This is a scholarly biography of Thomas Cromwell, the blacksmith's son from Putney, who rose improbably and against all odds to the role of Lord Privy Seal and Earl of Essex, as chief minister and "fixer" (in modern parlance) to that great ogre Henry VIII. The lengthy bibliography and detailed references to original source materials demonstrate MacCulloch's encyclopedic understanding of the period.
Hilary Mantel covers the same territory in her fiction: Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, with a third and final volume promised to complete the tale of Thomas Cromwell's spectacular rise and equally spectacular fall.
The author is a distinguished Oxford don who specializes in church history, particularly the English Reformation, and has published many award-winning books, and participated in several documentary television and radio programs.
This is a must-read for those who are fascinated by the Tudors, from Henry VII to Elizabeth I, and particularly for those who are obsessed with Henry VIII, notorious for his six wives --- "one died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded."
Click HERE to read the review from Publishers Weekly.
Click HERE to read the review from Kirkus Reviews.
Click HERE to read the review from The Guardian U.S. Edition.
Click HERE to read the review from the New Statesman.
Click HERE to read an interview with the author from the New York Times.
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