Dr. Norman Jones a leading intellectual in the history of early modern Britain and the author of such titles as Faith by Statute: Parliament and the Settlement of Religion, God and the
Moneylenders. Usury and Law in Early Modern England, most recently The English Reformation: Religion and Cultural Adaptation includes The Birth of the Elizabethan Age.
England in the 1560s to his growing corpus of work. In this comprehensive account of one of England's most historically fascinating decades, Jones attempts to present the reader with a vivid, down to earth account of the 1560s from the point of view of the people who lived during the time. Jones proves his scholarly versatility in this account by not limiting it to just the religious, political, cultural, or social aspects of the time but by necessity crosses each one and ties them together in order to depict this tumultuous time in England.

Jones begins in 1558 with the death of Queen Mary I and the tense but joyful celebration of a new monarch. This is the perfect place to begin not just because it gives the historical
background necessary for understanding the 1560s but Jones also importantly sets the mood and emotional tone that comprised the entire decade. The ambiguity, procrastination and the down
right refusal of Elizabeth to clearly determine religion, marry, and name a heir gave her the opportunity to "gain firm control over her realm, prevented a Catholic revolt or even her
excommunication until the end of the decade, and created the Puritan movement (19)." This political genius on the part of Elizabeth prevented war and preserved her power but left great
confusion particularly regarding religion and the social expectations of women, specifically the duties of a queen.

In his chapter on Protestant discontents with the Elizabethan settlement and its sister chapter on Catholicism, Jones paints the picture of the religious tensions and confusion of both groups with fine brush strokes. The main players in the continuing English Reformation process are introduced and given proper attention for the parts they played in either resisting or pushing for reform. Pithily he mentions and discusses the Protestant concerns with discipline and ecclesiastical government (53) and the hopes and schemes of the Catholics, essential for understanding the period.

In an inductive manner he recreates from original documents the colorful past, plentiful in intrigue in both senses of the word. In his chapter on royal marriage, the scandalous stories of Elizabeth's courtships and her love for the Earl of Leicester are featured along with Mary Queen of Scots' tragic love life and political manipulations.

By writing from the point of view of the prominent and not so prominent figures of the time, Jones clearly shows the reader all of the political, cultural, and intellectual aspects of what the poor wretches endured in Merry O' England. This book is not only a historical text about the 1560s, it reads like a soap opera giving the reader windows into the public and private lives of the people. The style of the author is similar to a novel in the sense that a particular person and string of thought is followed throughout the book. For instance, John Whythorne is mentioned early as predicting the trouble of a changed monarch, later about his religious convictions, he is a main character in Jones' chapter on marriage, and he appears in the chapters on family values, carpe diem, making a living, and the epilogue. This format is superior to a biography but with the
same emotional connection. Jones allows you to feel for the people mentioned in the stories; you can sympathize with their suffering, their confusion, and occasional rejoicing.

This book is not just for intellectuals and scholars interested in this period, but it can be of use for anyone interested in the complexities that are involved in cultural and religious adaptation. Beyond that, the way it tells the story of the English people is entertaining and as good for curling up with on a rainy day as it is an important historical interpretation by a leader in the field.

Kyle VanArsdol

Holy...

If i didn't say Bruce Jones could pen a movie script with the best of them in Hollywood, i would be lying through my teeth!...the Banner conspiracy deepens in this Volume bringing forth possibilities not many reader would have thought of..new readers picking up this volume without reading volumes 1 and 2 will be totally lost and muddled in the Huge storyarc which is by far one of the best plots in modern day comics...up to date.

I have been following Jones entire run on the series and knew his inventiveness of creating plot devices but he truly drops some magic cards here and does sleight of hand tricks...its as good as a movie , if not better with clues riddled throughout...this is by far the best of the bunch, i cannot wait for more...Bruce Jones is GOD.

With the regular changing of artists on this title and this long story arc, the only thing that remains common throughout is the inking and colors by studio f and co..which are needed to give a true impact of a cinematic quality and are the best in the business with everything taking a green color tone.

Stuart Immonen's artwork here is sexy..to say the least. thats the best i can describe it. his artwork is the strongest of the current series along with Mike Deodato's work...while the newer artists dont have the veteran hand of John Romita's pencils,they give the same justice that Bruce Jones incredibly story deserves. Immonen draws action scenes with a John Woo style and is somewhat remincent of Eduardo Risso's acclaimed work on 100 Bullets.

this story arc gets better and better...pick up vols 1 and 2...and get this;....Jones run should be in every comic readers shelf...

highly recommended

The Big Liddell is a very valuable resource, as a number of other reviewers here have observed. It truly is the premier work of its kind. But it has a few drawbacks.

1 - The sheer weight and bulk of this tome makes it a dedicated desk reference. In fact, you might consider building a special shelf or desk just to hold the book.

2 - The offset printing flaws mentioned by other reviewers is a significant problem. Portions of some entries are not even legible.

The Big Liddell is the kind of book that would be much more valuable in digital format than in print. There's been talk about an electronic version for some time, and it looks like we might finally get one soon ...

The "big" Liddell & Scott is the one to buy when you're about to do your doctorate. Until then you would be better off with the Intermediate, and not just because it's only about a third the price and much easier to carry about. The Intermediate has a much clearer typeface and many students find its material more easily accessible.
The ninth edition of the "big" Liddell & Scott has been offset so many times that the print is faint and verging on the illegible. My copy actually has pieces of print missing. The Clarendon Press ought really to have the whole thing revised and reset. But what a daunting task! (It will probably end up being republished on disk.)

This review is for the Abridged Liddell-Scott Lexicon...

I own the Intermediate sized Liddell as well, and I must say I actually prefer the smaller one. When I took a class where we read "The Apology of Socrates" by Plato, my professor recommended avoiding the Intermediate edition. At first I thought perhaps he was wrong, and I used it to translate some passages. After spending a lot of time sorting through it, I found that I agreed with him. The Intermediate Liddell does have locations of word use in original sources, and has slightly more vocabulary, but for the beginning and intermediate Greek reader, the Abridged Liddell is preferable. Navigating through the abridged edition is far easier and it often assumes a lesser knowledge of Greek, thus it includes some conjugated forms, which then point you to the correct verb. So as you can see, the abridged edition should suit the needs of most classical Greek students. Also, the editors took care to make sure that virtually every New Testament word is included.

Are there drawbacks to the Liddell-Scott? The Victorian English often gets frustrating. We rarely use words like hither and thither anymore. Also, when more morally explicit Greek words are defined, their definition is in Latin. Also, the original printing abnormalities, such as certain parts of letters being cut off from words, remain.

Learning Greek is a rewarding, but daunting task. The task is often made more difficult by grammars and lexicons that assume the reader knows more than he or she does. The abridged Liddell is perfect for the average student. When you want to dive in deeper, learn word origins, search sources, or just want to say you own the most complete Lexicon out there, you should buy the full size Liddell-Scott. Until then, the abridged edition works!

The book is good, but not great. The author presents a good overview of Elizabeth while sometimes going into excruciating detail. There in lies the problem. Much of what I wanted to know more about: court intrigue and the supporting characters were often given short shrift. At the sametime, the author works very hard to maintain the "virgin queen" myth, often off handedly dismissing evidence for Elizabeth's affairs. The book also ends abruptly, telling us little about Queen Bess' last years.

On the plus side, the author does an excellent job explaining the queens religous views. Still, there are better biographies of this facinating subject to be read.

Anne Somerset's biography on Queen Elizabeth I, was the first historical biography I had ever read. I became interested in finding out more about the famous red-haired monarch from the Hollywood version of her life, in the film "Elizabeth". I knew the film version had taken some license with the historical record, but I felt that the more accurate and less glamorous story about Elizabeth, the monarch, had to be interesting as well.

The story of Queen Elizabeth, both as a historical figure and a woman of 16th century England, is a interesting one and Anne Somerset makes it an easy and thoroughly enjoyable read. She goes into great detail and has many annotations to support her statments about Elizabeth, yet at the same time, the reader doesn't feel as if she is reading a scholarly work. It was such a pleasure to read and I found it difficult to put down.

For those of you out there who are either intimidated by biographies and other books about historical figures, or think them dull, this is a great place to start your journey into these kinds of books.

I've read almost a dozen books on the Tudors and this is the best on Elizabeth I. Although I usually get my doses of the Tudors from Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser, Anne Somerset has truly written and organized a beautiful book. An impressive work -- better than any other I've read on the world's greatest monarch.

EVERYTHING you need to know is broken down in an easy to read, organized, precise manner containing the most relevant needed information on a topic.

For anyone studying Greek Sculpture, this is a wonderful resource. The passages are translated in English and also written in Ancient Greek. This is an older book and the only issue that I have with it, is that it does not do a very good job of walking the reader through the history and impact of the words being read.