Lancaster and York: The Wars of the Roses (1995)

Full review is here, http://www.icewarmth.com/2011/07/book-review-wars-of-roses-by-alison.html ( )

enjoyable overview of the origins and conflicts up to the death of Edward IV, is there anyone with a good word to say about Margaret of Anjou? really emphasizes that factions lead to poor governance

Detailed but fun. It helps to scribble your own genealogical chart as you read thru. Those that think that feminine rule would bring on an era of peace and harmony should follow the moves of Margaret of Anjou and reconsider. ( )

The author starts out giving the background of the two families. The she goes on to tell why the War was started. She gives details on the major battles and who perished in them. She gave a little insight to what was going on in each character's head.

Here writing was not dry at all, in fact more like a novel than a work of non-fiction. The author research was well done. She gave statements to back up her claims. I have read other works by this author and her histories are never dry. Which has made me a big non-fiction fan.

My rating for this novel is 4.5/5

This month I will be starting the sequel to this novel the Princes in the Tower. About the sons of Edward IV. ( )

Weir is one of my favorite popular historians for her style: she's straight-forward and clear, gives you all the information you need to understand the subject, but still manages to keep you reading. This book is no exception, but she's not quite as engaging as in, say, her biography of Elizabeth I or Eleanor of Aquitaine. Of course, this could be because this story follows not one person but at least a dozen main characters. It's a little harder to get involved when there's so much happening. Also, I would have preferred that she followed the story through the rise of Henry VII: Weir stops after the restoration of Edward IV, which I suppose was the end of the main conflict between York and Lancaster, but I would have liked for the book to continue with the story of Richard III and his eventual overthrow (this is covered, I believe, in Weir's book The Princes in the Tower). Even with those complaints, I would still highly recommend the book to anyone who would like an overveiw of the Wars of The Roses. The book has made me want to dive into Shakespeare's cycle of histories covering the period and is probably a good historical primer if you want to read those plays with a little background knowledge of the time. ( )