{"product_id":"elizabeth-9780241963654","title":"Elizabeth","description":"\u003cb\u003eBook Synopsis\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eHistory has pictured Elizabeth I as Gloriana, an icon of strength and power -- and has focused on the early years of her reign. But in 1583, when Elizabeth is fifty, there is relentless plotting among her courtiers -- and still to come is the Spanish Armada and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. We have not, until now, had the full picture.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis gripping and vivid portrait of her life and times -- often told in her own words (and including details such as her love of chess and marzipan) -- reveals a woman who was insecure, human (''You know I am no morning woman''), and unpopular even with the men who fought for her. This is the real Elizabeth, for the first time.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eTrade Review\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA beautifully rounded portrait of both the woman and the queen . . .\u003c\/b\u003e \u003cb\u003eThis is a masterful biography. \u003c\/b\u003e -- Amanda Foreman\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA gripping story of Queen Elizabeth's last years, authoritatively researched and engagingly recounted by the leading Tudor historian of our age\u003c\/b\u003e -- James Shapiro, author of 1599 and 1606\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the very best historians we have in the country . . . \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003eIt is brilliant, vigorous history, and a triumph of storytelling and scholarship\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jessie Childs * Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eGuy's careful work with documents known and unknown, scattered throughout Europe's archives, allows him to paint a novel portrait of a complex - maybe even unknowable - queen -- John Gallagher * Guardian *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThe best biography ever written of the Virgin Queen\u003c\/b\u003e - a revisionist, sensitive, compelling, majestic masterwork that you can't put down -- Simon Sebag-Montefiore * Evening Standard *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eA gripping story of Queen Elizabeth's last years, authoritatively researched and engagingly recounted by the leading Tudor historian of our age.\u003c\/b\u003e It will be of special interest to anyone interested in the political world in which Shakespeare's Elizabethan drama is steeped-from anxiety over royal succession to England's costly war in Ireland -- James Shapiro, author of 1599 and 1606\u003cbr\u003eJohn Guy's \u003ci\u003eElizabeth\u003c\/i\u003e presents \u003cb\u003ea beautifully rounded portrait of both the woman and the queen.\u003c\/b\u003e Thanks to Guy's prodigious use of previously untapped material, we see, for the very first time, the full panoply of ambition and insecurity, plotting and deceit that marked the middle years of her reign. \u003cb\u003eThis is a masterful biography. \u003c\/b\u003e -- Amanda Foreman\u003cbr\u003eAs you'd expect from John Guy, this is a very good read, \u003cb\u003ea vivid and fascinating warts-and-all portrait of the ageing Elizabeth, backed by meticulous research\u003c\/b\u003e -- Claire Tomalin\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eOne of the very best historians we have in the country. \u003c\/b\u003eGuy is in his element prising off the myths that are barnacled to the queen. \u003cb\u003eIt is brilliant, vigorous history, and a triumph of storytelling and scholarship\u003c\/b\u003e -- Jessie Childs * Telegraph *\u003cbr\u003eJohn Guy is arguably the world's leading expert on Tudor history. When he writes a book, especially this, his first on Elizabeth's life, it should be taken very seriously as having something new to say, and so it does ... \u003cb\u003ea wonderful book and a magisterial account of the latter half of Elizabeth's reign that calmly reassesses every claim and myth by simply reading all the original manuscript correspondence.\u003c\/b\u003e The result puts the record straight, but it also allows Guy to produce a pacy and compelling story -- Jerry Brotton * Sunday Times *\u003cbr\u003eGuy pored through 250,000 manuscripts in his quest to understand the ageing Elizabeth. Intimidated by that mountain of parchment, most historians have tended to recycle the myths of Gloriana and Good Queen Bess. Not Guy. \u003cb\u003eGuy is no ordinary historian.\u003c\/b\u003e Few can match his ruthless obsession for accuracy. Between every line comes whispered reassurance: \"You can trust me; I touched those documents.\" Guy the scholar melds perfectly with Guy the storyteller. Small tales are used to illustrate big issues. Under the weight of Guy's scrutiny, familiar myths crumble. \u003cb\u003eThe weight of evidence suggests that he understands Elizabeth better than any historian has\u003c\/b\u003e -- Gerald DeGroot * Book of the Week, The Times *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003e[A] most excellent biography. \u003c\/b\u003eIt puts a cruel but clarifying lends on the vain monarch's twilight years. She has never been more exposed than in Guy's tome. \u003cb\u003eA contender for history book of the year\u003c\/b\u003e -- John Lewis-Stempel * Sunday Express *\u003cbr\u003eWhat emerges from the author's \u003cb\u003egreat efforts to mine the archives for a truer picture\u003c\/b\u003e is a more flawed Elizabeth - but perhaps a more human one * The Economist *\u003cbr\u003eJohn Guy, as \u003cb\u003eeminent a Tudor historian\u003c\/b\u003e as they come, has set himself the explicit task of correcting Strachey's colourful narrative of Elizabeth's old age. The result is 400 pages of\u003cb\u003e outstandingly documented scholarly detail ... scholarship that should earn the respect of popular and expert reader\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cb\u003e alike\u003c\/b\u003e -- Kate Maltby * Spectator *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSuperb\u003c\/b\u003e ... John Guy persuades us that pretty much \u003cb\u003eeverything we think we know about Elizabeth is wrong\u003c\/b\u003e -- Andrew Roberts * Wall Street Journal *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eThere is a lot to like about this book.\u003c\/b\u003e Energetic [in] tone... Guy is a lively guide ... Guy is especially good when describing the political machinations of Burghley and Walsingham ... [and] Guy gives us a clean sense of a man [the Earl of Essex] who was brilliant, vain, petulant and self-serving in equal measure * History Today *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eEnthralling\u003c\/b\u003e... the book is also \u003cb\u003ebeautifully illustrated\u003c\/b\u003e * Editor's Choice, The Bookseller *\u003cbr\u003eGuy is exceptionally good on how various myths took root -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *\u003cbr\u003eOutstanding. This page-turning book is history, biography, scholarship personified, and a crystal-clear look at Elizabeth in the war years that erases the myths and presents the real woman. \u003cb\u003eAbsolutely one of the best biographies of Elizabeth ever\u003c\/b\u003e * Kirkus (starred review) *\u003cbr\u003eWith the\u003cb\u003e remarkable advantage of access to long-buried and misfiled primary sources\u003c\/b\u003e [...] the aging monarch receives a balanced treatment. [Gives] readers \u003cb\u003ea fuller view\u003c\/b\u003e of the confident, experienced, and adaptable queen * Publishers Weekly *\u003cbr\u003eThe dean of living Tudor-era historians * Christian Science Monitor *\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eMeticulously researched and highly readable\u003c\/b\u003e revisionist biography. Recommended for lovers of British history and feminist biography * Library Journal *\u003cbr\u003eA fresh, thrilling portrait -- Stacy Schiff * New York Times *\u003cbr\u003eOft portrayed as fierce, this \u003cb\u003ereveals an Elizabeth I who is in fact fallible and insecure\u003c\/b\u003e * New Day *\u003cbr\u003eSignificant, forensic and myth-busting, John Guy inspires total confidence in a narrative which is at once pacy and rich in detail -- Anna Whitelock * Times Literary Supplement *\u003cbr\u003eThe brilliance of \u003ci\u003eElizabeth: The Forgotten Years\u003c\/i\u003e lies in the energy of its narrative, as well as in Guy's eye and ear for scene and conversation. To interweave all of this with the life of the queen is a formidable achievement. He has captured the complexity of contemporary politics. ... Most striking is Guy's portrait of Elizabeth -- Stephen Alford * London Review of Books *","brand":"Penguin Books Ltd","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":48733392535895,"sku":"9780241963654","price":11.69,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0817\/1739\/5799\/files\/9780241963654.jpg?v=1719999991","url":"https:\/\/bookcurl.com\/products\/elizabeth-9780241963654","provider":"Book Curl","version":"1.0","type":"link"}