The Bottom Line
Henry V is less a biography than an introductory study, but there is no finer text on the market for students or general readers who want to pursue an interest in the titular king.
Pros
- A perfect introduction.
- Aware of holes in the sources.
- Presents a rounded picture.
Cons
- Relatively lightweight.
- Some modern slang.
Description
- 256 pages with bibliography.
- 13 black and white illustrations.
- East to read.
Guide Review - Henry V by Keith Dockray
'Henry V' is formed of three sections. Nearly eighty pages on the changing portrayal of Henry throughout history at the start, then a conventional narrative of Henry V's life and actions and finally an examination of his character, his achievements, failures and legacy. The book's tone is set entirely by the opening section because Dockray studiously and continually points out areas where our knowledge is incomplete, sketches out the possibilities and then refuses to commit himself fully. The resulting picture of Henry V and his actions is often, but necessarily, hazy. Henry V is less a biography than an introductory study, but there is no finer text on the market for students or general readers who want to pursue an interest in the titular king (especially once the paperback is released). With only a few hours of remarkably light and entertaining reading you will know, not just about his life, but about how he has been used by later authors, about the debates raging amongst historians and about the sources you might want to read, although a thematic, or even annotated, bibliography would have been preferable. However, Dockray's book is light on depth and short of conclusions, so anyone who only wants to read one book on Henry V, rather than several, are still better off with Christopher Allmand's Henry V.
