A new assessment of the battle for the English throne: "All readers interested in late medieval history will appreciate this" ( Library Journal).The Wars of the Roses (1455–85) were a major turning point in English history. But the underlying causes for the successive upheavals have been hotly contested by historians ever since. In this original and stimulating new synthesis, distinguished historian Michael Hicks examines the difficult economic, military, ...

Anne Neville was queen to England's most notorious king, Richard III. She was immortalised by Shakespeare for the remarkable nature of her marriage, a union which brought together a sorrowing widow with her husband's murderer. Anne's misfortune did not end there. In addition to killing her first husband, Richard also helped kill her father, father-in-law and brother-in-law, imprisoned her mother, and was suspected of poisoning Anne herself. Dying before the age of...

The Wars of the Roses were quarrels within the Plantagenet family, of which Richard’s dynasty, the House of York, was one branch. They were about family trees – the capacity of family relationships both to unite and to divide – and notoriously about the slaughter of cousins, in-laws, brothers, and nephews. The House of York won the first war, with Richard’s elder brother becoming king as Edward IV. The 1460s are about the explosion of King Edward IV’s family – his brothers (including Richa...

The Southampton brokage books are the best source for English inland trade before modern times. Internal trade always matched overseas trade. Between 1430 and 1540 the brokage series records all departures through Southampton’s Bargate, the owner, carter, commodity, quantity, destination and date, and many deliveries too. Twelve such years make up the database that illuminates Southampton’s trade with its extensive region at the time when the city was at its most important as the principal...

Richard III has been written off in history as one of England's evil kings. His usurpation of the throne from his nephew Edward V and then subsequent generations of pro-Tudor historians ensured his fame as the disfigured murderer portrayed by Shakespeare. In the twentieth century, Richard found his apologists, those who saw him as more sinned against than sinning.This biography – by the leading expert on Richard – strips away the propaganda of the centuries...

The Wars of the Roses raged from 1455 to 1485 - the longest period of civil war in English history.They barely affected the daily routine of the civilian population, yet for the leaders of the opposing houses of York and Lancaster, the wars were devastating. First hand accounts reveal how the lives of their women and children were blighted during three decades of war, as many of their male relatives met with violent deaths.This book examines in detail the c...

Someone is stalking the luscious redheaded vampire Lucille. Reynolds, a down on his luck detective, is hired as a personal bodyguard for her. He soon realizes, however, that Lucille's stalker isn't the ordinary run of the mill vampire slayer. "Red Head Vampires" is a short story that is half vampire horror, half pulp fiction.

"A highly readable and well-documented account of the use and abuse of religion for violent political ends . . . This is a book well worth reading" (Timothy J. Demy, ThD, PhD, coauthor of In the Name of God).Most Americans could not fathom how Islamic terrorists could bring down the World Trade Center or an army psychiatrist could turn on his own soldiers, taking their lives in the name of his religion. How could an ex-army veteran blow up a federal buildi...

The definitive biography and assessment of the wily and formidable prince who unexpectedly became monarch—the most infamous king in British historyThe reign of Richard III, the last Yorkist king and the final monarch of the Plantagenet dynasty, marked a turning point in British history. But despite his lasting legacy, Richard only ruled as king for the final two years of his life. While much attention has been given to his short reign, Michael Hicks explores the wh...

Mormonism begins with a memoir: Joseph Smith kneeling in a grove until two-thirds of the Godhead appear and promise him a quixotic religious renown. Since then, the faith Smith birthed has raised up memoirs as gritty as Parley P. Pratt’s quasi-canonical Autobiography or as luminously sarcastic as Elna Baker’s New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance. Grafted somewhere into those works’ genealogy comes this boyhood memoir, rooted not in Mormonism but in the Protest...

When America's most famous actress -- Tallulah Ivey -- comes to film a controversial movie in Solo, Mississippi, a prominent local citizen is found shot and killed outside her bedroom window. Was it self-defense? Murder? Or something else?Martha McRae investigates the who, what, and why in this twisty, suspenseful murder mystery replete with some humorous Southern characters and a bit of theology.

English Political Culture in the Fifteenth Century is a new and original study of how politics worked in late medieval England, throwing new light on a much-discussed period in English history. Michael Hicks explores the standards, values and principles that motivated contemporary politicians, and the aspirations and interests of both dukes and peasants alike.Hicks argues that the Wars of the Roses did not result from fundamental weaknesses in the political system but from...