My Thoughts on author and historian Alison Weir
With everything that is currently being written about Alison Weir’s new book “Mary Boleyn: The Mistress of Kings”, both positive and negative I just wanted to take a quick moment to talk about my thoughts on Alison Weir.
I have to say that I really do admire and respect Ms Weir. Despite not agreeing with everything Ms Weir wrote in her latest book about Mary Boleyn I still greatly adore her as a historian and writer. I think she is one of the most talented authors I have ever had the pleasure of reading. She is clearly a very smart and talented woman and her numerous books show her passion for Anne Boleyn and Tudor history. I really do love Ms Weir’s writing style, it is fluent and interesting and she writes with a great deal of detail and emotion which is used to capture the reader’s attention and draw them in. When reading her books I always find myself wanting to know more. I just have to read one more page, and then another and another and another until I find I’ve finished the book far quicker than I expected to!
Ms Weir has taught me so much about Tudor history and specifically about Anne Boleyn. Through her books and writings about Anne I have been opened up to an incredible world of intrigue, love, passion, sadness and strength. Ms Weir has educated me a great deal about the type of woman Anne Boleyn was and all the incredible things she did with her life. I just love reading about Anne Boleyn through Alison Weir’s writing. Her writing has also helped my personal passion and admiration for Anne Boleyn grow and I find Anne such an inspirational woman.
My favourite book by Ms Weir is “The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn”. This book which looks at the arrest, fall and execution of Anne Boleyn is the most passionate, heartfelt and emotional book that I have ever read. I bought my copy at Hampton Court Palace in October 2009 and read the entire book on the way home from London to Australia. I still remember as I read the final pages, sitting in my seat on the plane crying, tears streaming down my cheeks. The sheer passion and emotion within this book was overwhelming and I found myself unable to stop the tears, totally amazed at the woman that Anne Boleyn was. For me this just shows what a great writer Ms Weir is as she can reduce one of her readers to tears just by the power of her words!
I really like that Ms Weir challenges my thoughts and views, not just about Mary or Anne Boleyn but about Tudor history in general. Often it is human nature to read something and take it as fact, but I find that Ms Weir challenges these long accepted facts and really makes me think. She challenges my thoughts in such a way that I want to learn more, I want to find out more, I want to keep reading and keep researching. If I don’t understand something that has been written, or I don’t completely agree this really challenges me to go and research. I feel encouraged through Ms Weir’s writing to find out why I don’t completely agree with something that has been written or to fill in the gaps of my knowledge. I think as a historian and writer this is a wonderful quality that she has.
I also find myself regularly referencing one of Ms Weir’s books whenever I am researching or writing something about Tudor history. Her books are so well written that it is easy to find pieces of information and I regularly draw upon these when writing short articles or trying to find answers to questions. I own several of her books and often find myself picking them up and having a flick through to find out some piece of information. Her books contain such a wealth of facts and information that I find they so often come in handy!
I really do adore Alison Weir as a writer and historian and even though I do not agree with everything that she wrote in her latest book about Mary Boleyn, I would and will always recommend Ms Weir as an author that anyone interested in Tudor history must read. She has a brilliant way with words and her passion for Anne and Tudor history is clear in all of her books.
Books I would recommend reading written by Alison Weir:
- The Lady in the Tower: The Fall of Anne Boleyn (2009)
- Henry VIII King & Court (2001)
- The Children of Henry VIII (1996)
- The Six Wives of Henry VIII (1991)
Alison Weir also runs a webpage which can be found here: The Official Site of Historian and Author Alison Weir
Alison Weir
1 comments:
Just finished her book on the first Elizabeth. It is superb. My favorite book is The Autobiography of King Henry the 8th. I forget who wrote that one.
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