The Hollow Crown by Dan Jones Review

The Hollow Crown is a Non-Fiction book that chronicles the war of the roses, and the rise of the Tudors. Jones gives an account of the 1420s through 1520s in a manner that is easy to engage with, following some of the most tumultuous events in the history of the English crown.

If, like me, you have a decent knowledge of Tudor history but with little context on the history of the years before, this book does a wonderful job of filling those gaps. In the past I would have claimed some events covered here as “stranger than fiction”. However, Mr Martin with his hit success A song of Ice and fire, uses the war of the roses as a large inspiration. Thus proving maybe the events were just about as strange as fiction.

For those better versed in this era than me, Jones encourages us to look at it from a different perspective than historians classically have. He shows how the Tudors’ use of propaganda led to centuries of historians having a romantic version of the end of the Plantagenet line. The idea that it was as simple as two warring houses, and the romantic notion that Henry Tudor brought these houses together, is simplistic. Although the story the Tudors themselves certainly propagated.

I find Jones’ writing style very accessible and enjoyable, and will be looking to pick up more books by him in the future.

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