Rating: 
Summary: Isn't this book about the wives?
Review: As a lover of Tudor history (especially of the six wives) I found this book both poorly written and dull!
Maybe some people are interested in Tudor politics, but the book jacket reads that the book is about the SIX WIVES OF HENRY! All this books talks about is politics! I understand that many people effected the queens' lives (like Crownwell and Wosley)but the book seems more about them then the queens themselves.
Rating: 
Summary: The Queens of Henry VIII
Review: Author David Starkey relates, in his introduction, how this book began as a short(!) warm-up to a projected biography of Henry VIII. As he uncovered new facts and reconsidered old interpretations, the scope of the book expanded into a major, lengthy (750 pages of text + 50 more pages of notes), and rather ambitious study of that monarch's six marriages.While building appropriately upon previous scholarship, Starkey does not hesitate to provide correction where he feels that earlier writers have gone astray. His own writing is fluent, in the best traditions of narrative history, and peppered here and there with the dry wit that is characteristic of Cambridge dons. After reading through the details of their lives, I felt that I had come to know the Queens much better as people - their characters, strengths, weaknesses, aims, and concerns. On the other hand, in terms of the overall history, there is so much to absorb that I sometimes felt (as the cliche goes) that I wasn't quite seeing the forest for all the trees. In reading this book, it will be very helpful if the reader already knows something about 16th century English and European history. Much essential background (especially relating to the Reformation in Europe, and the political events of Henry's reign) is assumed, or only mentioned in passing, by the author. The book is a quick read for its length, and combines detailed scholarship with a flowing narrative style. I would recommend it to almost anyone who is interested in Henry's wives and who wants to delve deeply into the history of these powerful, ambitious, and accomplished women.
Rating: 
Summary: Absorbing take on Henrician history!
Review: Author Starkey writes like an investigative journalist, having uncovered stunningly revealing information on the Tudor dynasty and presenting it with an altogether fresh and novel eye. Despite a rather ostentatious use of vocabulary, it a delicious read and flies by... Even at its massive size, the reader will be sorry to see it end! He makes wise and clever associations with modern day royals to prove that history not only repeats itself, but that the more things change--the more they stay the same. This book also provides an excellent, timely lesson in the history of Protestant/Anglican religion. Fans of English history will be excited to add this to their libraries.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Biography
Review: David Starkey has done an incredible job of biographing the six wifes of Henry VIII. This is a huge book loaded with politics, religion, and detailed information on all of his wives. His first two wives, (Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn) take up about half of the book with respective chapters to his 4 other wives. Henry VIII's character is put to the question in each of his marriages and the fault he lies with his wives (with the exception of Jane Seymour) to produce a male heir. Most of these women were intelligent, spoke other languages fluently and Catherine of Aragon and Katherine Parr were left as Regents to the throne when the King was off on campaign. These were not weak and feeble women. If you like history you will love this book. Again, it's a huge book with many characters and much intrigue, betrayal, love and tragedy. I also recommend all books from Alison Weir and Antonia Frasier and the novels of Henry VIII and Mary Queen of Scots from Margaret George.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting reading, even if the book isn't well written.
Review: David Starkey's 'Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII' is obviously a highly researched piece of work. I've read many Tudor biographies, and this is by far the most extensive I have ever laid eyes on. But unfortunately I have more bad than good to say about it.
What good I can say is trivial. It's a large, long book that takes some concentration and thought to get through. Starkey knew his material well before getting down to business, although I don't believe he wrote about everything he could have. In the space of 765 pages (not counting the index and notes, which took an additional 80+ pages) there is so much information on the politics of Henry VIII's marriages, one cannot help but feel some awe. But that is where the interest ends for me as a reader. Unlike with the Tudor biographies of Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser, I wasn't drawn into the story in the least. And this is where the bad begins.
Where should I start? First of all, the book is completely unbalanced. Well over 300 pages are devoted to the rise and fall of Anne Boleyn, while barely 40 explain the relationship with Anne of Cleves. The same can be said for the story of Catherine Howard and Catherine Parr. Perhaps there really is much, much more to the relationship between Boleyn and Henry Tudor, but I still believe that a balance could have been found and more depth explored with Henry's other wives.
Many reviewers have lashed out against Starkey's language and grammar. While I'm no English expert, I must agree that it's difficult to "get into" the story and stay focused on Starkey's writings. And yes, he does tend to ask too many questions and doesn't hesitate to express his opinion, and stick with it, over historical facts.
And last for this review, but certainly not least and not the truly last of my personal complaints against the book, is Starkey's blatant disregard for other historians and authors. In his introduction, he denounces the books of Fraser and Weir (with author names), which totally lacks class and respect and in my opinion. And that's far from the only time he does such a thing. I remember at one point in the book, just after the birth of Elizabeth (daughter of Henry and Anne Boleyn), Starkey denounced, with a bit of cool arrogance, the "unsubstantiated" claim that Anne wanted to breast-feed Elizabeth but Henry wouldn't allow it. I won't deny that I have read about this before and that I really don't know if it's true or not, as I am not a hard-core historian. But I am curious as to why Starkey believes, as he seems to in many sections of his book, that his is the one and only true version of events. How does he know that? And just because there is no hard evidence for certain events, how does Starkey know that they did or didn't happen?
PBS created a mini-series based on Starkey's book (Starkey himself narrated) which turned out to be worse than the book. It's a sorry thing that a book so long and informative should turn out so uninteresting, but it did.
Rating:
Summary: Well researched, superbly written and enthralling!
Review: David Starkey's book is a wonderful overview of the incredible lives of Henry VIII's queens. The amount of research he did, all strictly noted in the end notes, is astounding. However, this is no dry history book. Starkey has the ability to bring the history alive with his well-written book. He does speculate on various events from time to time, but always clearly notes what is speculation on his part and gives the historical back-up for his beliefs. I am an English history buff, but have very little time to read. I thought I would buy this admittedly long book (765 pages of text) and read it from time to time. However, I finished it in 10 days. It reads like a novel and I was unable to put it down! This would be an excellent purchase for anyone who is interested in this time period and these facinating women.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful biography of all six queens! Reads like a novel!
Review: Everyone knows Henry VIII had six wives, but even most English history courses mention very little about the character of these six women. David Starkey's book gives a wonderful biographical analysis of each wife and especially covers the influence each wife had on the religious situation in the country during her period of favor. The reseach is incredibly well-documented, with scores of quotations from sources from that period of history. When the author speculates, he clearly says so and tells why he speculates the way he does. Best of all, it reads like a novel. I found myself staying up late just to find out what happened next. For anyone interested in this period in history, it would be an excellent read.
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Summary: Well done ¿popular¿ history
Review: Had to pick this up after seeing the series on PBS. If you liked the PBS specials then you really should do yourself a favor and read this book. The show glossed over a tremendous amount of what was going on behind the scenes and politically during each marriage. The various struggles, both religious and political, make for a fascinating picture. Starkey presents a good case that this time period marks a watershed moment in British history in terms of the reformation of the Church and the monarchy in general. The book is a fairly easy read, not academic but aimed more at the mass market. This is not to say it is poorly researched, Starkey has obviously done his homework and presents a wealth of information. However the tone is fairly casual and the story told in a sort of breathless way that will keep the layman interested but strike the academic as a bit much. Read this with a critical eye as Henry does come off a something of a jerk. There is no doubt he was driven and fairly ruthless, but this account focuses on the wives, necessarily at Henry's expense. The only real problem is one most likely due to what Starkey had to work with. A great deal of the book is spent on Catherine of Aragon, and a fair amount on Anne Boleyn. The last four wives are given increasing short shifts, but I suspect that is due more to the lack of source material on some of them. That and the fact Catherine of Aragon was Queen long than the rest put together. This is a fantastic introduction to the history of Tudor England. Good enough that it made me seek out Starkey's "Elizabeth: The Struggle for the Throne" which, in many ways, is a sequel to this book and worth reading in an of itself (although necessarily there is a lot of overlap).
Rating:
Summary: A wonderful read for Tudor fanatics
Review: I have read two of David Starkey's books and have seen him on the TV. I liked his approach to Tudor history as it humanizes the characters. I read this book through 3 times! I loved it. I have nearly every book out there on the 16th century. I'm partial to English History, especially Anne Boleyn. His characterizations bring all the Queens to life. Prisoners all of religion. How they embraced both the Catholic and Protestant faith which immediately branded them as inferior and subject to their fathers, brothers and husbands! Each one was a pawn of their families. Henry was a fool for love. He wanted to have his cake and eat it too. He wanted a woman he could love and possess who was nubile, dutiful, respectful and fertile. Forgetting always that he became a less and less attractive figure. In this he is no different from all the "stars" of today who freely trade in last year's woman for a newer, younger one. This book is terrific. There is one nugget of mining from this book that is in none of the others I've read on Anne Boleyn. That she did not suddenly give in to Henry's passions after Calais. They were secretely married on St. Erkenwald's day. ( November) Only then did she give in.
The marriage in January when she knew she was pregnant took place in England with some of her family present.
Rating:
Summary: Nice CD
Review: I'm reviewing the audio CD version of this book. I really enjoyed listening to it. It is very educational, but done in such a way that it seems as if you're listening to a novel, and not historical biographies. It also covers a lot more than the wives themselves, the author gives historical backdrops to the time of each, what was going on and the like. Some have criticized it as not being as scholarly as previous works on these women. That may be true, but those aren't on an audio cd, which is what I wanted. I don't necessarily have the time to read, so sometimes I have to cover my interests with an audio cd. This fit the bill. I learned a lot about this time and it was an entertaining and informing disc. If you are looking for something more strictly scholarly, then you probably are better off with the books by others that are recommended here. There are times when the author imparts motives and beliefs on people, with a disclaimer, but I'm not sure there's much proof or evidence in this regard. But it makes it read like a novel a lot better, or a story really, and does make it more interesting. It is 6 discs, each runs an hour or so. The first 3-4 discs are all Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. There is more known about them, I guess, and on a historical scale, they are the more important wives. There's not much on Jane Seymour and Catherine Howard. Anne of Cleves is covered a bit better. The Katherine Parr section was fine and actually pretty thorough as well, almost one disc to herself. It takes some getting used to listening to the woman who reads, but I grew to like her. It is a little funny to hear her lower her voice when trying imitate Henry VIII when reading a line of his, or lighten and soften her voice when doing the same for one of the women. She did a really nice job mimicing the long speach apparently given by Howard at the block, I really felt like I was listening to the doomed woman herself. If you need a six hour entertaining and interesting history lesson on Henry VIII's six wives, this is it and fits the bill perfectly.
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