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Elizabeth
Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years | John Guy
A groundbreaking reconsideration of our favorite Tudor queen, Elizabeth is an intimate and surprising biography that shows her at the height of her power by the bestselling, Whitbread Award-winning author of Queen of Scots. Elizabeth was crowned at twenty-five after a tempestuous childhood as a bastard and an outcast, but it was only when she reached fifty and all hopes of a royal marriage were dashed that she began to wield real power in her own right. For twenty-five years she had struggled to assert her authority over advisers who pressed her to marry and settle the succession; now, she was determined not only to reign but also to rule. In this magisterial biography of England's most ambitious Tudor queen, John Guy introduces us to a woman who is refreshingly unfamiliar: at once powerful and vulnerable, willful and afraid. In these essential and misunderstood forgotten years, Elizabeth confronts challenges at home and abroad: war against the Catholic powers of France and Spain, revolt in Ireland, an economic crisis that triggered riots in the streets of London, and a conspiracy to place her cousin Mary Queen of Scots on her throne. For a while she was smitten by a much younger man, but could she allow herself to act on that passion and still keep her throne? For the better part of a decade John Guy mined long-overlooked archives, scouring court documents and handwritten letters to sweep away myths and rumors. This prodigious historical detective work has made it possible to reveal for the first time the woman behind the polished veneer: wracked by insecurity, often too anxious to sleep alone, voicing her own distinctive and surprisingly resonant concerns. Guy writes like a dream, and this combination of groundbreaking research and propulsive narrative puts him in a class of his own. From the Hardcover edition.
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Sophronisba
Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years | John Alexander Guy
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Mehso-so

Thus concludes my monthslong tour of Elizabeth I's reign. This is well-researched and well-written, but the ground is (contra the title of the book) somewhat well-trod and Guy struggles to hide his fondness for Mary Queen of Scots.

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BookishRedhead
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Pickpick

Yaaaass Queen Elizabeth!
Guys put a lot of research into this and he didn't disappoint

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ladyonequestion
Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years | John Alexander Guy
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Pickpick

Very good biography of the sunset of the virgin queen's reign. Guy had obviously put a great deal of research into a part of her reign that can be overlooked, and you really get a sense of her as a person and a queen.

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MrBook
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#TBRtemptation post 6! Elizabeth was crowned at 25. It took 25 years to solidify her throne & authority. Wars against Spain and France, a revolt in Ireland, a conspiracy involving Mary, and more occurred. Her advisors and her suitors always pressed from every direction. Guy mined overlooked archives and letters and port documents to provide a clearer, truer picture of the queen that has captivated the world ever since. #blameLitsy #blameMrBook 😎

Andrew65 Always an impressive figure! 7y
rustoryhuf Hubby is related to 3 of Henry VIII wives, including Elizabeth. Those pesky Howards. Anyway, I will be on the lookout for this! 7y
80 likes9 stack adds2 comments
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queerbookreader
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Okay, I'm taking a break from this book for a little bit because it's so big and has so much information and I can't fit it into the library time constraints for new books. It's $35 so as if I can afford it but I'll let it chill for a little and check it out of the library again later, maybe in the new year. LOVE IT though, just is taking super long to get through. 💛💛💛

tysephine My brain could not process the title for a minute. Kept trying to figure out who Eli Zabeth could be :) 8y
37 likes1 stack add1 comment
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queerbookreader

Can we just marvel for a second at those books (you know the kind) that are PACKED with information, just facts on facts on facts, and in this awed stupor you're like "I cannot even fathom how much research this author had to do or how long it took"? Because this is one of those books and I'm like ?????? rn

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queerbookreader
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Me: *already has tons of books out, so as to not be tempted to get more I leave my library card at home when I go to library to return books*

Also me: *sees new biography on Elizabeth I, proceeds to swipe dad's library card and checks it out, relinquishing all self control*

Simona Beautiful cover😍 8y
Louise Makes perfect sense! 😆🤓 8y
32 likes3 stack adds2 comments
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QuintusMarcus
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Pickpick

Truly superior historical biography written by an expert scholar of Tudor England. Guy not only has complete mastery of the primary sources of Elizabeth's reign, but quotes from multiple recently discovered documentary sources. Scholarly, and yet, completely readable. Elizabeth was a difficult and complex woman, and Guy portrays her clearly and fairly--to the point that I was a little shocked to learn that she could be as cruel as her father.

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vabrown95
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The execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, 'truly, was Elizabeth's Armada of the soul.'