Reviews for History of King Richard the Third of England (Makers of History)

The average rating for History of King Richard the Third of England (Makers of History) based on 2 reviews is 3 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2015-02-10 00:00:00 Danny Dabbs #4 of 22 in my personal (and rather random) challenge to read Abbot's Makers of History series. The series is most famously known for influencing Abraham Lincoln. As the last book I read in the series (Margaret of Anjou) kicked off my interest in the "War of the Roses," it made sense to read this one next. Only about 20% of the book is actually about Richard III, with the rest of the book providing context. The book is as much or more about Edward IV (Richard's older brother) than Richard, but as Richard's reign was the grand finale of the War of the Roses, I suppose it makes sense to focus on him. The problem with reading history books written so long ago is that there seems to be higher standards for citations now. I found myself questioning a lot of what Abbot said happened. How did he know? What were his sources? Of course, being that this series was targeted at juveniles, it may just be that Abbott wrote more to form a story than to provide a complete picture. I don't know enough about Richard III to say whether Abbott presented Richard III accurately or not, but I do know that there are enough unknowns to spawn a few societies centered around restoring Richard III's reputation (especially after the beating he got from Shakespeare). Abbott generally falls into the camp that Richard was probably the evil villain many made him out to be, but he does show some objectivity on occasion, pointing out a few things that historians disagreed on. It was particularly interesting to see how Abbott portrayed Margaret of Anjou in this book, after approaching her with such compassion in his work explicitly about her. Quite the turnaround, Margaret is characterized as cruel and ambitiously manipulative in this book. He even brings up the suggestion that her son was illegitimately conceived, a hail-mary attempt to maintain the throne while her feeble-minded husband was being inched out. I don't recall him mentioning that in her biography! Next month, I'm taking a step back in history to read the volume on Richard II, who started the War of the Roses. Being an American, I didn't spend much time learning about the English monarchy in History class (beyond William the Conqueror, Henry VIII, and Elizabeth I), so I'm enjoying the series in its simple, but engaging exposition. Better than Wikipedia.

Review # 2 was written on 2013-10-14 00:00:00 Roy Copeland Actually read this with the title of "Richard III: Makers of History" but I believe it's an older edition of this title. Ended up skimming. Seems to be a fine resource for someone who does not know anything about Richard III or his brother, Edward IV, who is covered as much as Richard is, but simplistic and a bore if you are already familiar with them.