Mistress Anne by Carolly Erickson Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Mistress Anne
Book Review: She's on my list of worst "historians"
Summary: 1 Stars
I am a specialist in British Renaissance literature and history. This book made me so angry that I literally threw it at the wall--before I threw it in the trash. As others have noted, Erickson is biased and the book is full of stale anecdotes and cliches. Worse still is her nauseatingly florid writing style. I'll never read another book by this author again.Book Review: Somewhat disappointing
Summary: 3 Stars
While this book was a good source of information on Anne Boleyn's world, the facts given about Anne herself were sketchy at best. In spite of fascinating details such as descriptions of the French court where Anne grew up and the accounts of the court procedures of Henry VIII's divorce from Katharine of Aragon, one never really gets the feel of Anne as a real person. The lack of information about Anne's day-to-day life is one reason for this, but the fact remains that this is simply not one of Erickson's best biographies. Enjoy this book, but read Antonia Fraser's "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" for a truer portrait of Anne Boleyn.
Book Review: Tantalizing reading
Summary: 5 Stars
This is a fine popular history book; not a weighty scholarly tome. The older hardcover that I own had a good bibliography. It's not haliographic - Anne is portrayed as an ambitious woman who did whatever she had to do to be and stay queen; but Henry VIII come out of it as the Mouldwarp (the devouring monster) so he gets worse than she does.Book Review: Too vague
Summary: 3 Stars
While Mistress Anne is interesting in the way a novel is interesting, I would not recommend it if you are seriously researching either Anne Boleyn or Henry VIII. Rather, I would point you *TO* Alison Weir's "Six Wives" which is both well-written and meticulously detailed, and *AWAY* from Retha Warnicke's "Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn" (pretentiously, ponderously written, hard to follow, containing some conclusions that are neither fully supported by the facts, nor arrived at by other historians). While Mistress Anne is "fun" -- I fully recommend it for a "good read" -- it does not detail events satisfactorily. Dates are missing in an excessive number of instances, and some events are presented out of chronological order, causing some confusion. However, like I said, it's great fun to read and gives you a good overview of the subject.Book Review: decent
Summary: 3 Stars
I was doing a report on the life of Anne Boleyn, and this was the only book in my school library that was dedicated solely to Anne... I read it and I was unsatisfied :| It was really vague, and the book only brushed the surface of the iceberg. I had to refer to various sources to find more information... this gave too little. I would recommend Antonia Fraser's Six Wives of Henry the VIII instead...