‘A challenging, elegant and persuasive biography of an unjustly neglected king’ Jerry Brotton
‘MacCulloch plays his cards straight and indicates exactly the weight of each piece of evidence he presents. The pictures are more than decorative, and there is a fascinating detective story behind one image of Henry VIII on his deathbed. It is, moreover, a rare pleasure to read an academic who does not torture the English language. Judging from the footnotes, there is much more to come from Diarmaid MacCulloch. We can look forward to it’ Christopher Howse, Daily Telegraph
‘We’re lucky that MacCulloch is an elegant writer as well as a fine scholar with new and important material. In an age where our heritage industry freezes history, suspends debate, it is glorious to welcome back arguments that history persists, that it can be seen accurately but yet in utterly different ways’ Michael Pye, Scotsman
‘Thorough grounding in evidence, combined with that most difficult of historical skills - Janus-like looking at the past while refusing to allow knowledge of the future to colour interpretation - has produced a work that illustrates the best virtues of historical scholarship’ Christopher Webb, The Times Higher Education Supplement
‘MacCulloch argues with great elegance that the Edwardian Reformation was a crucial moment in the development of the Anglican Church and the forging of England’s Protestant identity … [a] provocative and sparkling (let’s say it, brilliant) read’ Robbie Millen, Spectator
‘This is another outstanding book on English Reformation history by the Professor of the History of the Church at Oxford University … the author establishes his case by a detailed historical reconstruction, drawing on much fresh material, and he carries the reader along by his graphic style. There are also no less than 92 significant illustrations’ The Rev. Dr Roger Beckwith, English Churchman