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Starkey did a formidable amount of research and it shows. But I did not care for his tone; he came across as both arrogant and misogynistic throughout the book. He describes Agnes Strickland's methodology as “She charmed (she was very pretty, especially for a scholar) her way into the national archives of both Britain and France“ and complains about an aging Catherine of Aragon growing “uglier and duller.“ (Has he noticed how Henry VIII aged?)