A review by persey
Cromwell: Our Chief of Men by Antonia Fraser

2.0

Whew, what a slog. A mountain of facts largely lacking synthesis and analysis. It needed to be cut by a third; as it was, it was difficult to see the forest for the trees. The problems were compounded by Fraser's weird fangirlish sensibility, where Old Noll was a brilliant soldier and administrator and a kindly fellow to boot, apparently. (Well, except in regard to those pesky Irish, where his attitude tended more toward the genocidal end of the spectrum. Even Fraser couldn't put much of a gloss on that.)

For all that, a lot of information and I've retained a sufficiency, so mission accomplished, I suppose. But if I had to do it again, I'd pick a different biography.