PositiveThe New York Review of BooksBoth authors are well versed in the literature, primary and secondary, and Goodwin in particular makes extensive use of quotations from contemporary chronicles, to which he brings a keen critical eye. Both authors, too, write with verve and can be read with pleasure. Perhaps Goodwin, who revels in set pieces, has the edge in evoking historical personalities ... Goodwin often seems more interested in simply telling a rattling good story ... Neither of these books can be said to add anything of great substance to the existing literature, and both are stronger on narrative and description than on analysis.
