Joseph
H. Lynch
I
kept on wanting to own this book as i was reading it; i would think
that has to be a good sign! I don’t remember
coming across Lynch previously, and i think i would remember, as he
has a marvellously readable style which passes the facts along but
doesn’t get in the way at all.
Though i am no expert, as far as i
can tell the actual content is also of the same quality; i found only
one factual error, though that is a curious mistake, which really
need not have happened, had a copy editor have been doing his job.
Lynch writes, “...of the eight men who ruled England between 1284
and 1485...” in a very odd sentence: First of all, it would have
helped, rather than harmed his argument to pick 1307, the end of
Edward I’s reign, as his start point; second, between Lynch’s
dates ten men reigned (and arguably, even more “ruled”, but we
needn’t go there) not eight. Still, one error, however bizarre, in
over three hundred and fifty pages (including end matter) of print is
not a bad score; it wasn’t even a part of his main argument or
subject, so that would assign it even less value. All in all, this
is a readable book, very readable, on an endlessly fascinating
subject, and an admirable addition ~ except that it came from the library, so an "addition" it's not!
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