The power of this book lies in Johnson’s comprehensive look at the quotidian lives of English men and women. For that, it is...
A snapshot of a significant year in British history that “stands at a crossroads between two very different kings, and between equally different worlds.”
Despite the claim of the subtitle, the accession is one of only a few things about Henry VIII in the book. Instead, in this important work of history, Johnson (The Arrow of Sherwood, 2013) provides a crisp study of the everyday lives of citizens living within “a complex story of ruthless political maneuvering, greed and deception.” The author finds clues in marriage contracts, account books for cities, guilds, Inns of Court, and even cathedrals. Many of these sources demonstrate what was considered important to a person’s wealth as well as to the king’s treasury. Henry does come into focus at various points in the narrative, as does his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Johnson proposes that the beginning of his reign was equally important to the period of his break with the church and multiple marriages—a point the author overstates—and she quickly explores his cosseted childhood, accession, and desperate need to prove himself. More significantly, the author looks closely at the events of 1509 and how they affected both royal and peasant. At this time, after the ravages of the Black Death, which still reared its ugly head occasionally, the peasants found themselves with more power to demand better wages and terms from their landlords. With so few serfs to do so much work, it became a simple case of supply and demand. Later, the author explores Henry’s obsession with an heir, which was an understandable concern driven by the fact that his throne was not entirely secure and there were plenty waiting in the wings to take over. A list of key characters at the end of the book will help readers keep track of the royal family.
The power of this book lies in Johnson’s comprehensive look at the quotidian lives of English men and women. For that, it is eminently readable and interesting.Pub Date: Oct. 3, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-68177-541-8
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Pegasus
Review Posted Online: July 16, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2017
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular...
A neurosurgeon with a passion for literature tragically finds his perfect subject after his diagnosis of terminal lung cancer.
Writing isn’t brain surgery, but it’s rare when someone adept at the latter is also so accomplished at the former. Searching for meaning and purpose in his life, Kalanithi pursued a doctorate in literature and had felt certain that he wouldn’t enter the field of medicine, in which his father and other members of his family excelled. “But I couldn’t let go of the question,” he writes, after realizing that his goals “didn’t quite fit in an English department.” “Where did biology, morality, literature and philosophy intersect?” So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay.” The author’s empathy undoubtedly made him an exceptional doctor, and the precision of his prose—as well as the moral purpose underscoring it—suggests that he could have written a good book on any subject he chose. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. Kalanithi learned he might have 10 years to live or perhaps five. Should he return to neurosurgery (he could and did), or should he write (he also did)? Should he and his wife have a baby? They did, eight months before he died, which was less than two years after the original diagnosis. “The fact of death is unsettling,” he understates. “Yet there is no other way to live.”
A moving meditation on mortality by a gifted writer whose dual perspectives of physician and patient provide a singular clarity.Pub Date: Jan. 19, 2016
ISBN: 978-0-8129-8840-6
Page Count: 248
Publisher: Random House
Review Posted Online: Sept. 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2015
PERSPECTIVES
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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