by Virginia Rounding ‧ RELEASE DATE: Oct. 31, 2017
An intriguing, astute look at this volatile period, though the author includes too many victim biographies, occasionally...
Rounding (Alix and Nicky: The Passion of the Last Tsar and Tsarina, 2012, etc.) explores the depth of the differences and the dangers of life under Henry VIII and his daughter, Queen Mary.
Henry did not jump wildly into the Protestant camp; he fought to protect traditional beliefs and Catholic doctrine, particularly transubstantiation. His greatest fear was usurpation of his authority, which he felt to be fairly total. The pope, obviously, had to go, and, as head of the church, that left Henry to divorce his wife. Next was the submission of the clergy, the cause of Sir Thomas More’s resignation as Lord Chancellor. As More left power, he was replaced by Thomas Cromwell’s man Sir Thomas Audley. Audley’s closest aide, Richard Rich, was at first chancellor of the Court of Augmentations, dealing with the revenues of dissolved monasteries (certainly, a few properties slipped into his pocket). Rounding does a service by bringing Rich back into the spotlight, since he continued into Mary’s reign and was integral in steering many to the stake. Confusion among Henry’s subjects was rampant, as Edward VI turned toward Protestantism and Mary doubled back to Catholicism. One of the main difficulties was the availability of the Bible in the vernacular, which would allow everyone to direct their own faith. After many hours attempting to return a martyr to the flock, death was assured. Negotiation was impossible, even if the inquisitor was proven to have once believed the same as the condemned. Throughout the book, the author examines the mindsets of the martyrs and the strength of their consciences, which kept them from deserting their belief. The suppression of religious beliefs and executions proved to be failures of leadership, but Mary’s convictions were stronger than her reason.
An intriguing, astute look at this volatile period, though the author includes too many victim biographies, occasionally slowing the pace.Pub Date: Oct. 31, 2017
ISBN: 978-1-250-04064-0
Page Count: 480
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: July 23, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More by Virginia Rounding
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
by David Grann ‧ RELEASE DATE: April 18, 2017
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Awards & Accolades
Likes
17
Our Verdict
GET IT
Kirkus Reviews'
Best Books Of 2017
New York Times Bestseller
IndieBound Bestseller
National Book Award Finalist
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorker staff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
Share your opinion of this book
More by David Grann
BOOK REVIEW
by David Grann
BOOK REVIEW
by David Grann
BOOK REVIEW
by David Grann
More About This Book
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
by Elie Wiesel & translated by Marion Wiesel ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 16, 2006
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Share your opinion of this book
More by Elie Wiesel
BOOK REVIEW
by Elie Wiesel ; edited by Alan Rosen
BOOK REVIEW
by Elie Wiesel ; illustrated by Mark Podwal
BOOK REVIEW
by Elie Wiesel ; translated by Marion Wiesel
© Copyright 2024 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Hey there, book lover.
We’re glad you found a book that interests you!
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Don’t fret. We’ll find you.