Rating: 
Summary: A Pair of Queens
Review: Some have criticized Jane Dunn's history of Elizabeth I and Mary, Queen of Scots, for not covering any new ground. I find that the parallel biography format makes a new look at an old story well worth while. You may already know the histories of the two queens and their separate lives, but to read about them simultaneously makes vividly clear how intertwined their stories are.Dunn's style is accurate and entertaining without being over-scholarly. The addition of details that other biographers have omitted is welcome. (She mentions that Elizabeth was nearsighted, for instance.) The narrative flows naturally from one queen to the other without seeming choppy. Just when you are starting to wonder what's going on with the other, the scene changes to keep you up to date. I was somewhat disappointed with the way Dunn treats the murder of Riccio (spelled Rizzio in some accounts). While she discusses fully the repurcussions of the murder, she glosses over the actual sequence of events in one sentence, since the story "is well-known." I think a popular history such as this is the perfect place to include a full account, both for those who are new to the subject and to re-acquaint the rest of us with a dramatic event. Dunn, like many biographers, is attached to her subjects. She gives everyone the benefit of a doubt. This is surely the most sympathetic account of Lord Darnley that I have read yet. (Especially on the heels of the recent Alison Weir history of Mary and Darnley.) But she backs up her assertions and conclusions with solid arguments and thorough documentation. And although she says that people still tend to divide themselves into Elizabeth admirers and Mary supporters, she seems to have an equal bias for each queen.
Rating: 
Summary: Regicide, queens, and power
Review: The Crown of England was the focus of ambition for both Mary Queen of Scots and of Queen Elizabeth I. Both were regnant queens in an overwhelming masculine world, and it was their royal status that marked their destiny, regicide, or one queen killing another, and that sealed their fate.
This ambitious and powerful combined biography chronicles the defining relationship between the two women and their lives, the intersection of the great Tudor and Stuart dynasties, and their rival claims to the throne of England. The monarch is the highest archetype of power, and Jane Dunn gives us deep insight into the relationship between women and power, the complexity of their relationships, and between powerful women and their subjects. Without Mary and Elizabeth, Queen Victoria, Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher, the axis of power in Britain would still be uniquely male, and it is these women and their reigns and politics that have given men and women an alternative. The book is riveting, complex, literary, and extremely well written. Don't hesitate to start reading it today!
Rating:
Summary: A New Way To Look at the Two Queens
Review: There have been many biographies of these two Queens. While I do not think Jane Dunn's dual biography of them provides any new historical information, she does provide a new way of looking at them by placing them together within the confines of one book. For Elizabeth it was more important to be a monarch than anything else. Perhaps today's royals should take note. She said many times that she was wedded to her people. She played the marriage game with aplomb but knew that marriage would diminish her power as the selected male made a play for a share of her power. Elizabeth was also haunted about the question of her legitimacy as one of Henry VIII's heirs. After all, Henry had bastardized her and the Pope had excommunicated her and encouraged Catholics to dethrone her. Elizabeth's youth had been insecure at the extreme. She even spent time in the Tower. She suffered most under Mary I, as she became the focus of dissidents. Mary Queen of Scots was Elizabeth's next heir if you strictly follow the genealogical charts. While she bore the title "Queen of Scots", she spent only a short time in her kingdom before being shipped off to France to be raised as the intended wife of the dauphin. She had a privileged childhood, married her prince (who had become king) and then everthing dissolved when he died and Mary had nowhere to go but Scotland. The story of her antics in Scotland--including two disasterous marriages--contrasted with Elizabeth's placing power before happiness. In the end, she was booted out of Scotland and ran to England for protection. She became the focus of many plots and ended on the block. Before she died, however, she recreated herself as a martyr to the Catholic faith. The contrast between the two women could not be more stark. So long as Mary was alive, Elizabeth could not rest easy. What would Mary have been like as Queen--probably a disaster if she thought to reimpose Roman Catholicism. This is a well written book that anyone interested interested in British history should enjoy. It is not, however, a historian's dual biography. I would have preferred a bit more of that but perhaps most reader's would not. I did enjoy this book and read it in 3 days. I recommend it!
Rating: 
Summary: Two Queens in One Isle
Review: This new dual biography of Elizabeth I and Mary of Scotland does not provides any fresh historical material on the two queens, but rather focuses on the pyschological atributes that shaped their lives -- and in Mary's case -- her death. Perhaps the most interesting insight into character here is the suggestion that Mary was a manic-depressive and that her biopolar disorder sealed her fate. She could not act as impulsively or as self-destructively as she did otherwise, argues author Dunn. Elizabeth's character is not as clearly limned here; perhaps not surprising given the chimerical nature of her personality and style. Despite the lack of new materials and the retreading of so familiar turf, "Elizabeth and Mary" is still a pleasure to read. Certainly not intended for the serious historian, but rich enough to satisfy a less demanding palate for Tudor history.
Rating:
Summary: Biography of a relationship, very well done
Review: Trying to sustain two separate narratives simultaneously is not the easiest thing for an author to do, and Dunn does a very good job with this. She succeeds in large part because she avoids making this book a dual biography --- a great deal of biographical detail that might be found in other books is simply left out here, either because Dunn presupposes knowledge on the part of the reader or because she feels that the biographical details do not help propel the narrative. She is more interested in the dynamics of the relationship, and in the considerable contrast between the two queens.
In general, Elizabeth comes off looking better in the hands of Dunn. This may bother some devotees to the legend of the Queen of Scots, but the historical record that Dunn presents makes it hard to dispute that Mary, dealt an excellent hand that could have won her the thrones of both England & Scotland, blew every advantage she had. One decision after another, poorly considered and rashly made, led first to her deposition, secondly to her exile & imprisonment, and ultimately to her execution. Only when on trial for her life does Mary seem to have acquired the presence of mind to consider carefully her options, and it resulted in an excellent public relations move where posterity is concerned.
Elizabeth, by contrast, has to be one of maybe three or four English monarchs that was least secure in her royal claims & accession to the throne. Having come perilously close to death herself through some ill-considered youthful decisions, Elizabeth played her cards close throughout a good portion of her reign. Dunn clearly admires Elizabeth's ability to use indecision and equivocation as weapons, keeping her enemies at arm's length. However, Dunn also recognizes that there are times when equivocation simply will not do the trick anymore, such as in the executions first of the Duke of Norfolk and then of Mary herself for treason. At these points, Elizabeth appears to be wavering & weak, unequal to the demands of her position.
The story is fascinating. The marked contrast of the queens' personalities, alongside the good and bad decisions each of them made, demonstrates that history could have turned out much differently. This is an excellent study in the strengths and weaknesses of two dynamic leaders. I would think that this would excellent reading for a management seminar, among other things. The narrative is also brisk and coherent, not an easy task considering the subject matter. The author should be congratulated on this.
Rating:
Summary: Very good account of the cousins' complex relationship
Review: Two incredible women, historically significant figures, are thoroughly dissected and portrayed in this highly readable account that actually seems to pick up momentum and becomes more entertaining as the story unfolds.
While there doesn't seem to be too much startlingly new information, the structure of their complex relationship is intricately and interestingly put together for genre fans. The author's bias seems to be with Elizabeth throughout, but remains good historical reading nonetheless.
| 
