Exhibit A: Henry VIII may not have been the sexual stallion of which he is often portrayed. Meyer, the book focuses on the facts, as all good history books do, which has the effect of upending some of the most delicious Tudor legends and myths. If You Enjoy Novels About the Tudors, This Highly Readable History Book Is a Must-Read!īeginning with Henry VII and ending with Queen Elizabeth I, this fascinating and highly readable history book on the three generations of Tudors, is a deep dive into one of the most interesting and tumultuous periods of England's royal rulers. The Tudors weaves together all the sinners and saints, the tragedies and triumphs, the high dreams and dark crimes, that reveal the Tudor era to be, in its enthralling, notorious truth, as momentous and as fascinating as the fictions audiences have come to love. And finally came Elizabeth I, who devoted her life to creating an image of herself as Gloriana the Virgin Queen but, behind that mask, sacrificed all chance of personal happiness in order to survive. Mary I, the disgraced daughter of Catherine of Aragon, tried and failed to reestablish the Catholic Church and produce an heir. The boy king Edward VI, a fervent believer in reforming the English church, died before bringing to fruition his dream of a second English Reformation. In the process he plunged his kingdom into generations of division and disorder, creating a legacy of blood and betrayal that would blight the lives of his children and the destiny of his country. Half a century later his son, Henry VIII, desperate to rid himself of his first wife in order to marry a second, launched a reign of terror aimed at taking powers no previous monarch had even dreamed of possessing. In 1485, young Henry Tudor, whose claim to the throne was so weak as to be almost laughable, crossed the English Channel from France at the head of a ragtag little army and took the crown from the family that had ruled England for almost four hundred years.

Meyer reveals the flesh-and-bone reality in all its wild excess. For the first time in decades, here, in a single volume, is a fresh look at the fabled Tudor dynasty, comprising some of the most enigmatic figures ever to rule a country.

The Tudors by G.J. Meyer