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The Wars of the Roses | 
 enlarge | Author: Alison Weir
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy Used: $2.86
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Avg. Customer Rating:  45 reviews
Sales Rank: 50839
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 480
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.9
Dimensions (in): 8.1 x 5.5 x 1
ISBN: 0345404335
Dewey Decimal Number: 942.04
EAN: 9780345404336
ASIN: 0345404335
Publication Date: June 25, 1996
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Product Description
"Weir does a masterful job of leading the layman through the entwined family trees of England's powerful families and the many usurpers to the throne. . . . [She] has perfected the art of bringing history to life."
--Chicago Tribune
Lancaster and York. For much of the fifteenth century, these two families were locked in battle for control of the British throne. Kings were murdered and deposed. Armies marched on London. Old noble names were ruined while rising dynasties seized power and lands. The war between the royal Houses of Lancaster and York, the longest and most complex in British history, profoundly altered the course of the monarchy.
Alison Weir, one of the foremost authorities on the British royal family, brings brilliantly to life both the war itself and the historic figures who fought it on the great stage of England. The Wars of the Roses is history at its very best--swift and compelling, rich in character, pageantry, and drama, and vivid in its re-creation of an astonishing, dangerous, and often grim period of history.
"[A] spellbinding chronicle. . . Weir's dark, glorious pageant restores the personal dimension to an oft-told tale without losing sight of a war that shattered feudalism, paved the way for capitalism and weakened the monarchy."
--Publishers Weekly
"[Weir is] skilled at delineating the many memorable characters of the age. . . . It's a tribute to her skill that she leaves you wanting more."
--The Cleveland Plain Dealer
AN ALTERNATE SELECTION OF THE BOOK-OF-THE-MONTH CLUB
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| Customer Reviews: Read 40 more reviews...
 Confusing By Its Nature July 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Mid-15th century European History is a fascinating period. In addition to the War of the Roses, the struggle for the throne of England, western Europe was also in turmoil as the French monarchs battled both the English crown and the Burgundian Dukes. This book details the history of these conflicts.
By its nature, this history can be terribly confusing. Threading your way through the various lines of succesion can leave a reader scratching his/her head in an effort to differentiate the various Richards, Edwards and Henrys, not to mention the constantly changing holders of the many dukedoms and earldoms that play into the story. While Weir does a servicable job, I can't help but believe that she could have done better in this regard.
Of course, the story revolves around the struggle for the British throne following the death of Richard II in 1400. At that point, the throne was usurped by Henry IV, then Duke of Lancaster, setting off the near century long struggle between the houses of Lancaster and York. Following the amazingly successful reign of Henry V, in which most of Western France came under the control of the British crown, conflict ensued with the crowning of the mentally unstable and unsuitable Henry VI, who lost the continental gains of his predecessor.
There followed a virtual musical chairs scenario wherein the Lancaster and York candidates traded the throne between them for a period of near 50 years. Playing in the background was the continental conflict between France and Burgundy and the constantly shifting loyalties of the British peerage. The rapidity and constancy with which the various Dukes and Earls switched sides is astonishing. Many heads rolled as a consequence.
As noted, the lineages are devilishly confusing as a result of the inbreeding between the major houses and the constantly changing holders of major titles by which the actors are identified. The author includes numerous genealogical tables, however their form is not as helpful as it could be. In addition, there is an extreme paucity of maps which could have helped to follow the story immensely.
In reading this book, it is my suggestion to read it in as few sittings as possible. Each time you pick up the book, a certain amount of time is required to identify the characters and historical setting. This is not the kind of book that you can expect to read in stretches of 25-30 pages at a time. It is, nonetheless, a fascinating story and one well worth learning. The author is to be commended for taking on a difficult task, though in my opinion she just misses the mark.
Lots of details, some confusion, but that comes with the territory. March 31, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
Weir is a fine writer of accessible history, and is my default "go-to" author when looking to expand my reading in the area of English history.
This book is more readable than other biographies and treatments of the people and events of the time, but the sheer number of personages, often going by multiple titles, can still leave your head spinning. But then again, we're talking about a time when people would suddenly change sides, often in the very middle of a battle, joining with a formerly-hated enemy to have at someone who they had sworn allegiance to before (and who might even be a sibling). All this is to say that some confusion comes with the territory.
In Weir's treatement, the Wars of the Roses become largely a personal affair, with the social, political, and economic issues largely coming up as the *results* of the conflict, not as causes. She makes a pretty good case that this is an accurate way of understanding the events, particularly in the final chapter (which, along with the first chapter, can by themselves give a rader a decent overall sense of the major causes/effects for readers not ready or willing to dive into the details of names and dates).
If anything, a bit more of the social history of the time would be welcome, to put the conflict into context. This would probably offer a slightly more valuable overview of the period, even if it came at the expense of some of the fine details of who occupied what castle on what day.
Having said that, I have a much better understanding of the period than I did before, which is what I came to the book for.
It also, by the way, would make a good background reading before tackling Shakespeare's history plays covering this era, which often go unread because the history invovled seems inaccessible to modern audiences.
 Wonderful Book February 13, 2008
Loved this book, if you love history, you will love this well-researched and thorough book. Very interesting and vivid.
War of The Roses October 7, 2007
3 out of 4 found this review helpful
This book was helpful showing the root causes of the War of Roses in the 14th Century. Edward III had a plethora of sons. The most qualified to be king was 4th in line; John of Gaunt. Due to primogeniture the chance of him gaining the throne were slim in his lifetime. His descendants, legitimate and illegitimate had other ideas. Edmund of York's progeny were ambitious and had claims. Edward the Black Prince, heir to the throne, died prematurely. His son became King Richard II. He died without issue. The reader was able to follow so far.
It was more difficult to keep up afterwards because the geneology tables, in the appendix, were illegible. The author's opinion on King Richard III's role on the death of his two nephews detracted from this account. I am not a Richard partisan or detractor. she had this as an open and shut no questions asked case. An unbiased historian would have him on the suspect list, but, there is a reasonable shadow of a doubt. I know that the author goes into length in the sequelThe Princes in the Tower. Another excellent account is Josephine Tey'sThe Daughter of Time. I know it's fiction but she cites available sources for research.
The author showed that King Henry VI was well meaning but the wrong monarch at the wrong time. I had thought that Henry VI was born 500 years too early. You could envision him supporting causes and other duties expected of today's British royalty. His wife, Margaret of Anjou, was shown to be so blinkered by focusing on preserving her family's position to the detriment of the Britain as a whole. King Edward IV was done well. This was helpful in following history, bringing to life the key players.
I will probably read other accounts of The Wars of the Roses. This is a biased, but readable, perspective.
So many names and titles May 31, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Really interesting period of English history is covered thoroughly by Ms. Weir. There are, however, so very many characters it becomes sometimes difficult to know to whom the author is referring. For instance, the "Duke of York" is frequently mentioned in the book, but WHICH Duke of York is she referring to (since there was more than one)?
Many of the Royals have names and titles; she freely uses a name without the title, or vice versa, making it a bit confusing to know who she's talking about, and it's necessary to thumb back to previous pages to figure this out. Even though a lineage chart is provided at the end of the book (and it's quite helpful), the print is so small as to require a magnifying glass. A little bit more clarity with all these names and titles would be helpful, but this is a History Book.
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