History that is as strange, fun, and readable as any novel.  Meet the Plantagenets, a notoriously quarrelsome family of French nobles who, by luck, battle and intrigue, rise to become the most famous ruling house of the Middle Ages.  In the hands of author Dan Jones, these long dead schemers come to vivid life again on the page: Henry II and his unhappy wife Eleanor of Aquitaine, their sons Richard, the famous Crusader, and John, whose slipperiness and unpopularity are preserved forever in the Robin Hood legends.

As well as being entertaining and easy to read, this book serves as a useful introduction to the medieval England, and can serve as a base for further study.  Extensive footnotes help flesh out the story for those who want to learn more.

A fun, novelistic, yet serious look at Britain’s most notorious royal dynasty.  All the personalities, scandals, battles and intrigues are discussed.

Henry VIII is here, but he isn’t the only Tudor with skeletons in the closet!  This book is a particularly good source for the early Tudors who lived and fought before the family took the throne….their unlikely rise is as entertaining a read as any fantasy novel.  The last half of the book is a good introduction to the family’s long sunset under the famed Queen Elizabeth I.  This book stands alone well, and is also a good introduction to more serious study.

An exciting, page-turning review of the famous “War of the Roses”, which brought the Middle Ages to an end in England, put the Tudors on the throne, set the stage for the Renaissance and Reformation, and partially inspired George R.R. Martin’s “Song of Ice and Fire” series.  Reads like a novel, but has copious footnotes for those interested in further study.