What do you think?
Rate this book
What Life Was Like
What Life Was Like in the Realm of Elizabeth: England, AD 1533-1603
A history of Britain's Elizabethan period examines English life under the reign of Elizabeth I, profiling the great queen and the events of her life, her battle with the Spanish Armada, Shakepeare and the rise of British theater, world exploration, and more.
168 pages, Hardcover
First published August 1, 1998
3 people are currently reading
117 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 14, 2011
Most Goodread-ers read multiple books a month. This adds up to thousands of pages a year. Sometimes, we need a little break from the overwhelming amounts of text. A respite which still includes an intelligently written book, but accompanied by some “pretty pictures”. Hey, there is a reason that children love picture books!
What Life Was Like in the Realm of Elizabeth is a beautiful collection of large, glossy photos and subsequent textual information relating to both the reign of Elizabeth and general life during Elizabethan times. Although not a heavy duty resource for Tudor experts (as the light information is written simply for the average reader); it strongly provides pages and pages of eye-catching photos which results in a solid supplement book from the Tudor lover.
The oversized book (it can be argued that this is a “coffee-table book”) begins with a brief overview of Henry VIII (and I mean brief) and also with a Tudor timeline and family tree. The family tree doesn’t list the many chronological wives and husbands of Tudor members with numbers (1, 2, 3) which can confuse the non-regular Tudor reader whom may be seeking the order of the wives, for instance, but otherwise it is easy to maneuver.
The narrative regarding Elizabeth is much more detailed, engaging, and smooth with general information regarding her reign, smaller side notes, firm quotes, and historical references. Did you think this was just a push-over book? Shame on you! Providing a firm overview of Elizabeth (from her councilors, courtly crushes, “Golden Age”, and even her wardrobes); the book also highlights the lives of her subjects: work, family life, food, play, science and medical fields, etc. Instead of just explaining these ways of Elizabethan life in a monotonous and encyclopedic manner; individual stories are told of some well known (and lesser known, but interesting) characters such as the tales of famous vagrants Nicholas Jennings and Judith Phillips, John Gerard’s heroic escape from the Tower, and much-talked about Sir Francis Drake, Richard Madox, and of course Sir Walter Raleigh. This provided a strong historical account but also an appealing “big picture” view of the times.
Although I’ve read what I feel like is hundreds of Tudor books, I still LOVED this offering from Time Life books. It is a lovely pictorial Tudor supplement whether you are new to the topic or a pro seeking that much-deserved break from extensive text. Informative and stunning, it carries the best of both worlds. A must-have for the coffee tables of Tudor-obsessed readers.
What Life Was Like in the Realm of Elizabeth is a beautiful collection of large, glossy photos and subsequent textual information relating to both the reign of Elizabeth and general life during Elizabethan times. Although not a heavy duty resource for Tudor experts (as the light information is written simply for the average reader); it strongly provides pages and pages of eye-catching photos which results in a solid supplement book from the Tudor lover.
The oversized book (it can be argued that this is a “coffee-table book”) begins with a brief overview of Henry VIII (and I mean brief) and also with a Tudor timeline and family tree. The family tree doesn’t list the many chronological wives and husbands of Tudor members with numbers (1, 2, 3) which can confuse the non-regular Tudor reader whom may be seeking the order of the wives, for instance, but otherwise it is easy to maneuver.
The narrative regarding Elizabeth is much more detailed, engaging, and smooth with general information regarding her reign, smaller side notes, firm quotes, and historical references. Did you think this was just a push-over book? Shame on you! Providing a firm overview of Elizabeth (from her councilors, courtly crushes, “Golden Age”, and even her wardrobes); the book also highlights the lives of her subjects: work, family life, food, play, science and medical fields, etc. Instead of just explaining these ways of Elizabethan life in a monotonous and encyclopedic manner; individual stories are told of some well known (and lesser known, but interesting) characters such as the tales of famous vagrants Nicholas Jennings and Judith Phillips, John Gerard’s heroic escape from the Tower, and much-talked about Sir Francis Drake, Richard Madox, and of course Sir Walter Raleigh. This provided a strong historical account but also an appealing “big picture” view of the times.
Although I’ve read what I feel like is hundreds of Tudor books, I still LOVED this offering from Time Life books. It is a lovely pictorial Tudor supplement whether you are new to the topic or a pro seeking that much-deserved break from extensive text. Informative and stunning, it carries the best of both worlds. A must-have for the coffee tables of Tudor-obsessed readers.
April 4, 2019
It is one of a series of informational books. Has inserts with subtopics interrupting the main text. Lots of pictures are included. This includes the general time period of Queen Elizabeth, including what led to her reign, and her successor, though only partially. Historic events, as well as explanations of common practices of the era are included. A good starting point, but one should look for more specialized books for subtopics (Roanoke, Sir Francis Drake, the defeat of the Spanish Armada, War of the Roses, ect.)
December 31, 2023
Nice mix of writing and primary source paintings
January 26, 2016
Meh, nothing new here. Time/Life - I should have known. Title should have been 'What Life was like for the Gentry in the realm of Elizabeth'. I was hoping for more middle class/merchant info. Lots of artwork and maps though that I've never seen before.
January 19, 2010
England from 1533-1603
March 20, 2012
nice, easy to read, lots of variety of areas covered and it filled in some background that helped put the movies Elizabeth and Elizabeth, the Golden Age (both with Kate Blanchette) in context.
February 5, 2015
this book was really good if you like history! i am totally obsessed with Queen Elizabeth the first and this had stuff in it that i didnt even know!
March 27, 2015
Interesting to enjoy a picture book of the Elizabethan era.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews