Books

I just finished The Tudors: The Complete Story of England's Most Notorious Dynasty by G.J. Meyer, a book I borrowed from a co-worker who is a former Scadian.

It's a popular history that looks at all of the Tudors from Henry VII through Elizabeth I. Not intended to be an academic work, it's geared towards the general public and aims to summarize and expound on the more recent research done on all of the Tudors. Basically, Meyer's goal is to dismantle the myths and propaganda surrounding the Tudors, particularly Henry VIII and Elizabeth. In doing so, Henry VIII and Elizabeth are portrayed fairly negatively, while Henry VII is praised, and Mary's image is greatly improved.

A lot of time is spent on Henry VIII. Unlike most popular history books, the main focus is not so much on his wives, but how Henry and Cromwell were able to do everything they did - the move away from Rome, the dissolution of the monasteries, the elimination of various opponents, etc. The author goes into just enough detail (but without boring the reader) on the political process for me to finally understand how it was accomplished. The writing was fairly good (author's background is in journalism) and I enjoyed it, though I didn't always agree with every point he made. I recommend it.


Another Scadian friend was doing some housecleaning this weekend and urged those of us who were helping him to take some of his books. I managed to practice some restraint by thinking of the lack of shelf space at home, and came home with just a few titles:

--A copy of Orchesography by Arbeau (somehow I'd never managed to buy a copy)
--Courtly Culture: Literature & Society in the High Middle Ages by Joachim Bumke (trans. by Thomas Dunlap) (seems to focus on France and Germany, so I'm not sure how soon I'll be reading this)
--Elizabethan Prose Fiction, edited by Merritt Lawlis
--The Elizabethan Woman by Carroll Camden (published in the early 1960s, so the research is very dated and approach seems a bit sexist, but there are some nice woodcuts that make it worth keeping)
--Costume in England by Fairholt, 2 volumes (this is very old, so I might be giving it away soon)

Also took a bunch of small bottles with corks. They previously held spices. Once they've been thoroughly cleaned, they could be nice ways to give largesse of more spices!