Friday Finds at the Bookstore: Richard and John, Kings at War by Frank McLynn

Every Friday I will be posting my latest book discovery that I found while browsing the bookstore or, in some cases, the library. It needn't be a book you purchased, but merely a newly found novel that caught your attention. If you would like to join in on this weekly event, just link back to this blog.

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Richard & John, Kings at War

(non-fic) by Frank McLynn

Publish Date: September 2008

Format: Paperback 608pp

Synopsis (From the Publisher):

"Legend and lore surround the history of kings Richard and John, from the ballads of Robin Hood and the novels of Sir Walter Scott to Hollywood movies and television. In the myth-making, King Richard, defender of Christendom in the Holy Land, was the “good king,” and his younger brother John was the evil usurper of the kingdom, who lost not only the Crown jewels but also the power of the crown. How much, though, do these popular stereotypes correspond with reality? Frank McLynn, known for a wide range of historical studies, has returned to the original sources to discover what Richard and John, these warring sons of Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, were really like, and how their history measures up to their myth. In riveting prose, and with attention to the sources, he turns the tables on modern revisionist historians, showing exactly how incompetent a king John was, despite his intellectual gifts, and how impressive Richard was, despite his long absence from the throne. This is history at its best-revealing and readable."

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