Henry VIII's crimes against his wives are well documented and have become historical lore. But much less attention has been paid to his monarchy, especially the closing years of his reign.
Rich with information including details from new archival material and written with the nail-biting suspense of a modern thriller, The Last Days of Henry VIII offers a superb fresh look at this fascinating figure and new insight into an intriguing chapter in history.
Robert Hutchinson paints a brilliant portrait of this egotistical tyrant who governed with a ruthlessness that rivals that of modern dictators; a monarch who had "no respect or fear of anyone in this world," according to the Spanish ambassador to his court. Henry VIII pioneered the modern "show trial": cynical propaganda exercises in which the victims were condemned before the proceedings even opened, proving the most powerful men in the land could be brought down overnight.
After thirty-five years in power, Henry was a bloated, hideously obese, black-humored old recluse. And despite his having had six wives, the Tudor dynasty rested on the slight shoulders of his only male heir, the nine-year-old Prince Edward -- a situation that spurred rival factions into a deadly conflict to control the throne.
The Last Days of Henry VIII is a gripping and compelling history as fascinating and remarkable as its subject.
]]>The book opens with a dedication to "the heroic rescuers who died striving in the name of mercy"; followed by the full text of the impassioned remarks of Governor Pataki to the joint session of the New York State Legislature on September 13th. A sensitive yet informative introductory essay by scientist Robert Hutchinson compares and contrasts the moral and physical dimensions of the events of September 11th; recounts the history of the construction of the World Trade Center and describes its ultimate physical dimensions; describes the flight paths and physical dimensions of the airliners that struck the Towers; and explains the physics of the catastrophic collapses.
The title of the book is a phrase immortalized in Shakespeare's Sonnet 64: "When sometime lofty towers I see down razed, / And brass eternal slave to mortal rage /...This thought is as a death, which cannot choose / But weep to have that which it fears to lose." In like fashion, "Sometime Lofty Towers" seeks to ease the pain of ruin with the balm of remembered beauty.
The Widows' and Children's Fund of the Uniformed Firefighters Association of Greater New York will receive one dollar from every copy of this book sold.
]]>This book is a collection of the best of his discoveries. Always with a sense of humor and a bottomless curiosity (sometimes irreverent, but never disrespectful), Hutchinson reveals how archaeologists found, then lost, the bones of St. Peter; he seeks erotic literature in the Vatican library to help him brush up on his Italian (when studying foreign languages he finds this genre increases his motivation to look up new words in the dictionary); he learns that "relics" in Rome range from right arms to foreskins; and devotes an entire chapter to the sex lives of the popes.
If Rome is on your itinerary, When in Rome is an excellent take-along read that will help make the Vatican City come to life. --Kathryn True
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