David Starkey

Chronicles the young queen's unlikely rise to power as the younger daughter of one of Henry VIII's many wives who was once imprisoned and nearly killed by her own half-sister.

The Struggle for the Throne

Elizabeth

No one in history had a more eventful career in matrimony than Henry VIII. His marriages were daring and tumultuous, and made instant legends of six very different women. In this remarkable study, David Starkey argues that the king was not a depraved philanderer but someone seeking happiness -- and a son. Knowingly or not, he elevateda group of women to extraordinary heights and changed the way a nation was governed. Six Wives is a masterful work of history that intimately examines the rituals of diplomacy, marriage, pregnancy, and religion that were part of daily life for women at the Tudor Court. Weaving new facts and fresh interpretations into a spellbinding account of the emotional drama surrounding Henry's six marriages, David Starkey reveals the central role that the queens played in determining policy. With an equally keen eye for romantic and political intrigue, he brilliantly recaptures the story of Henry's wives and the England they ruled.

The Queens of Henry VIII

Six Wives

With both authority and verve, David Starkey unmasks the personalities and achievements, the defeats and victories, that lie behind the monarchs that form the backbone of British history. This magisterial study begins with the Tudors - five monarchs who ruled over England and Ireland until the reformation of the 1530s - and continues with the Stuarts who followed them. It includes Oliver Cromwell, a non monarch, who ruled as Lord Protector, a 'king in all but name', and the Georgians, a dynasty that began with the accession of George I and ended with the death of George IV. Queen Victoria, the longest reigning monarch in British history, and, finally, our present day Queen, Elizabeth II, who today reigns over sixteen independent nations make up the book's latter stages. More important than this, 'Monarchy' encompasses the greatest and most notorious events in our history. From the War of the Roses to the infamous Gunpowder Plot, the bloody battles of the English Civil War to the madness of King George III, the Napoleonic Era to the heyday of Empire under Victoria, and finally to our present day Queen Elizabeth II,'Monarchy' offers a radical reappraisal of English nationhood, culture and politics, shown through the most central institution in English life. With characteristic insight and perceptiveness, Starkey gives new life to these figures, producing an entertaining and masterful picture of the building blocks upon which the England of today is built on.

From the Middle Ages to Modernity

Monarchy

The monarchy is one of Britain's longest surviving institutions - as well as one of its most tumultuous and revered. In this masterful book, David Starkey looks at the monarchy as a whole, charting its magnificent history from Roman times, to the Wars of the Roses, the chaos of the Civil War, the fall of Charles I and Cromwell's emergence as Lord Protector - all the way up until the Victorian era when it came face-to-face with modernity. More than a collection of biographies of Britain's kings and queens, this is an in-depth examination of what the British monarchy has meant, what it means now and what it will continue to mean. Bringing to life a cast of colourful characters, Starkey's trademark energy and authority make him the perfect guide on this epic, accessible and compelling journey, as he offers us a vivid portrait of British culture, politics and nationhood.

A History of England Through the Monarchy

Crown and Country

The highly-anticipated biography of Henry VIII. The significance of his reign is, at times, overshadowed by his six marriages. This book, however, will look beyond the marriages to explore the man, his obsessions, his life and his legacy.

Virtuous Prince

Henry

Henry VIII was almost never alone. He was surrounded, twenty-four hours a day, by the small group of intimates and personal attendants who made up the staff of his Privy Chamber. They organised his daily life, kept him amused and acted as the landline between the King and the formal machinery of government. These men, intermarried, interbred and close-knit even in their mutual feuding, were supremely well placed to rig politics and patronage for their own benefit. Their influence was important and sometimes decisive: factions in the Privy Chamber destroyed Anne Boleyn, they frustrated the 'Catholic' reaction of the 1540s, and, by doctoring Henry's will, prepared the way for the full-blooded Protestantism of his son's reign. The Reign of Henry the VIII is not so much a book about Henry VIII. It is about the great game of politics over which he presided.

Personalities and Politics

The Reign of Henry VIII

virtuous prince

'A soaring account of the months that transformed a messy feudal squabble into Magna Carta...his crisp storytelling, based around short chapters and rolling rhetoric, is extremely entertaining.' Dan Jones, Mail on Sunday 'I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Good history is descriptive, narrative and analytical. This is good history.' Gerard DeGroot, The Times At Runnymede, on the banks of the River Thames, on 15 June 1215, the seal of King John was attached to the Magna Carta, and peace descended upon the land. Or that's what successive generations have believed. But is it true? And have we been persuaded (or persuaded ourselves) that the events of 15 June 1215 not only ended a civil war between the king and the barons but - as if by magic - established a British constitution beloved and copied throughout the world? Often viewed as a victory for the people over the monarchy and a cornerstone of democracy, the true significance of Magna Carta is misunderstood and misrepresented. In Magna Carta: The True Story Behind the Charter, David Starkey paints a vivid portrait of the years 1215-1225, ten revolutionary years of huge significance that produced not one but four charters. Peopled by colourful historical figures - John, the boy-king Henry, Pope Innocent III, Archbishop Stephen Langton, William Marshal - Starkey tells a story of treachery and idealism, politics and peace-making that is surprising and enthralling. Informative, entertaining and controversial, Magna Carta: The True Story Behind the Charter challenges centuries of myth-making to demonstrate how important it is we understand the true significance of that day beside the Thames, eight hundred years ago.

The True Story Behind the Charter

Magna Carta

Richard Guzman

Features 114 selections of Chicago writing from more than seventy authors; each selection is accompanied by an author biography and an introduction and afterword that place Chicago writing in its historical framework.

An Anthology of Chicago Writing

Smokestacks & Skyscrapers

For the kings and queens of England, a trumpet fanfare or crash of cymbals could be as vital a weapon as a cannon. Showcasing a monarch’s power, prestige and taste, music has been the lifeblood of many a royal dynasty. From sacred choral works to soaring symphonies, Music and Monarchy looks at how England’s character was shaped by its music. To David Starkey and Katie Greening, works like Handel’s Water Music and Tallis’s Mass for Four Voices were more than entertainment – they were pieces signalling political intent, wealth and ambition. Starkey and Greening examine England’s most iconic musical works to demonstrate how political power has been a part of musical composition for centuries. Many of our current musical motifs of nationhood, whether it’s the Last Night of the Proms or football terraces erupting in song, have their origins in the way the crown has shaped the national soundtrack. Published to coincide with a major BBC series, Music and Monarchy is not a book about music. It is a history of England written in music, from our leading royal historian.

David Starkey's Music and Monarchy

From the Wars of the Roses to the Civil War

The English Court

How can students with widely varied levels of literary experience learn to write poetry, fiction, creative nonfiction, and drama — over the course of only one semester? In Creative Writing: Four Genres in Brief, David Starkey offers some solutions to the challenges of teaching the introductory creative writing course: (1) concise, accessible instruction in literary basics; (2) short models of literature to analyze, admire and emulate; (3) inventive and imaginative assignments that inspire and motivate.

Four Genres in Brief

Creative Writing

A European Court in England

Henry VIII

This lavishly illustrated book ties in with a major international exhibition opening at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich on 1 May 2003. Timed to commemorate the 400th anniversary since the death of Queen Elizabeth 1 in 1603, and sponsored by Morgan Stanley, the exhibition brings together a wealth of paintings, manuscripts, fine art objects and personal effects which illuminate Elizabeth's fascinating history. Elizabeth was born at Greenwich and spent her first months at Greenwich Palace, on the site of what is now a World Heritage Site, Maritime Greenwich.The book, containing contributions from a number of well-known experts on Tudor history, will focus on Elizabeth's Court as well as her relationship with the City of London and its increasingly influential mercantile class. It will also reflect the importance of Elizabeth's maritime adventurers, and their role in creating wealth for the crown, burgeoning maritime enterprise and the beginnings of an overseas empire.

The Exhibition at the National Maritime Museum

Teaching Writing Creatively represents a challenge to conventional notions of genre. It seeks to break down the artificial, antiquated barriers between "creative" and "academic" writing, making the writing classroom experience a more imaginative one. Teaching Writing Creatively features many of the most respected names in composition-instructors with long, successful histories of providing teachers with functional yet inventive methods of teaching writing. The collection begins with articles that assert that all good writing must be, in some important sense, "creative." These contributors offer accounts of the transformation of their composition classrooms; essays that demonstrate that good student writing is only marginally about genre; and a critique of the creative writing workshop as a model for the composition class. Part II offers a variety of ways to approach the teaching of writing as a creative endeavor. It includes articles on helping students better understand their own writing processes and suggestions on alternative composing strategies and their classroom applications. The contributors to the final section offer a variety of new approaches to creative writing that can be successfully applied to expository writing courses as well. Student-centered and process-oriented, Teaching Writing Creatively is a book writing instructors will find immediately useful-particularly composition instructors who feel hemmed in by the conventional expectations of writing courses and creative writing instructors looking to take advantage of the latest innovations in composition studies.

Teaching Writing Creatively

Paul J. Willis

Showcasing poems by more than ninety contemporary American poets, In a Fine Frenzy reveals what Shakespeare's poetic children have made of their inheritance. Particularly interested in Viola, Miranda, Prospero, Desdemona, Iago, Lear, Cordelia, Hamlet, Horatio, and Ophelia, the poets respond to the sonnets, the comedies, the tragedies, the romances, and, to a lesser degree, Shakespeare the man. In so doing they reveal the aspects of his work most currently captivating to modern writers. Those who cherish Shakespeare's mercurial wit will delight in the rapid shifts, from grief to hilarity, so characteristic of the bard himself. Comic poems about tragedies follow decidedly somber poems about comedies. Single poems contain multiple emotional twists and turns. Some pay homage; most interact directly with the original Shakespearean text. Collectively, they corroborate Ben Jonson's assertion that Shakespeare is "not of an age, but for all time."

Poets Respond to Shakespeare

In a Fine Frenzy

Christopher Coleman

Here, six prominent Tudor historians reconsider the widley-held view that the 1530s witnessed a "revolution" in government and administration. This revisionist work not only offers a radical critique of established orthodoxy, but also presents important new interpretations of the history of the royal household, the council, parliament, and financial administration in the 15th and 16th centuries. In addition to the editors, contributors to the volume are J. D. Alsop, J. A. Guy, Dale Hoak, and Jennifer Loach.

David Starkey

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