About the Author

John Guy studied history at Clare College, Cambridge, and became a lecturer on early modern British history and Renaissance political thought. He has held academic positions in Britain and the United States throughout his career and is still a Fellow in history at Clare College, Cambridge, and teaches on the Yale in London program at the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art. He appears regularly on BBC Radio and has presented five documentaries for BBC2 television. He also writes and reviews for various newspapers and magazines, including "The Sunday Times, The Guardian, "and "The Economist."

Reviews

PRAISE FROM THE U.K. FOR JOHN GUY'S "THOMAS BECKET"
"[A] suspenseful, meticulously researched biography . . . [John] Guy's biography scintillates with energetic scene-setting, giving us wherever possible a tactile, visual feel for early medieval England, and London especially. His portraits of [Thomas Becket and King Henry II], from the early period of their relationship, are subtle and telling. . . . Guy's account of this titanic struggle between two great egoists of English history breathes new life into an oft-told tale of throne and altar antagonism, with its complex undercurrents of money, politics, religion and shocking violence. However well you think you know the story, it is well worth the read.""--Financial Times"
"[Guy's] new study of Becket is a triumph: a beautifully layered portrait of one of the most complex characters in English history, which gives a new narrative coherence to a very peculiar life. . . . It is to Guy's immense credit that he has written such a lively, effortlessly readable biography--a book that not only corrects many historical errors and uncertainties, but merits reading more than once, for the sheer joy of its superb storytelling.""--The Times"
"[A] fine and thought-provoking book . . . The worldly man of power did not become an ascetic overnight; instead--as Guy brilliantly demonstrates through a forensic examination of the texts Becket studied--the new archbishop experienced an intellectual and spiritual reawakening, as his highly strung mind grappled with the gravity of his responsibilities.""--The Sunday Times"