# War of the Roses-Books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 12, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223 "2003-04-12T07:24:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![HPL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/3da27b/32.png) [@HPL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HPL)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/1 "2003-04-12T07:24:28Z")
I was wondering if somebody could recommend a good book on the Mideveal War of the Roses? Thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/2 "2003-04-12T14:44:34Z")
Are you looking for something fictionalized? Thomas Costain and Sharon Kay Penman have written several very readable and pretty accurate novels about the Plantagenets. Good question though – if someone knows about good non-fiction relating to those times, I’d be glad to know about it too. Pretty interesting. I don’t think Richard killed the princes. Do you? ---
**Author:** ![MaddyStrut](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@MaddyStrut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaddyStrut)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/3 "2003-04-12T15:14:10Z")
For non fiction, Alison Weir’s \* The War of the Roses \* is pretty good. (Although it ends with Edward IV and doesn’t get into the whole Richard III thing if that’s what you’re interested in.) ---
**Author:** ![Exgineer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a88e4f/32.png) [@Exgineer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exgineer)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/4 "2003-04-12T16:00:45Z")
I have a copy of _The Wars of the Roses Through the Lives of Five Men and Women of the Fifteenth Century_ by Desmond Seward. It’s not a typical history, in that he describes the political situation leading to the wars through biographical sketches of a few of the main players and a typical country squire of the period. It’s an interesting approach, and I found it very helpful. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5f8ce5/32.png) [@The\_Peyote\_Coyote](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Peyote_Coyote)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/5 "2003-04-12T19:00:30Z")
AuntiePam: No, I think Henry VII had them executed. ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/6 "2003-04-12T19:22:19Z")
For a military history you might try The War of the Roses:\* Military Activity and English Society, 1452-97\* by Anthony Goodman ( 1981, 1990 Dorset Press ). - Tamerlane ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2003, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/7 "2003-04-12T20:00:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by MaddyStrut \* > \*\*For non fiction, Alison Weir’s \* The War of the Roses \* is pretty good. (Although it ends with Edward IV and doesn’t get into the whole Richard III thing if that’s what you’re interested in.) \*\* And if you’re interested in that, read Weir’s _The Princes in the Tower_. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2003, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/8 "2003-04-13T02:11:04Z")
Peyote Coyote, me too. My dream CSI episode would be solving that mystery. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/9 "2003-04-13T05:42:03Z")
I’d rank the suspects for the murder of the princes, in order: Buckingham Richard Henry VII But you might want to check out Desmond Seward’s “The Wars of the Roses” ---
**Author:** ![Morgyn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/morgyn/32/3041_2.png) [@Morgyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgyn)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2003, 8:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/war-of-the-roses-books/168223/10 "2003-04-13T08:18:05Z")
I’ve been pretty certain Richard was innocent ever since I read Josephine Tey’s _The Daughter of Time_. Partially because I really liked her approach–who was where, when, and what did they do? Partially because I agreed with her that Richard was a very sensible man; he didn’t need the princes to be dead to secure his claim on the throne. And if he had thought he needed them dead, he’d have made sure people **knew** they were dead since there’d be no point killing them otherwise. I’ve read a number of books about the mystery (pro- and anti-Richard) since then (I’ve got _The Mystery of the Princes_ around here somewhere), but I’ve yet to find one that (a) was able to convince me he’d done it or had it done, and (b) stated the case as succinctly and logically as she did. That aside, I don’t have any real idea who did kill them, or when. I’d go for Henry VII on general principles, but there are good arguments for it being Buckingham.