Great Tales from English History by Robert Lacey

Joan of Arc, The Princes in the Tower, Bloody Mary, Oliver Cromwell, Sir Isaac Newton, and more

Okay, as a former history major, I’m a little embarrassed to have read this book: It doesn’t have any footnotes! Horrors! It is definitely not a book to be found on a college course reading list. However (or should I say “as a result”?), Great Tales is an interesting book to read, and is part of a series. Lacey takes the reader through some of the significant events and people from about 1387 to 1687, mainly focusing on royalty. In my humble opinion, having studied a lot of this period in college and on my own, Lacey fills in some historical gaps a little too easily, without informing the reader that there is an alternate explanation. But, this book is not written for historians; it is for the typical uninformed, historically ignorant person. Such people will find it easy to read, informative, and fun (and so did I). I can’t complain about something like that! Goodness knows, I did not enjoy a lot of my college reading.