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kpeeps111's review
4.0
Vikings! Kings! Treachery! Revenge! A bloodthirsty power hungry struggle for the rule of England! I now know more about eleventh century politics in northwestern Europe than I ever really wanted.
beejai's review
4.0
The whole time I was reading 1066 I was thinking to myself, "This would make an excellent episode series for Dan Carlin's Hardcore History". Seriously. While McLynn does a great job at creating the background and shedding light on all the major players of England's fateful year of 1066, he is just a bit too dry to properly tell a story that have the potential to make certain HBO Blockbuster series seem tame by comparison. Oh well. It is still an excellent read.
McLynn gives a brief background of Cnut the Great and Ethlered the unready and then sets in devoting a chapter each to all the major players like Edward the Confessor, Harald Hardrada (the hard ruler), Svein Estrithson, Earl Goodwin, Harold Goodwinson, Tostig, and of course two for William the Conqueror. He finally concludes with chapters on the famous battles at Stamford Bridge (Harold vs Harald & Tostig) and Hastings (Harold vs William).
In all this book is definitely worth reading. McLynn does a good (not great) job building the scene and you are a good halfway through the book before we even get to the title year of 1066. He also has done a good (not great) job in researching and presenting his subject material. My only real disappointment was that Hastings was really the conclusion to this story. I was halfway expecting it to occur much earlier on with a significant chunk devoted to the way that battle changed the fate and history of the Island and the world. In a way I am glad it didn't so that significant space can be spent building the stage, but now I must be off to find something more to read as an appropriate follow up. My appetite has definitely been whetted.
McLynn gives a brief background of Cnut the Great and Ethlered the unready and then sets in devoting a chapter each to all the major players like Edward the Confessor, Harald Hardrada (the hard ruler), Svein Estrithson, Earl Goodwin, Harold Goodwinson, Tostig, and of course two for William the Conqueror. He finally concludes with chapters on the famous battles at Stamford Bridge (Harold vs Harald & Tostig) and Hastings (Harold vs William).
In all this book is definitely worth reading. McLynn does a good (not great) job building the scene and you are a good halfway through the book before we even get to the title year of 1066. He also has done a good (not great) job in researching and presenting his subject material. My only real disappointment was that Hastings was really the conclusion to this story. I was halfway expecting it to occur much earlier on with a significant chunk devoted to the way that battle changed the fate and history of the Island and the world. In a way I am glad it didn't so that significant space can be spent building the stage, but now I must be off to find something more to read as an appropriate follow up. My appetite has definitely been whetted.
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