This was less the Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII Used As Backdrop for Countless Men Including but not Limited to Foreign Ambassadors, Bishops, Archbishops, Popes, Chamberlains, Assorted Privy Council and Gentried Fellows. While this book is doubtlessly chock full of great information, it is less about the wives and other women in Henry VIII's life. They are merely the lovely coat rack that the men drape themselves on reverently while scheming, counter-scheming, abstaining from scheming and considering scheming. Though of course, there are a few who abstain from scheming. The results are still the same - a bunch of talk about what the men folk are doing and quite bit less to do about the women.

I'd really hoped for a strong telling of the wants, needs, personalities and trials of each woman. I did get that but to have it, I was first required to weed through endless talk of ambassador this and bishop this and Lord High Everything Else that.

I've since seen that there is a feminist take on this same subject matter and that's likely what I'll need. I wouldn't discourage others from reading this book. I'd only say that you should read it with the caveat that Starkey couldn't dissect his female subjects from the men that roughly controlled their lives. It's both true of the author and the times in which they lived - these women were made/broken by men and therefore a complete story cannot be told without their inclusion.

It's brilliant study and educated reasoning. I just don't give a fig for it. ( )

I liked the fact he went back to original sources and drew new conclusions which differed from the general run of the mill historians who just copy each other. Kudos! Henry VIII comes off a bit more human than is generally portrayed. Catherine Parr is my favourite wife and I do wish there had been a bit more about her. And all the wars and skirmishes and treaties got to be tedious after awhile. I think the book might have profited if he had done a sum up analysis of each of the queens at the end. But overall, it is a humdinger of a non-fiction account of the Tudor era. ( )

I really enjoyed this, a very good and interesting read. I like that David Starkey has tried to portray the various Queens as human beings, not as either the saints or sinners that they have been painted as previously.
Parts of it do get repetitive as it deals with each wife in turn and of course certain events effected more than one wife. Starkey does try to present the overlapping events differently for each wife, as these events such as the divorce from Catherine of Aragon would have had a different effect on Catherine than it would on Anne.
So despite playing a major role in the divorce Thomas Cromwell doesn't feature in Catherine's part of the story, he makes his first appearance in Anne Boleyn's story. I'd be quite interested to read Thomas Cromwell's biography I think he is one of the most interesting people in Henry VIII's life. ( )

Didn't contain any new info or insights. ( )

A bit unbalanced - long detailed history of first 2 wives of Henry VIII & briefer content on the rest. Authoritative.
Read Feb 2005 ( )