Cover of Great Harry

Great Harry

St. Martin's Griffin is proud to reissue acclaimed biographer Carolly Erickson's lives of the Tudor monarchs.

In this full-scale popular biography of Henry VIII, Carolly Erickson re-creates the extravagant life and times of one of history's most complex and fascinating men.

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Based on voluminous records of the period, the story of Henry's life covers his troubled youth, his triumphant early reign, and his agonizing old age.

Against the lively backdrop of the Tudor world, with all its splendors and squalors, Carolly Erickson gives us an unforgettable and human portrait of Henry VIII.

Audience
adult
Length
long · 432 pages

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Liked Great Harry? Here’s where I’d start.

These suit anyone who liked Great Harry. Sign in and mark a few books for picks shaped around your own taste.

  1. Henry: Virtuous Prince Shares history, nonfiction, biography
  2. Jane Boleyn: The True Story of the Infamous Lady Rochford Shares nonfiction, biography, history
  3. Lady Jane Grey: A Tudor Mystery Shares biography, nonfiction, history
  4. The Tudors Shares nonfiction, history, tudors

“People who read Great Harry tend to reach for these next.”

  1. Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration
  2. The Uncrowned Kings of England: The Black History of the Dudleys and the Tudor Throne
  3. Henry VIII: The Mask of Royalty
  4. Catherine Parr

“If you want more of the same (biography about history), start with these.”

  1. Six Wives: The Queens of Henry VIII
  2. Elizabeth and Essex
  3. A Daughter's Love: Thomas More and His Dearest Meg
  4. Katherine the Queen: The Remarkable Life of Katherine Parr

“If it was the history that hooked you, try one of these.”

  1. Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings
  2. The Lost Tudor Princess: The Life of Lady Margaret Douglas
  3. Catherine of Aragon
  4. Thomas Cromwell: The Untold Story of Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant

“These start from a similar idea, even if they go somewhere else with it.”

  1. The Tudor Age
  2. The Tudors
  3. A Brief History of Henry VIII
  4. Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years