The Wars of the Roses: The Decline of the Plantagenets and the Emergence of the Tudors

Lightles: Dan Jones takes a subject that could be boring and/or confusing and relates it in a way that is really compelling and kept me turning the pages.

United States on Oct 03, 2023

Rhys D. Schneider: As advertised, great shape. Well packaged for safe delivery, ahead of schedule by a week. Greatly appreciated.

United States on Sep 29, 2023

Boy Val: This is the 4th Dan Jones book I've read and he hasn't disappointed. After finishing The Plantagenets I went on with this one. The stories of the the Plantagenets, the Lancasters, the Yorks and the Tudors are already interesting and remarkable in themselves, but Jones' storytelling somehow ups the ante. I highly recommend this book, but I suggest reading The Plantagenets first.
And to those reading this on a Kindle I suggest having a family tree from Edward III down to Henry VII next to you as reference. The genealogy figure in the Kindle version is so small to read. And sometimes you have look up the how a character is related to another like how Richard duke of York or Margaret Beaufort are direct descendants of Edward III etc.

United States on Aug 14, 2023

pg: Exactly what I wanted. Very professional service and fast delivery

Australia on Mar 28, 2023

Ms Azra J Alvi: I was loving this book until I came to page 202 and realised that my copy of the book skipped straight to page 235! Not sure how on earth this fault could have passed undetected (are books not made by machine?) so am debating whether to order another copy as missing this many pages is going to make the story difficult to pick up. The writing is excellent as you'd expect from Dan Jones but as others have said, it is complicated to follow at times as so many of the men had the same names in those days. Still, he manages to make sense of it all somehow. I'm always amazed at how historians source their material from so long ago. It takes some effort at times to read the book as this period was very turbulent but I am enjoying it immensely.

United Kingdom on Oct 04, 2022

Amazon Customer: No thanks

Spain on Jul 23, 2022

Martin Spence: The guys who shipped it did such an amazing job that it arrived a month early. :)
Without question though, this is an excellent read. For those who want a factual tale of the Wars of the roses, this is it.

Canada on Apr 30, 2022

Eric Schallenberg: I found this book a joy to read, not only because of its narrative style but also because it manages to present a clear narrative of a confusing and turbulent era. The book moreover combines solid research with accessible writing. Warmly recommended!

Netherlands on Dec 03, 2021

J. Bair: Jones’ The Wars of the Roses reads like a novel. I believe that is simply that this period in English history is wilder than any storyteller could fabricate.

In the early part of the fifteenth century, it appeared that England was on the rise. It had a stable, capable government led by a king who is arguably the best monarch in the country’s history (Shakespeare thought so). It appeared that the Hundred Years’ War had been settled and England had regained much of the continental land that it had lost in the thirteenth century. Indeed, the French were going to recognize the son of Henry V as their king as well as England’s.

Jones quotes Ecclesiastes 10:16 and applies it directly to England. Alas for England, Henry V died young in 1422, leaving behind a 9-month-old son. What is remarkable, actually, is that Henry had put in place a leadership team that would manage the country quite well while the young Henry VI was growing up. The problem is that Henry VI was no ruler, and by the time he was in his late twenties, the old leaders were largely gone and the next generation was vying for power with a king who did little about it.

The Wars of the Roses...

United States on Aug 22, 2017

Sotto voce: In few histories can one see the truth that `to the victors, belongs the history' in such clarity as Jones reveals. Jones has winnowed the knowable facts from triumphalist biased history. The "War of the Roses" sounds like a romantic event except it was invented by a 19th century revisionist. You'll quickly see that there's nothing romantic here.

The book begins with the obscure story of Plantagenet extinction. It's an irony that a Tudor Henry VIII would deliver a grizzly 10 whack beheading to a demographic `ancient' and last of the Plantagenet blood royal in 1541 ... 100 years after York victory at Bosworth Field. The Plantagenet dynasty so exits corporeal history in the person of Henry VIII's great-great-grandaunt.

This is the story of a mighty family tree gone to war as notional `roses'. Plantagenet House Lancaster and House York simply annihilated themselves. Circumstances and peculiarity left an outsider standing. A 'Tudur' from Wales of low noble origin emerges as king. It's the time of the Tudors and the end of dynasty.

Jones telling is rooted in the personalities of the kings, queens, and princes amped up by a supporting cast of doubly rough counts,...

United States on Jan 02, 2015