The Princes in the Tower
by Alison Weir
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Book Summary Information
Author: Alison WeirEdition: Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 1995-07-10
ISBN: 0345391780
Number of pages: 287
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Book Reviews of The Princes in the Tower
Book Review: "Because I said so!"
Summary: 1 Stars
Weir's earnest claims of neutrality aside, it should be fairly obvious to any reader, whether they agree with her or not, that she allows her personal bias to color her account in ways that, personally, I think are fairly inappropriate. It's one thing to state all your evidence and then the conclusion that you draw from it; it's another to say, "This is what I think, and here are the reasons I'm right." What irks me most is that there is no consistency in her dependence on sources. If she agrees with a source, then obviously the source is correct. If not - even if it is the same source - all of a sudden it is no longer to be trusted. You can't dismiss a source as unreliable in one chapter and then base your entire argument on it in the next.
Another thing that bugs me is that Weir does not use footnotes. There is a bibliography, and she does use in-text citations for most of her primary sources, but at times it is impossible to tell if her argument is her own or if it's coming from someone else. This is such a huge no-no, but it seems like it's becoming more common in "popular" histories - a bad sign.
Now, the fact that I tend to disagree with Weir's conclusion - which is, despite what she claims in her introduction, that Richard III was a grade-A jerk - might bias my own review. But the truth is, Weir's methodology makes her thesis rather unconvincing. I'm sure if you went into this book already certain that Richard did it, this book will be a great confirmation. And if you didn't know anything about Richard, Weir's long list of grievances against him (even if many of them are highly subjective) may be enough to convince you to accept the conventional wisdom about the princes' deaths. But I suspect few, if any, of the people who have actually done their own research into the subject, and who have come to doubt whether Richard really killed his nephews, will be won over by Weir's flimsy accusations. "Because I said so" is not a terribly persuasive argument for anyone to make, much less a respected historian.
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