Finally finished this one. It took me longer mostly due to the number of characters involved during Queen Catherine's regency. This aroused my interest in French history. For me it was a hard read at time. The Appendix and Bibliography may be useful in the pursuit of a rounded understanding of what is taking place in Catherine's time. This book was a good intro for me to the Medici family of Italy. I look forward to readiing more about the various players in Queen Catherine's life. She had been presented to me as a manipulator (politician?), but with the final paragraphs I came to respect her as a mother looking out for the welfare of her children just like some moms do today. ( )

1659 Catherine de' Medici and the Lost Reformation, by Ralph Roeder (read 1 Sep 1981) Only after I had read this whole book did I notice on the front page "Second Edition, Abridged." I never knowingly read abridged books and if I had noticed those words I never would have read this book. The book itself says "it is not intended as a book of reference"--it is just a retelling, from a biased point of view, of the events which occurred in France during the life of Catherine de Medici, who was born Apr 13, 1519, and died Jan 5 1589. After reading this I am surfeited so far as the period from 1540 to 1589 is concerned. It was really a mess--and religion was only a pretext for many of the things that went on. This book was tedious, opinionated, and turgid (what more would have been in the unabridged edition?) but I read it with interest.

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This older biography of Catherine does not bear up well against more modern scholarship. It should not be one's only source when reading about this fascinating and complex woman. ( )