Noteworthy News #1: The Missing Princes Project

 

I have been wanting a place to post things I've come across that might not fall into the book review or book accumulation category. This might be an author I heard on a podcast, a book advertised online that is already out but I haven't read yet, or just an article that covers a topic related to history or books that looked interesting. So this is my first blog entry titled, "Noteworthy News." If I hear or read something noteworthy that I want to share I'll do it here. Likely it will involve history or mysteries as that is what I love the most!

I have been listening to the podcast Gone Medieval with various guests that centers around, of course, all things Medieval. Yesterday's episode was titled, "Princes in the Tower: New Evidence Revealed" and Philippa Langley was interviewed about her years of research and subsequent book on the subject. I was fascinated to learn that she was the driving force behind the search and eventual discovery of Richard III's body and that this set off a desire for her to prove whether or not he was involved in the death of his nephews. Many people think Richard was unfairly targeted by men of his time and by Shakespeare and made into the villain in this story without the goods to back it up. The Tudor version of him as the evil Uncle has stayed with him for centuries. 

In her interview for the podcast she explains how she spent four years just putting together a timeline of events and trying to determine if there was any reason to believe the princes had died in Richard's care. She talked about the enormous amount of research she compiled and how overwhelming it all was to keep track of. Her book, published just today, November 17th, details the hunt for the truth. It is called The Princes in the Tower: Solving History's Greatest Cold Case. She worked with police to find out how they conduct cold case investigations, and spent hours reading archival material related to the story. It was called, "The Missing Princes Project" and is the first attempt to use forensic science to really dig into the facts. 

I found all of this so interesting and informative and while I may not get a chance soon to add this to my TBR pile, the podcast interview summed it up enough to give me an idea of the contents of the book. It is obviously a well researched new theory behind a very old unsolved mystery. There were some unique documents uncovered that I won't give away here but either go listen to the podcast episode or read the book and you will be surprised at what was uncovered. 

 

Stacking the Shelves #19

 

Stacking the Shelves is a weekly meme hosted by Reading Reality. It's a place to showcase any books I have purchased, borrowed, or been lucky enough to have been given an advance copy of. Hope you find something that looks interesting to you or that makes you remember a favorite book you need to finish. Enjoy your reading this week :)

I have been listening to a great podcast called Gone Medieval and this author was interviewed about his work on Henry VII. He has other books on that subject but this one really caught my eye because it is rare to find a book on just the Beaufort family, Henry's ancestors. I can't think of another one like it. It should be interesting as the author was informative but not stuffy and boring either. 

It's time to start the November Read Christie book. This one doesn't feature either Poirot or Marple but it does say on the synopsis that it was one of Agatha Christie's personal favorites. It is hard to believe that next month is the last for this challenge of 2023. It has been a lot of fun participating!

I already own book 1 in this series but haven't started it yet. They just look interesting and unique so hopefully they can go on my TBR list soon. It's part of a mystery series called Captain Lacey and the author goes by both Jennifer Ashley and Ashley Gardner, depending on which series she's writing. I like to start with the first book but this is book 12 and was on sale so I went ahead and bought it. It centers around a Captain returning home from the Napoleonic Wars who becomes involved in various mysteries and I'm always drawn to a series like this with a strong male lead in the Regency era.

Kings and Queens of Britain: Every Question Answered by David Soud

 

Publication Date: September 1, 2014

Length: 1190 pages

I am still making my way through this wonderful book. But as crazy as my week has been I decided since I haven't finished another complete book, I wanted to review this one anyway as it is one you can read a little at a time, skip around in, treat it more as a "coffee table" type of book. That, and I absolutely love it. It is the kind of history book I will come back to again and again. The colorful pictures and sidebars alone are worth the price and even though I bought it on Kindle I am thinking of ordering the hardcover copy just to have the glossy pictures at my fingertips. 

This book is organized into short chapters on every British monarch, beginning with the Kings of Wessex and starting with a brief history of Roman Britannia. It covers all the important dates and events in the lives of the rulers and the common people, while skipping too many details that would confuse and bore readers who might not have all the background knowledge to follow along easily. Although I consider myself to be better educated in this area than say the average American friend I know, there are many monarchs I know very little about and so giving a general overview of each King and Queen and the milestone historic events in their lives, allows me to see if I am interested in learning more about that person or time in history. 

The sections included are: The House of Wessex, The Norman Kings, The House of Plantagenet, The Houses of Lancaster and York, The House of Tudor, The House of Stuart, The House of Hanover, The House of Windsor, and Royal Edicts. Beautiful pictures of landmark buildings, people, castles, and original documents are included and I spent a lot of time looking at those before I even started reading anything. 

Another plus with this book is that it is not filled with dry and dull facts. The author states that he wanted it to be a "pageant of personalities" rather than a straight history book and he does a great job of focusing on the personal stories while also adding the necessary background of the time period to complement the subjects' life events. 

The last section on Royal Edicts is a wonderful addition. It begins with the Laws of William the Conqueror and runs all the way to Elizabeth II's Diamond Jubilee Speech. As someone who is a bit lazy about reading authentic, primary sources when researching an event in history it was really great to have the major ones complied together and ready to read. There were some like The Assize of Clarendon or The Magna Carta that I know a bit about from reading historical fiction but had never bothered to look at outside of the novel I was reading. It just made this book that much more thorough of a source to pick up when I need to see a chronological timeline of rulers and resources. 

If you are someone interested in the entire chronological timeline of British rulers while not wanting a gigantic, super detailed, time consuming tome this is the book for you. I have found other ones that focus on just Kings or just Queens or maybe a certain era, but this is the best one I've run across that fits in all the rulers with colorful, engaging stories and fascinating supplemental material. It's a perfect gift for the true Anglophile in your life!