Product Description

No period in British history today retains more resonance and mystery than the sixteenth century. The leading figures of the time have become almost mythical, and the terrors and grandeurs of Tudor Britain have resonance with even the least historically minded readers. Above all Brigden sees the key to the Tudor world as religion - the new world of Protestantism and its battle with the the old world of uniform Catholicism. This great religious rent in the fabric of English society underlies the savage violence and turbulence of the period - from Henry VIII's break with Rome to the overwhelming threat of the Spanish Armada. 'NEW WORLDS, LOST WORLDS' is a startlingly atmospheric tour de force.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #41872 in Books
• Published on: 2001-06-07
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 448 pages

Review
"* "Susan Brigden has produced a highly readable, compulsive work that will surely take its place amongst the chief secondary sources for the period" Alison Weir * "This is history in the best sense, a doorway flung wide to a whole century of our past, an all-embracing panorama which sweeps the reader along... an extraordinary achievement written by somebody who unashamedly believes that history has a place not just in the academic's study but in the wider world of everyman". - Sir Roy Strong."

John Adamson, Financial Times, 1st October 2000
'For anyone who wants to encounter these worlds of the Tudor past, there is currently no better guide than Susan Brigden's superb new book.'

Antonia Fraser, Sunday Times, 22nd October 2000
'Susan Brigden's illuminating and masterly study. [Her] final achievement is her evocation of Ireland...

Customer Reviews

I fell in love with history through this book
Written for ordinary people (like me) to read. It gently leads one through the changes in religion, politics and statehood to give a real understanding of where British culture comes from and helped me to understand the "Irish problem" for the first time. Buy it , wonderful read. Loved it.

Timely reminder of the dangers of monarchism
If you subscribe to the Great Person theory of history this book will appeal greatly. On the other hand if hold that history is shaped by economic and political structures then this book may disappoint. There is little economic analysis of trade and industry, and very little pan European comparative analysis. At times the book struck me as if it had fallen out of a 19th century library.

Ireland is characterised as unromantically wild, savage and preyed upon by treacherous Irish chieftains. A land of fickle political alliances and despotic opportunism. Undoubtably much of this is true but the analysis is rooted almost entirely in terms of the impact of the anglo Norman invasion.

The Tudors and their courts are equally portrayed as ruthless tyrannical lairs turning largely on the whims of a sovereign. The picture that emerges of the common people is profundly unenviable.

At the end of the book, I was left wondering how on Earth anyone could espouse the antidemocratic institution of monarchism. In modern terms Henry VIII comes across as positively Hitlerian, a trend continued under Elizabeth with the plantations of Ireland which provided the 16th century with its own largely unacknowledged Holocaust.

Worth reading if only to remind ourselves that democracy is something to cherish otherwise political depravity will gain the ascendant.

The Dynasty That Changed the Nation
To cover so many levels and issues in Tudor society, would be a large feat for many a historian, however this author has come up trumps. At times, some of the well know points of the history of the period are lightly covered, but as these are generally and widely covered by other authours, this as meant that the spotlight can be turned onto the lesser known facts. For example, the relationship of the Tudor monarchy and the Irish (and the infighting of the Irish lords), get a great deal of coverage.
For all those Tudor enthusiasts like myself, you are bound to enjoy and pick up new information from this book.