The Kings and Queens of England

Rating:
Summary: The Kings and Queens of England
Review: If you want a coffee table book, this is not for you. Though tiny in size, this book is packed with valuable information. The illustrations, which cover all 43 of the rulers, are beautiful. The biographies are short and sweet, providing a basic background on each monarch. Also included are some humorous and shocking facts! I bought this for a friend and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked it myself. It's a great value.

Rating:
Summary: Tiny, inaccurate, but still has its place
Review: My boyfriend and I bought this book in the British Museum bookstore so we could keep the monarchs straight. For that purpose it is perfect. Each page is about the size of two credit cards, and each monarch gets two pages each- one page for a picture of him/her, and one page for a biography. The brevity of the biography obviously leads to inaccuracies in the interest of cramming it all into a single tiny page. In other words, I don't recommend using it to study for a history test, but if you want to put it in your backpack as you are touring London so you can say "Oookay, now Henry the VI was a [crummy] and weak king" as you stand over his tomb in St. George at Windsor and "Henry VII killed Richard the III, that bad guy from Shakespeare" as you stand next to Henry's tomb in Westminster Abby, it is absolutely perfect for that purpose. However, if you want a more thorough review (and loads of pictures, but less backpack friendly) of each monarch, I very much recommend Antonio Fraser's "The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England."

Rating:
Summary: Tiny, Inaccurate, but still can be helpful...
Review: My boyfriend and I bought this book in the British Museum bookstore so we could keep the monarchs straight. For that purpose it is perfect. Each page is about the size of two credit cards, and each monarch gets two pages each- one page for a picture of him/her, and one page for a biography. The brevity of the biography obviously leads to inaccuracies in the interest of cramming it all into a single tiny page. In other words, I don't recommend using it to study for a history test, but if you want to put it in your backpack as you are touring London so you can say "Oookay, now Henry the VI was a [crummy] and weak king" as you stand over his tomb in St. George at Windsor and "Henry VII killed Richard the III, that bad guy from Shakespeare" as you stand next to Henry's tomb in Westminster Abby, it is absolutely perfect for that purpose. However, if you want a more thorough review (and loads of pictures, but less backpack friendly) of each monarch, I very much recommend Antonio Fraser's "The Lives of the Kings and Queens of England."

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Knowledge!
Review: My only complaint about this book is that it tells a complete falsehood of the blessed Anglican Martyr Charles Stuart. To put this in a nutshell, Queen Victoria had a grudge against several of her predecessors (including Charles the martyr.) During her reign she fabricated the tale that Charles was a self server. On the other hand she tried to make the monstrously evil Cromwell into a champion of constitution and democracy. (Don't take my word for it. Read Winston Churchill's "History of the English Speaking People" 1955). Otherwise, this book is EXCELLENT. It offers a brief listing of the different houses. It also offers a beautiful photograph of each monarch. For the most part, it offers a brief but accurate passage on each of the monarchs. One thing Best does very well is that he goes beyond common and inaccurate opinions of some famous monarchs (including Henry VIII) and gives a scholarly opinion of their contributions to England.