The Elizabethans
A. N. Wilson
- **"In
- Wilson's
- hands
- these
- familiar
- stories
- make
- for
- gripping
- reading."—*****The
- New
- York
- Times
- Book
- ReviewNew
- York
- Times
- Book
- Review
- Editors'
- Choice*
Author
- of
- Dante
- in
- Love**A
- sweeping
- panorama
- of
- the
- Elizabethan
- age,
- a
- time
- of
- remarkable,
- strange
- personages
- and
- great
- political
- and
- social
- change,
- by
- one
- of
- our
- most
- renowned
- historiansA
- time
- of
- exceptional
- creativity,
- wealth
- creation,
- larger-than-life
- royalty
- and
- political
- expansion,
- the
- Elizabethan
- age
- was
- also
- more
- remarkable
- than
- any
- other
- for
- the
- Technicolor
- personalities
- of
- its
- royals
- and
- subjects.
- Apart
- from
- the
- complex
- character
- of
- the
- Virgin
- Queen
- herself,
- A.
- N.
- Wilson's
- The
- Elizabethans
- follows
- the
- stories
- of
- Francis
- Drake,
- a
- privateer
- who
- not
- only
- defeated
- the
- Spanish
- Armada
- but
- also
- circumnavigated
- the
- globe
- with
- a
- drunken,
- mutinous
- crew
- and
- without
- reliable
- navigational
- instruments;
- political
- intriguers
- like
- William
- Cecil
- and
- Francis
- Walsingham;
- and
- Renaissance
- literary
- geniuses
- from
- Sir
- Philip
- Sidney
- to
- Christopher
- Marlowe
- and
- William
- Shakespeare.Most
- crucially,
- this
- was
- the
- age
- when
- modern
- Britain
- was
- born
- and
- established
- independence
- from
- mainland
- Europe—both
- in
- its
- resistance
- to
- Spanish
- and
- French
- incursions
- and
- in
- its
- declaration
- of
- religious
- liberty
- from
- the
- pope—and
- laid
- the
- foundations
- for
- the
- explosion
- of
- British
- imperial
- power
- and
- eventual
- American
- domination.An
- acknowledged
- master
- of
- the
- all-encompassing
- single-volume
- history,
- Wilson
- tells
- the
- exhilarating
- story
- of
- the
- Elizabethan
- era
- with
- all
- the
- panoramic
- sweep
- of
- his
- bestselling
- The
- Victorians,
- and
- with
- the
- wit
- and
- iconoclasm
- that
- are
- his trademarks.
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