The Elizabethans

The prolific and erudite biographer and novelist Wilson (Dante in Love) offers little that is new in this study of Elizabethan England, but his account is worth reading nevertheless. It's history from the top—monarch and nobles, writers, courtiers, adventurers and explorers—but Wilson doesn't ignore the parlous condition of the poor, and his account of this time is sympathetic. Understandably, given Wilson's interests, a great deal of the text is about the arts, literature in particular. A virtue of this synthesis is that Wilson is aware, as historians as recent as A.L. Rowse were not, that Elizabeth I's age is finally done with. Debates over Church, glorification of empire, the intent to subjugate Ireland—these preoccupations seem irrelevant in today's England. Although occasionally Wilson strains too hard in efforts to make the past understandable (Jesuits compared to suicide bombers, the Pope declaring a fatwa against Elizabeth), by and large Wilson avoids anachronism in favor of helpful comparison.