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White King: The Tragedy of Charles I
Author(s): Leanda de Lisle (Author)
- Publisher: Vintage
- Publication Date: 10 Jan. 2019
- Language: English
- Print length: 448 pages
- ISBN-10: 0099555271
- ISBN-13: 9780099555278
Book Description
The subject of a BBC TV series on Charles I
The prize-winning biography of Charles I
* Winner of the HWA Crown for Best Work of Historical Non-Fiction 2018 *
* Times Book of the Year *
* Shortlisted for the Catholic Herald Biography Award 2019 *
Less than forty years after the golden age of Elizabeth I, England was at war with itself. At the head of this disintegrating kingdom was Charles I, who would change the face of the monarchy for ever.
His reign is one of the most dramatic in history, yet Charles the man remains elusive. To his enemies he was the 'white tyrant of prophecy: to his supporters a murdered innocent. Today many myths still remain.
It is an epic story of glamour and strong women, of populist politicians and religious terror, of mass movements and a revolutionary new media: one that speaks to our own divided and dangerous times.
'This is the most gripping piece of revisionist history I have read for a long time' - The Spectator
Editorial Reviews
Review
Fascinating -- Andrew Marr ―
Evening StandardHumane and scholarly... De Lisle's deeply and originally researched book brings Charles alive not in kingly isolation but as a father and a husband. Both biography and subject deserve our fullest attention -- Dan Jones ―
Mail on SundayEngaging, well-researched and beautifully written... Emphatically not another book about the civil wars, this instead offers a nuanced and detailed examination of one of our most complex monarchs. It is probably the definitive modern work about Charles I -- Alexander Larman ―
ObserverDe Lisle, who has long been an original voice in popular Tudor studies, is generous to Charles, but too sharp a reader of evidence to ignore his flaws... Pellucid, compelling and enriched by fresh evidence... Sympathetic but scrupulous to the last -- Jessie Childs ―
Sunday TelegraphAn impeccably researched and thought-provoking biography which reads as well as a fine novel... It also revives one of this country's greatest stories: a blinkered king, a warrior queen, a war that turned brother against brother and scandals caused by money, sex, espionage and power, woven together in the life of this extraordinary but flawed king -- Gareth Russell ―
Daily ExpressFormidable... with remarkable clarity she unpicks the tangle of religious, political and economic conflicts that led to the Civil War... De Lisle draws on little-known and in some cases previously unrecorded letters to explore the important part that women played in Charles’s story... This is not a story of a weakling or a villain: it’s the tragedy of the right man in the wrong place in history -- Andrew Taylor ―
The TimesDe Lisle effortlessly carries the reader along with her as she recreates the tragedy of Charles I and the Civil War. Her book is beautifully constructed, telling the story chronologically with a nice eye for detail, illuminating each period and major character by vivid tableau, but with plenty of analysis... This is the most gripping piece of revisionist history I have read for a long time -- Desmond Seward ―
SpectatorElegantly written... the book proceeds at a cracking pace as the king's tragedy unfolds... Leanda de Lisle's splendid book is a timely reminder of the fascination of this turbulent period -- Linda Porter ―
History TodayExcellent -- clear, fair, sympathetic and detailed -- Alan Massie ―
Wall Street Journal
