HI all, My mother, who has had an intense interest in the Elizabethan period since - I think - she was a child, is branching out SLIGHTLY and is looking for the best book available on Charles I. Anyway, has anyone read on the 17th century? Any recommendations?
For an overall view of the man, and how he fitted into the period, I'll always heartily recommend CV Wedgewood's Civil War series. The King's Peace. The King's War & The Trial of Charles the First. They're old, and certainly focused on the war, but you can't really look at the man outside of that context. and she grasped the whole thing so well and in such an engaging style, despite a bit of an apparent soft spot for the watery-eyed Stuart disaster. I'm hugely out of touch re more modern reading on that period, but would be surprised if anyone didn't enjoy those three. (Old thread on ECW stuff here: King or Parliament? )
I've finished this the other week. As the title says more about the men that had him executed. Very readable account as is Charles Spencer's style.