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Open Letters Review

Open Letters Review

An Arts & Literature Review

Open Letters Review

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March 24, 2025

Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold

March 24, 2025/ Steve Donoghue
Story of a Murder by Hallie Rubenhold

A new history of the infamous Crippen murder case centers on the women of the story

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March 24, 2025/ Steve Donoghue/
Hallie Rubenhold, Crippen, Story of a Murder, true crime, English history
November 11, 2024

The Power and the Glory by Adrian Tinniswood

November 11, 2024/ Steve Donoghue
The Power and the Glory by Adrian Tinniswood

Stories of English country house life before WWI tore it to pieces

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November 11, 2024/ Steve Donoghue/
Adrian Tinniswood, The Power and the Glory, history, English history, the English country house
November 02, 2024

The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

November 02, 2024/ Steve Donoghue
The Scapegoat by Lucy Hughes-Hallett

A new biography of the handsome favorite of two kings

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November 02, 2024/ Steve Donoghue/
The Scapegoat, George Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, King James I, King Charles I, history, Jacobean history, English history, biography
September 05, 2024

Oliver Cromwell: Commander in Chief by Ronald Hutton

September 05, 2024/ Aaron Kyereh-Mireku
Oliver Cromwell: Commander in Chief by Ronald Hutton

A new study of Cromwell as military leader

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September 05, 2024/ Aaron Kyereh-Mireku/
Oliver Cromwell: Commander in Chief, Ronald Hutton, Cromwell, English history, Protectorate, Stuart History
June 29, 2024

The Island by Nicholas Jenkins

June 29, 2024/ Steve Donoghue
The Island by Nicholas Jenkins

A fascinating new study of young Auden & co. in the interwar years

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June 29, 2024/ Steve Donoghue/
Nicholas Jenkins, The Island, WH Auden, poetry, English history, history, literary history
May 06, 2024

Power and Glory by Alexander Larman

May 06, 2024/ Steve Donoghue
Power and Glory by Alexander Larman

A new book about the final years of England’s King George Vi

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May 06, 2024/ Steve Donoghue/
Power and Glory, Alexander Larman, Queen Elizabeth II, King George VI, English history, monarchy, Royals, House of Windsor
February 03, 2023

The Wife of Bath: A Biography by Marion Turner

February 03, 2023/ Steve Donoghue
The Wife of Bath: A Biography by Marion Turner

A new book charts the long literary life of Chaucer’s most popular character.

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February 03, 2023/ Steve Donoghue/
Books & Authors, Classic Literature
The Wife of Bath: A Biography, Marion Turner, The Wife of Bath, Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales, English history, English literature, Literary History, Steve Donoghue, 2023
January 07, 2023

Tudor England by Lucy Wooding

January 07, 2023/ Steve Donoghue
Tudor England by Lucy Wooding

A big, bustling new history of the Tudor age.

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January 07, 2023/ Steve Donoghue/
History
Lucy Wooding, Tudor England, English Monarchy, English history, Steve Donoghue, 2023
December 22, 2021

Living Like a Tudor by Amy Licence

December 22, 2021/ Steve Donoghue
Living Like a Tudor by Amy Licence

What did the Tudors see, taste, hear, and smell, and what did they think of it all?

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December 22, 2021/ Steve Donoghue/
History
Living Like a Tudor, Amy Licence, Tudor history, English history, history, Steve Donoghue
October 22, 2021

Noble Ambitions by Adrian Tinniswood

October 22, 2021/ Steve Donoghue
Noble Ambitions by Adrian Tinniswood

The postwar history of great English country houses, with plenty of twists and turns.

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October 22, 2021/ Steve Donoghue/
History
Adrian Tinniswood, Noble Ambitions, English country house, English history, Steve Donoghue
December 04, 2019

The Puritans: A Transatlantic History by David D. Hall

December 04, 2019/ Peggy Kurkowski
The Puritans: A Transatlantic History by David D. Hall

A definitively researched explanation for a phenomena many of us still don’t understand.

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December 04, 2019/ Peggy Kurkowski/
History
The Puritans, David D. Hall, Princeton University Press, American History, English history, religion, History
May 24, 2019

Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior by Catherine Hanley

May 24, 2019/ Steve Donoghue
Matilda: Empress, Queen, Warrior by Catherine Hanley

Hanley’s assessment of the various roles Matilda filled in her life is uniformly thought-provoking.

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May 24, 2019/ Steve Donoghue/
History
Matilda, Catherine Hanley, Yale University Press, English Monarchy, English history, Steve Donoghue
May 13, 2019

Author interview: Alison Weir

May 13, 2019/ Steve Donoghue
Author interview: Alison Weir

In Anna of Kleve, Weir crafts an intriguingly multifaceted portrait of this oddest of all English queens. Open Letters asked her some questions about the challenges of this latest installment in the “Six Tudor Queens” series.

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May 13, 2019/ Steve Donoghue/
Books & Authors
Anne of Cleves, King Henry VIII, English Monarchy, English history, Alison Weir, Author Interview
May 10, 2019

The Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI by Lauren Johnson

May 10, 2019/ Steve Donoghue
The Shadow King: The Life and Death of Henry VI by Lauren Johnson

An immensely readable popular biography of Henry VI, warmly sympathetic to the tormented figure at its center.

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May 10, 2019/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir, History
Henry VI, Lauren Johnson, biography, English history, English Monarchy, History
March 05, 2019

Devices and Desires by Kate Hubbard

March 05, 2019/ Steve Donoghue
Devices and Desires by Kate Hubbard

A big, bouncily-written biography of Bess, the Countess of Shrewsbury—a fascinating figure from the era.

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March 05, 2019/ Steve Donoghue/
History
Kate Hubbard, Harper Collins, English history, Bess of Hardwick, Queen Elizabeth I, English Monarchy, nonfiction, The Tudors, Steve Donoghue
March 01, 2019

Among the Wolves of Court by Lauren Mackay

March 01, 2019/ Steve Donoghue
Among the Wolves of Court by Lauren Mackay

Mackay’s intensely painstaking excavation of what life was like for an infamous set of Tudor courtiers is eye-opening.

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March 01, 2019/ Steve Donoghue/
History
Lauren Mackay, IB Tauris, Bloomsbury, Anne Boleyn, Thomas Boleyn, George Boleyn, English Monarchy, English history, King Henry VIII
December 26, 2018

The Gown by Jennifer Robson

December 26, 2018/ Steve Donoghue
The Gown by Jennifer Robson

A historical novel about Queen Elizabeth’s wedding gown, and the women who made it.

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December 26, 2018/ Steve Donoghue/
Historical Fiction
Jennifer Robson, William Morrow, Harper Collins, British Royal Family, British aristocracy, Queen Elizabeth, historical fiction, English Monarchy, English history, Steve Donoghue
October 16, 2018

My Darling Winston: The Letters Between Winston Churchill and His Mother

October 16, 2018/ Steve Donoghue
My Darling Winston: The Letters Between Winston Churchill and His Mother

A surprisingly dark addition to the nearly endless library of Winston Churchill biographies.

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October 16, 2018/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir, History
Pegasus Books, English history, biography, Steve Donoghue, History, Winston Churchill
September 01, 2018

The King’s Assassin by Benjamin Woolley

September 01, 2018/ Steve Donoghue
The King’s Assassin by Benjamin Woolley

Research reveals new details about the conspiracy to kill King James I by the Duke of Buckingham

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September 01, 2018/ Steve Donoghue/
Biography/Memoir, History
Benjamin Woolley, St. Martin's Press, English history, English Monarchy, conspiracies, assassins, King James I, Duke of Buckingham, MacMillan Publishers, Steve Donoghue
August 12, 2018

The Viking Wars by Max Adams

August 12, 2018/ Steve Donoghue
The Viking Wars by Max Adams

Adams has written a lively-yet-scholarly modern epic history the tale deserves.

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August 12, 2018/ Steve Donoghue/
History
Max Adams, Vikings, English history, Pegasus Books, Aelfred's Britain, Alfred the Great, Steve Donoghue
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Editors:

Steve Donoghue
Sam Sacks
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Jack Hanson
Jennifer Helinek
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