Dianne R. (nanadi) reviewed Quarrel with the King: The Story of an English Family on the High Road to Civil War on + 42 more book reviews
Enjoyed this account of the Pembroke family from the beginning to the end. The manner in which they managed their land and people was based on centuries of unwritten laws. A good account.
Nancy C. (nancyzc) reviewed Quarrel with the King: The Story of an English Family on the High Road to Civil War on + 84 more book reviews
Nicolson is a multi-talented man and an excellent writer. His books improve from year to year. The oldest of those I've read, God's Secretaries (biographies of the men who translated the King James Bible), is interesting but told me more than I wanted to know; the book I am now "reviewing" is equally detailed but enthralling; and the recent Why Homer Matters is breathtaking. Quarrel with the King may press its thesis too hard (because the Herberts of Pembroke were NOT quarreling with the monarch much of the time), but its description of this very important family is riveting. It hinges on the Van Dyck family portrait on the cover. If you read this book, you will get good geography and art history as well as British history.
