that I plan to pick up more of his work. Jones is a historian and a journalist and he's written several books on British history, including The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England which details the history leading up to the events that take place in The Wars of the Roses. I think I'll be picking up that one next.
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