1603: The Death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Return of the Black Plague, the Rise of Shakespeare, Piracy, Witchcraft, and the Birth of the Stuart Era Review

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1603: The Death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Return of the Black Plague, the Rise of Shakespeare, Piracy, Witchcraft, and the Birth of the Stuart Era ReviewPopular history dedicated to a single year often proves a very successful approach. It allows the author to make complementary explorations of developments in various areas, be those geographies, cultures, and/or ideas. (John Wills' "1688: A Global History" was a particularly successful example of the genre.) Christopher Lee's book about 1603 - limited mostly to Great Britain - is not so successful.
The audience for this book will be largely those already familiar with British history, geography, and current idiom. I thought I had a reasonably good grasp of the genealogy of the British kings and queens leading up to 1603; my grasp loosened considerably after reading Lee's attempt to clarify the lineages. My alienation was reinforced by the frequency of phrases such as "as we know" and "of course" when the author deals with facts that non-British readers are unlikely to know or to treat as a matter of course. ("Lady Jane Grey ... was, of course, Warwick's own daughter-in-law.") And isn't the author overly fond of the rhetorical question? (Examples abound, such as: "The Jesuits?" and "What of James in all this?")
Lee's main organizing principle is that of proving that 1603 was an important year in history. Although he cites one historian with an opposing view, the question strikes me as neither controversial nor deep. And without that, the text, like the subtitle, proves to be just a stringing together of topics. Some of these topics are compelling, but too many aren't. A chapter on piracy works. One on King James' coronation is interminably dull.
There are numerous historical nuggets and oddities to be mined here. But the excavation effort proved too strenuous for this reader.1603: The Death of Queen Elizabeth I, the Return of the Black Plague, the Rise of Shakespeare, Piracy, Witchcraft, and the Birth of the Stuart Era Overview

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