A Daughter's Love: Thomas More and His Dearest Meg

If in A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS we see Thomas More the Saint, this volume presents More the human being, who needed a "Simon" to help him carry his cross all the way up Calvary, and found that person inhis eldest daughter, Margaret. Someday I would love to see this relationship portrayed on the screen. Until then, Guy's book is one to treasure and go back to whenever one needs the inspiration of observinga very special father-daughter relationship.

For history buffs, for anglo-philes, for any reader, I have to say this is a well produced book.

I gave this book to a big fan of Thomas Moore. He enjoyed it immensley and said that the author had a good stye of writing.

I don't want to repeat every weakness of the book Judith Loriente already pointed out in her brilliant review. All I want to add is that I can't take a historian seriously who lets Thomas More get away with nearly everything, while all the time spitting venom over William Roper, husband to "his beloved Meg". While the author sings his praise of More's "humour" and "brilliant wit", Roper is constantly decked with attributes as negative and demeaning as possible. I felt compelled to take Guy by his word and ask him whether a "gentle, wise" man like More would have married his beloved favourite daughter to a greedy, coarse cretin?Beside all favouritism, if a historian claims to know what a marriage between two people was like - that the husband "didn't understand his wife" and that she "gave him little say in the matter" - he should at least offer some historic proof and evidence. That is, if he doesn't want his work to be regarded as a work of fiction. Instead I couldn't help wondering whether the author was actually labelling his speculations as the truth, to shape his reader's opinion as it pleased him.I checked Guy's claim that Roper, in his famous "Biography of Sir Thomas More", exaggerated his own role. To be plain, the claim was rather insubstantial. Quite an exaggeration to recall a few conversations with your own father-in-law, indeed! It was not the only mistake in the book, but I guess I shouldn't harp on Margaret Giggs' mutilated family tree. After all, the book is not about her, so why bother to list all her six children in the family tree instead of just the randomly picked four?Certainly, every historian has a favourite subject, but a scholar should be professional enough to allow shades of grey in the human character. More might have been made a saint later, but he was very human, both in his likes and dislikes. Both human gentleness and human cruelty could be found in him. Roper was human as well, though in his own way, trying to survive in a dangerous time. The author should stop accusing Roper of abandoning his father-in-law merely because he had no desire to become a martyr. Few people have it.And don't even get me started on the one-dimensional Henry VIII in this book! I was actually positively surprised not to find him portrayed with red eyes and devil's horns. No doubt he could be cruel and vengeful, yet painting him as the epitome of evil takes away a huge part of More's greatness. How hard can it possibly be for a "gentle, wise man" like him to resist pure evil? Wasn't it, instead, the doubt and insecurity, the love More held for the king and the respect the king held for him, that made More's decision a brave one and Henry's a tragic one? This book is, to put it simple, a must for all who love stereotypes and an easy world painted in black and white.

Professor Guy has written a carefully-researched volume, and approaches More with skepticism. This is a well-respected biography which deserves a wide readership. Five stars. Ackroyd is a good alternative for the general reader.

The scholarship and extensive research by John Guy, to write this book,is extremely impressive. To write about, and blend in facts concerning life in the 16th century is difficult enough, without having to address the uniqe personalities of historical characters, magnitude of issues, and complexity of what transpired in that era.The genre of the book makes for a pace of patient reading, but the content, and substance makes it very worthwhile.

This is a very well-documented book on the More family and life under King Henry VIII. The author really did his research and presents it as a very pleasing read. It is the best book written on the Thomas More. We also learn of what happened to the rest of the More clan and how life was like under the tyrant, King Henry VIII. A must for history buffs!

Excellent history of a very importantevent: the development of the Constitutionof the United States and the effort toratify it.