Leanda de Lisle is the highly acclaimed author of The Sisters Who Would Be Queen, After Elizabeth, and Tudor. She has been a columnist on the Spectator, Country Life, the Guardian, the Sunday Telegraph, and the Daily Express, and writes for the Daily Mail, the New Statesman, and the Sunday Telegraph. She lives in Leicestershire, England.
"The White King paints a brilliantly balanced look at the tragic
life and complicated reign of King Charles I. Vivid in detail,
Leanda de Lisle's research is balanced and insightful.... Richly
researched and engagingly written, you will gain excellent insight
not only into the life of King Charles I and the lives of those
closest to him, but also the religious and governmental strife that
drove Scotland, Ireland, England and Wales into bitter religious
and civil war."--Queen Anne Boleyn.com
"The White King offers gripping reading. It rewards those who read
it a better understanding of King Charles I, and a greater
appreciation for the events which shaped his life."--Galveston
Daily News
"By the end of the book, I was sure that this was one of the best
books on Charles I yet written. De Lisle certainly does know how to
write strong, compelling narratives....Her best - and vital -
talent, is perhaps her commendable ability to see the whole
picture, the shades of grey."--Andrea Zuvich, authorof A Year in
the Life of Stuart Britain for The Seventeenth Century Lady
"Charles I (1600-1649) has always received bad press....veteran
British historian de Lisle delivers a more generous portrait.... De
Lisle's parliamentarians are an irascible group, resembling not so
much freedom fighters as the tea party; on the other hand, the
author's Charles often seems the voice of reason. Recent elections
in Britain and the United States have produced surprisingly
dysfunctional governments. De Lisle's fine, revisionist view of
Charles may arouse nostalgia for a time when national leaders,
elected or not, looked out for the nonzealous
majority."--KirkusReviews
"Charles I has long eluded even the most scholarly of biographers;
his personal contradictions, attractive qualities and ludicrous
blunders require a writer of rare talent to let us appreciate the
long-hidden character of the king."--Andrew Roberts, visiting
professor, King's College London, and authorof Napoleon: A Life
"De Lisle brings the figures surrounding Charles I to life with the
strident confidence that accompanies the historian who fully
understand their subject....A well-written and impeccably
researched biography, The White King seeks not to revise the
history of England's Civil Wars, but uncover the truth hidden
beneath the grime of centuries of propaganda and myth."--Adrienne
Dillard, author of the best-selling Cor Rotto: A Novel of Catherine
Carey
"De Lisle cuts a clear path through the complex politics
surrounding the reign of Charles I and the Civil War. Highly
recommended."--Tudor Times
"De Lisle paints a sympathetic portrait [and] skillfully places
Charles's story within the context of religious, international, and
domestic political rivalries.... Misogyny, religious prejudice, and
prurient propaganda.... This fascinating look at a society in
turmoil and the resilient, principled leader who tried to remain
true to his religious and dynastic responsibilities will leave
readers to determine for themselves the meaning of 'The White King,
' .... An engrossing read."--Library Journal
"Engaging.... Charles had many virtues, and Ms. de Lisle does
justice to them.... Ms. de Lisle's account of the Revolution and
the war is excellent-clear, fair, sympathetic and detailed.... she
grants him the stature of a tragic hero."--AllanMassie, Wall Street
Journal
"Leanda de Lisle has approached one of the great icons of history
with understanding and compassion. She takes her readers through
the twists and turns of the English Civil War so that they
understand the enormity of the regicide and the foolishness and
courage of the king."--Philippa Gregory, author of TheOther Boleyn
Girl
"Leanda de Lisle uses hitherto unknown manuscripts to offer a
sympathetic interpretation of the character of Charles I that is
more nuanced than previous treatments thanks partly to a highly
original account of his much-maligned queen, Henrietta Maria. The
White King interweaves personal, national and international events
in a vividly written account of his downfall and eventual execution
in 1649."--Andrew Jackson O'Shaughnessy, professor of history,
University of Virginia, and author of The Men Who Lost America
"The author's research and presentation are skilled and highly
readable . . . It is an illuminating book."--Historical Novel
Society
"The reign of King Charles I of England is perhaps best known for
its bloody end, when the monarch was beheaded on January 30,
1649.... The polarized nature of the debate concerning Charles's
execution, however, has advanced a simplistic understanding of the
Stuart king's legacy, one concerned chiefly with his abuses of
power and attachment to the doctrine of divine right of kings.
Leanda de Lisle's new biography of Charles, based on existing
scholarship as well as newly discovered letters from the king's own
hand, promises to challenge this legacy."--TheNew Criterion
Critic's Notebook
"This new balanced biography of Charles I, Leanda de Lisle's The
White King is so marvelous It blows away the partisan fog and
presents such an immediately recognizable human that all previous
tellings look like caricature.[The book]renders sufficiently broad
strokes of macro history but is also microscopically filled with
careful archival detail only the best historians can dig up and
make come alive almost effortlessly.... incisive, razor-sharp
writing...a polished biographical gem ....[de Lisle] carefully
integrates reliable new source documentation - including lost
letters from a previously closed private archive at Belvoir Castle
- and capable critical analysis about Charles. It will be
definitive for a long time."--Patrick Hunt, author of Hannibal, for
ElectrumMagazine
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