Rowse is a lively writer but he is also a Tudor historian, not a late medieval specialist and he makes occasional obvious errors --having Henry IV lose a shoe at his coronation instead of Richard II for example, and confusing the blind King John of Bohemia (killed at Crecy) with King John of France (captured at Poitiers). Although this is published in a military history series, it is basically a political history of England from 1377 to 1485, with a focus on the dynastic rivalries that led to the Wars of the Roses but not much detail on the actual battles.The whole Bosworth campaign takes only 7 out of 294 pages. The battle itself gets about 3 of these 7 pages. ( )

1312. Bosworth Field: From Medieval to Tudor England, by A. L. Rowse (12 Jan 1975) I never read anything by A. L. Rowse before reading this, and resolved after finishing it that I would never read another thing by him--and that resolution has been kept. A more obnoxiously biased and cynical Catholic-ridiculer I have never read. Except for this, the subject matter of the book was extremely interesting. It covers the period from 1399--when Henry IV took the crown away from Richard II, till after Henry VII defeated Richard III at Bosworth Field in 1485. What a fantastic period that was--1399 to 1485 in England. It does get a little confusing at times, but Henry VI succeeded his father on Aug 21, 1422, when Henry VI was nine months old. He lost the throne to Edward IV in 1460 after the battle of Towton. Henry VI resumed the throne briefly in 1470-1471. Edward IV died 9 Apr 1483, aged 40. Richard III took over June 22, 1483. Edward V's "reign" is the interim. I should read more on the period, but no more Rowse. I since have read quite a bit in the area, but Rowse has been avoided. ( )