Elizabeth I

(Paperback)

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Description

In this major biography of the queen, Wallace MacCaffrey focuses on Elizabeth's career as a practicing politician, taking into account her testing personal experience, her temperament, her own view of her role and the constraints she frequently faced whether imposed by the inheritance from her predecessors or by contemporary events. The Elizabeth who emerges from these pages has a more human appearance than the stiff, richly garbed, bejeweled Elizabeth of the royal portraits. She is more fallible. And more interesting.

Reviews

surely the most important [biography] since Neale's appeared nearly sixty years ago gives us a persuasive picture of the queen, sympathetic but wholly without hagiography History Now at last it [Sir John Neale's 1934 biography of Elizabeth I] faces an academic challenge. The Times Higher Education Supplement The strength of Professor MacCaffrey's treatment lies in the clarity with which he presents the portrait of Elizabeth as policy maker, and her strengths and weaknesses in that capacity. As a public figure his skills do justice to her role. Archive for Reformation History Shrewd Judgements are numerous, and the narrative incorporates subtle analyses of events, personalities, and the relationships between them. Journal of Modern History

Author Bio

Wallace MacCaffrey is a professor emeritus at Harvard University