Rating: 
Summary: An enjoyable read for history buffs!
Review: The text is well written and easy to read. The author keeps the story moving despite quoting numerous historical sources. All the pieces in this interesting historical intrigue are brought together and tied in a tidy bow. The book covers the first half of the Wars, from the murder of Richard II to the accession of Edward IV. This is the author's "pre-quel" to "The princes in the Tower" an account of the second half of the Wars from Edward IV to Henry VII's victory at Bosworth
Rating: 
Summary: A Competently-told Chronicle
Review: The time was fascinating enough for Shakespeare to have devoted three plays to it, and several more to its prelude. The various descendants of Edward III were fighting each other for the crown of England (and parts of France) throughout the middle 15th century, in a battle of cousin against cousin (even brother against brother) that later on became known as The Wars of the Roses. In this book Alison Weir gives a blow-by-blow account of the various conflicts in the reign of Henry VI and Edward IV. She has a long prelude wherein she sets the stage with the deposing of Richard II by Henry Bolingbroke (who became, then, Henry IV), his subsequent career, and that of Henry V, who died leaving the baby Henry VI king, setting the stage for the power struggles to come.Weir has clearly mastered her material, but still this story seemed curiously lifeless. There are murders and betrayals aplenty, and even occasional selfless and heroic behavior, but presented rather matter-of-factly. Besides this, there are a couple of problems that I see. One is perhaps typical of a history: unless the historian has the flair of a storyteller, it just becomes one damn thing after another. I found little that was compelling in a narrative with great possibilities, nor motivation for what seemed to be bizarre behavior on everyone's part. Another problem here was simply in a lack of supporting material. Maps of territories being contested, and diagrams of battles, would help to place these events in space and give each fight an identity. What is more, a dense chronicle like this one needs to be bristling with dates, perhaps as a running comment in a margin. We are given the day and the month constantly as things go on, but I found myself having forgotten the year, and unable to find it. Rather than constantly wading through detail, a reader should be able to get out and see the wider picture from time to time, too. It is with some relief that I turn to the Henry VI plays, even though the history is compressed and distorted to serve the drama. In Shakespeare, it all makes sense, somehow.
Rating: 
Summary: Clear, readable, and well-narrated
Review: The Wars of the Roses are one of the most confusing periods of English history. From the origins in the rivalries between Edward III's children to the final resolution with the founding of the Tudor dynasty by Henry VII, there are eight kings, including some of the best and worst England has had; and literally scores of major figures and families: the Nevilles, the Percys, the Woodvilles, the Beauforts, the Cliffords, the Bourchiers -- the list is endless. Making this all comprehensible the first time through is simply impossible. Weir almost manages it, though; her style is very readable and friendly, and exciting without being sensational. Weir begins with a short section describing what England was like in the fifteenth century; then she starts the story proper with Edward III, whose five sons and their families are the central players in the history. She ends her story in 1471, with the defeat of the Lancastrians and the subsequent murder of Henry VI. She only gives a page or two to the remainder of Edward IV's reign, and to the story of Richard III and the princes in the tower, and Henry VII's ultimate accession in 1485. This is almost certainly because she has covered this ground in another book, "The Princes In The Tower". The omission is understandable but still rather a mistake -- the conflict doesn't end till the Tudors are on the throne (and not even then, really -- there were pretenders for years). The only other criticism I have is that the genealogy tables at the back are too small to read easily. I tried using a magnifying glass but the reproduction is poor enough that some letters are blurred into unreadability. Even when it's readable, it's more work than it should be; this is a real problem for a book about the Wars of the Roses, where understanding the genealogy is crucial to keeping your bearings. Overall I can recommend this strongly, just because it'll give you the overall narrative clearly and excitingly, but you'll need another source to cover the period from 1471 to 1485.
Rating:
Summary: Clear, readable, and well-narrated
Review: The Wars of the Roses are one of the most confusing periods of English history. From the origins in the rivalries between Edward III's children to the final resolution with the founding of the Tudor dynasty by Henry VII, there are eight kings, including some of the best and worst England has had; and literally scores of major figures and families: the Nevilles, the Percys, the Woodvilles, the Beauforts, the Cliffords, the Bourchiers -- the list is endless. Making this all comprehensible the first time through is simply impossible. Weir almost manages it, though; her style is very readable and friendly, and exciting without being sensational. Weir begins with a short section describing what England was like in the fifteenth century; then she starts the story proper with Edward III, whose five sons and their families are the central players in the history. She ends her story in 1471, with the defeat of the Lancastrians and the subsequent murder of Henry VI. She only gives a page or two to the remainder of Edward IV's reign, and to the story of Richard III and the princes in the tower, and Henry VII's ultimate accession in 1485. This is almost certainly because she has covered this ground in another book, "The Princes In The Tower". The omission is understandable but still rather a mistake -- the conflict doesn't end till the Tudors are on the throne (and not even then, really -- there were pretenders for years). The only other criticism I have is that the genealogy tables at the back are too small to read easily. I tried using a magnifying glass but the reproduction is poor enough that some letters are blurred into unreadability. Even when it's readable, it's more work than it should be; this is a real problem for a book about the Wars of the Roses, where understanding the genealogy is crucial to keeping your bearings. Overall I can recommend this strongly, just because it'll give you the overall narrative clearly and excitingly, but you'll need another source to cover the period from 1471 to 1485.
Rating:
Summary: very good book
Review: This book involves many battles. It contains a lot ofpolitical intrigue. People march on London many times and try toregain the crown. There are factions deuling to control the king. All these things help to make Wars of the Roses Alison Weir's greatest book of English History.
Rating:
Summary: Too Many Kings
Review: This book is well-researched, but sometimes difficult to follow. The sheer number of people named Edward, George, or Elizabeth is really terrible. The endless invasions and battles are headache inducing.
Rating:
Summary: Useful history
Review: This is a very useful sort of history which documents the root causes of the wars of the Roses which created a period of bloody civil war in Britain during the fifteenth century and was eventually responsible for ushering in the rule of the Tudors. It has certainly been written about before, but with very little new evidence, or indeed a great deal of documentary evidence from the time mostly books tend to rehash the same old information but present it in slightly different ways. This is in no way to denigrate the job which Weir has done. I think she has done an excellent job keeping the complex information quite simple, and most especially in simplifying the inordinately complex family relationships and succession detail which needs to be explained. Even so as someone else pointed out you do need to have a legal pad and pen beside you to keep on top of things, and I did make full and frequent use of the geneaological tables near the end of the book. The troubles really started at the end of the fourteenth century when the rightful king was forced to abdicate and his heirs were never quite reinstated. Intermarriage between the descendents of the rightful heirs and the usurpers eventually set up a bitter rivalry between the two competing families - the Yorks and the Lancasters which was fought out until 1485. I think this is really a book for people who are interested in the period - it is not an easy read as some of the history's such as Giles Milton's or Simon Winchester's are - it tends to be a bit drier and a bit more technical. However I really enjoyed it and thought it was both well written and well researched.
Rating:
Summary: Terrific writer, interesting subject - a great read
Review: This is a wonderfully readable history, covering the finalconflict between cousins (the House of Lancaster and the House ofYork, and then the House of York and the House of Tudor) over the crown of England. As the author states in her introduction, the full story begins in 1400 begins with a murder and ends in 1471 with another murder. Weir writes a history of people who come alive on her pages. The characters history has given her are ambitious, incompetent, promiscuous, indolent, and lustful. The tale history has given her is one of these characters acting outside the law, each for his/her own purposes and, in so doing it is an early story of violent "politics of destruction" in the literal sense. This story changed forever the history of England. I often judge how good a book is by whether I am moved to read another one by the same author, or on the same subject. I am now reading Weir's book on Elizabeth. If you are interested in a well written history of a pivotal period in English history, I would highly recommend that you give The Wars of the Roses a try.
Rating:
Summary: Keep those geneology tables handy...
Review: This is an excellent well organized book. Weir does an wonderful job with the subject of a complex family tree and lots of interfamily marriages. I don't know of many historians that could do this well. She covers the English history from Richard II to Edward IV. I recommend to all Medieval English history lovers.
Rating:
Summary: Keep those geneology tables handy...
Review: This is an excellent well organized book. Weir does an wonderful job with the subject of a complex family tree and lots of interfamily marriages. I don't know of many historians that could do this well. She covers the English history from Richard II to Edward IV. I recommend to all Medieval English history lovers.
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