2/10/23

Already has the best introduction you never want written about your work!

As a history book, this work has not dated particularly well; as a paean to Elizabethan England, and to the English themselves, though, it's still remarkably enjoyable. Even after his death, Rowse has remained the Grand Old Man of Elizabethan studies, and after reading this, it's really not hard to see why. The depth of erudition he displays is matched only by his humour and common sense, and by the wonderful fluidity of his prose. There is an undercurrent to his prose, though, a certain aspect to his views of women, of non-Anglican Christianity, of the working classes, which I think ties the work in quite clearly to its publication date of 1950, and shows authorial influence too clearly for a history book (and anyone who has spent any time in academic circles will know of Rowse's personal reputation). A shame with a history book as good as this; and yet still, I am sure, one that will be read for many more years regardless ( )