Such a pity the author held back and didn't tell his readers how he really feels 😉

David said:

Wow does this author attack the Tudors and say it as it probably was.  Chapter one, The Luck of Henry Tudor, first paragraph: I quote:

“None of the events that have made the second Henry Tudor the most famous king in history happened in 1534. Henry VIII divorced no one that year, married no one, killed no eminent person.  But the year was a milestone all the same, arguably the great turning point in his stunningly eventful career.  When it began he had deteriorated only enough to be the sort of person you would hate to be seated next to at a dinner party: arrogant, opinionated, a bully inclined to self-pity, invincibly confident of his own charm, and certain that he knew best about everything that mattered.  Before the year ended he had become what he would remain for the rest of his life: a full-fledged tyrant in the strictest sense of the word, a homicidal monster, absurd, pathetic, mortally dangerous.” Unquote!

Wow, and so how many of you believe this author hit the nail on the head regarding Henry? How did any woman ever feel she could love this man? I have to believe that there were positives about Henry. Can anyone out there list some of his postive points?  I will read this book and give a report when finished. I can not believe the entire world knows of this King as described!

Julia said:

While I'm not sure he had the symptom of shallow emotions, I believe he loved and loved hard (if not the person, at least the idea of love), but the fact that he could so quickly turn that love off makes me think that perhaps he were pretty shallow. It's almost like a child with a new toy that he loves until he decides he doesn't want it any longer and wants the next new shiny thing. I mean any reasonable man would have at least spoken to Anne and Katherine Howard to hear their side of the story.

Yes, maybe it's better to say his emotions were immature more than shallow, although that might be semantics. He reminds me of some immature people (I was going to say teenagers, but not all teenagers are immature emotionally) who seem obsessed with their love until there's a big blow-up and then they hate as much as they'd loved before. I once worked with a woman in her 40s, on her 3rd marriage and still unhappy, because all of these relationships couldn't meet her unrealistic expectations of “one true love”, with whom everything would be perfect all the time.

I'm waiting for the Liscomb book too.

I have GJ Meyer's A World Undone which is a pretty good introduction to World War I, so I have high hopes when I finally start this book.