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Tudors: The History of England from Henry VIII to Elizabeth I Audiobook
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Publisher Description
From Henry VIII's cataclysmic break with Rome to the epic rule of Elizabeth I, the age of the Tudors comes to vivid life on the page.
Peter Ackroyd, one of Britain's most acclaimed writers, brings the age of the Tudors to vivid life in this monumental book in his History of England series, charting the course of English history from Henry VIII's cataclysmic break with Rome to the epic rule of Elizabeth I.
Rich in detail and atmosphere, Tudors is the story of Henry VIII's relentless pursuit of both the perfect wife and the perfect heir, of how the brief royal reign of the teenage king, Edward VI, gave way to the violent reimposition of Catholicism and the stench of bonfires under "Bloody Mary." It tells, too, of the long reign of Elizabeth I, which, though marked by civil strife, plots against her, and even an invasion force, finally brought stability.
Above all, it is the story of the English Reformation and the making of the Anglican Church. At the beginning of the sixteenth century, England was still largely feudal and looked to Rome for direction; at its end, it was a country where good governance was the duty of the state, not the church, and where men and women began to look to themselves for answers rather than to those who ruled them.
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“Ackroyd presents the Tudors in a way frequently overlooked by other popular histories and novels, depicting them as a force that continues to affect both English and international societies today, rather than as an early-modern soap opera…Each player in this real-life historical drama is clearly drawn, their major contributions and connections made apparent without losing the thread of the overall themes. Tudors takes a comprehensive approach to early-modern English history that is rarely attempted but is, in Ackroyd's hands, a success.”
— Shelf Awareness
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“Ackroyd writes with such lightly worn erudition and a deceptive ease that he never fails to engage.”
— Telegraph (London) -
“Superbly accessible and readable.”
— Financial Times (London) -
“As so often in Ackroyd’s books there are irresistible small details of everyday life in historic London.”
— Daily Express (London) -
“Ackroyd clearly relishes the wicked glamor of the family which presided over the Reformation, saw off the Spanish Armada, founded the British Empire, and left the country they ruled a great European power…Fluent and colorful.”
— Sunday Express (London) -
“Peter Ackroyd is energetic and gifted enough to have mastered his sources and produced a sparklingly fresh account of Tudor England…Ackroyd has a wonderful eye for the telling detail, cameos that stick in the mind…If you want a finely written, racy account of the monster Henry VIII and his brood, a history book that really fires your imagination and is often so exciting that you cannot put it down, you should get this book.”
— Weekly Standard -
“Ackroyd’s love of his subject shines through every page. This is a thrilling story that will delight readers interested in this period.”
— San Francisco Book Review -
“Ackroyd’s thoroughly researched narrative of the notorious Tudors is colorful, engaging, and highly accessible to general readers.”
— Choice (Australia) -
“Ackroyd’s books are a celebration of Englishness. One senses that he has an immense pride in the way aspects of modern life have evolved...This is a fascinating read, an accessible history where the immense research is wittily presented and where the ideas are profound and moving.”
— Newtown Review of Books (Sydney) -
“The Tudor era was pivotal in English history and remains of perennial interest to the general reader. Ackroyd takes on this much-written-about family history in his new, highly engaging book…[with] rich prose and careful explanations.”
— Booklist (starred review) -
“This is an accessible account, made even more so by anecdotes revealing the personalities of the main characters.”
— Publishers Weekly -
“Of particular interest to those seeking an in-depth look at the religious changes of the Tudor period and the complex and often violent ways in which religious upheaval intertwined with politics.”
— Library Journal -
“As usual, Ackroyd is a find guide. A solid multivolume popular history: readable, entirely nonrevisionist, and preoccupied by politics, religion, and monarchs—a worthy rival to Winston Churchill’s History of the English Speaking Peoples.”
— Kirkus Reviews
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About Peter Ackroyd
Peter Ackroyd has written acclaimed biographies of T. S. Eliot, Dickens, Blake, and Sir Thomas More, as well as several successful novels. He has won the Whitbread Book Award for Biography, the Royal Society of Literature’s W. H. Heinemann Award, the James Tait Black Memorial Prize, the Guardian Fiction Prize, the Somerset Maugham Award, and the South Bank Show Award for Literature.
About Clive Chafer
Clive Chafer is a professional actor, director, producer, and theater instructor. Originally from England and educated at Leeds and Exeter universities, he has performed and directed at many theaters in the San Francisco area, where he makes his home, and elsewhere in the US. In 1993 he founded TheatreFIRST, Oakland’s professional theater company, where he served as artistic director until 2008.