#the way he described Henry VI's reign was also annoying but it thankfully had far less pagetime and was not the focus of his work
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Thomas Penn writes about 500 year old dead historical figures like they're celebrities in a gossip column
#it's funny to an extent but after a point it gets very grating#he has a wealth of information but he's far too sensationalistic and florid#and tends to choose the most unsympathetic and/or colorful interpretation of every situation and historical figure#he also has a habit of ... narrativizing history which doesn't really work for me#also his fatphobia re Edward IV was absolutely revolting#I was planning on ordering the Winter King but after looking at the synopsis and first 2 chapters that were available online - no thanks#I'm definitely not interested in reading about Henry VII supposedly being 'sinister' and 'Machiavellian' because he...ruled successfully?#because he did what kings (unfortunately) did all the time? How was he any different from the others?#also imagine calling *Henry VII* ruthless & unscrupulous when his predecessor murdered his own kid-nephews and his successor was Henry VIII#like please be serious#I had the same issue with the way he described Edward IV's reign. His descriptions were so theatrical and emphatic but#at the end of the day the things he was describing were very normal lol#or they would be normal if Penn didn't choose the most critical (and mocking tbh) perspective for every single thing#the way he described Henry VI's reign was also annoying but it thankfully had far less pagetime and was not the focus of his work#so it was comparatively more tolerable#i'm glad that he acknowledged the propaganda against Margaret tho. I didn't like how he described her but at the very least he acknowledged#that she was being slandered#also calling Warwick 'the regime's biggest headache' lmfao#and ig some of his analyses on Richard III were interesting. It helps that R3 had a very short and very dramatic reign from start to finish#so Penn's flourishing tone doesn't really feel out of place for it
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