free download dan jones war of the roses

Henry’s wife, Queen Margaret, was not able to get rid of Richard, and she sheltered her young scion to the throne and directed allied armies (now called the Lancastrians) as civil war raged around them. With the warrior king Henry V’s death in 1422, his infant son became Henry VI, leaving the kingdom at the mercy of warring usurpers from France and the young king “beneath an almost crushing burden of expectation.” Indeed, Henry VI was not an effective king, and into the vacuum of leadership stepped traitorous aristocrats like the Earl of Suffolk and the Duke of Gloucester, as well as Richard, Duke of York, the king’s cousin, who became a dangerous rival. I'd pick from between the three, depending on whether you want the Easy (Jones), Medium (Weir), or Expert (Hicks) difficulty version of the story.In a follow-up to The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings Who Invented England (2012), British historian Jones authoritatively sets the scene for the next brutal act: the 15th-century succession crises. It's probably the 'best' in terms of historical research and analysis, being far more critical of the contemporary sources (mostly written in Edward IV's reign) than either Weir or Jones, but it's a little clumsily written (a fair amount of repetition and the occasional reference to future events that somebody unfamiliar with the time period may get confused by) and ponderous at times, so might only interest people really interested in the topic. I also think it's a good place to mention Michael Hicks' Wars of the Roses. His book tends to have a bit of a 'York wasn't such a bad guy' tone to it, and in doing so he doesn't really dig deep into any of the nuance and motivations for York's actions, nor the terms of his (repeated) punishments for what was essentially treason. Jones, however, in his attempt to tell a 'story' rather than an academic historical account, tends to gloss on a fair number of things. Dan Jones's book is a relatively easy read with a very polished narrative for easy consumption.

Free download dan jones war of the roses