Feuerlicht, Robert Strauss. The Life and World of Henry VIII. New York: Cromwell-Collier Press, 1970.

Roberta Strauss Feuerlicht has written several books aimed at younger readers with an interest in historical lives and event, such as The Legends of Paul Bunyan and The Desperate Act: The Assassination of Franz Ferdinand at Sarajevo, which was on the New York Times best sellers list in 1968. She made extensive travels to various places in Europe, where she studied and collected information on folklore, dance, and music.

The book by this author is informative while being deeply interesting, a brilliant biography of the life of one of the most interesting people in England’s history. The Life and World of Henry VIII discusses in detail the events leading up to along with the rise into monarchy of King Henry VIII of England. The author explains the many vices of the king, pleasure seeking, greed, and leanings towards a constant desire for war. Henry VIII was an impetuous king, doing whatever he pleased and stepping on whomever or whatever was necessary to get what he wanted. This book discusses in depth the marriage to six wives, and how he got rid of five of them, with the monumental divorce from the Catholic Church of Rome and founding of his own personal Church of England with London as its base in order to give himself permission to divorce his first wife. The author explains that while Henry VIII lived a selfish life and dragged his country into poverty, he will be remembered also as the man who pushed forward the Protestant Reformation in England and bore three children, one of which, his second daughter, would prove to be one of England’s best and most tolerant monarchs.