Reviewed May 2006 Not for the casual British reader, this book is crammed full of stuff. The author has arranged it into categories broken down by the monarchs. For example you can study the economic effect during Elizabeth’s or James I rules, or just look at how the poor or women were treated. If you are trying to understand a certain aspect during this time period 1485-1714then you are looking in the right place. To really understand what is happening you need background either by knowledge from elsewhere or I would suggest a “Book For Dummies” that you can pick up and quickly formalized who is who. The really odd part about reading this book is that you have to remember that it is not a story book, the characters come and go then come and go again, sometimes several times. James I died in Chapter 12 but is discussed thorughout the remaining chapters sometimes as if he were still alive during the discussion this clearly is confusing epically for secondary characters you new little about and then here they are again. A great book for detail, but a bad book for stories, the author glosses over the steamier stories that might make British History lovers out of the readers. But I guess they probably already are or at least taking a class as I did Hist 151B at San Jose State. 8-2006 ( )