Richard III: Classic Histories

Michael Hicks has written extensively on medieval England and is regarded by many as the leading expert on the York dynasty. His other titles include The Wars of the Roses and Anne Neville.

The classic biography of England's most vilified king, from model of nobility to murderer and monster. This biography - by the leading expert on Richard - strips away the propaganda of the centuries to rescue Richard from his critics and supporters alike, providing a balanced and compelling portrait of this most infamous of kings.

“[An] excellent new biography.”—Keith Thomas, New York Review of Books

“Absorbing. . . . Hicks presents his arguments clearly, drawing them out from his account of Richard’s life, in an exemplary piece of historical writing.”—Lesley Coote, Studies in Medieval and Renaissance Teaching

“Hicks has thrown down the gauntlet. Never has Richard the man been more convincingly portrayed. Who is ready to challenge the ruthless and driven Plantagenet drawn from the shadows? This Richard is not the creation of what followed his death, but the thirty two years of life that preceded it. A meticulous and thrilling biography, in which character is destiny.”—Leanda de Lisle, author of Tudor: The Family Story

“The best researched, most comprehensive study of Richard III, especially strong on Richard’s formative experiences. Hicks presents the findings of a lifetime’s archival research with impressive clarity. A must-have for scholars and interested general readers.”—John Guy, author of Elizabeth: The Forgotten Years

“Hicks has written a tour de force, based upon a deep understanding of the vast and divergent secondary literature and a career spent among the archives of fifteenth-century England. The book is at once scholarly and accessible and the definitive biography of this most controversial of kings.”—David Grummitt, author of A Short History of the Wars of the Roses

“The product of almost 50 years of research into Richard and those surrounding him, this is an impressive feat of scholarship from an authority on the tumultuous Fifteenth Century. An important addition to the bookshelves of any student of the Wars of the Roses and of this enduringly compelling monarch.”—Lauren Johnson, author of Shadow King: The Life and Death