Richard III: The Self-Made King by Michael Hicks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Richard III: The Self-Made King is a fairly exhaustive study of how Richard lived and worked, both as the Duke of Gloucester and later as King of England. The real focus here is on what he did and how he managed things, so it is not so much of a biography as as study of how Richard wielded power. So it is not the typical book on Richard III.

The focus on Richard’s manner of governing can be a little distracting, so I would not necessarily recommend this book for someone who has not read a more narrative biography of Richard. But there are many interesting details that come out in the author’s analysis of Richard, both as duke and as king. The book is more like an academic book as opposed to one meant for a broader audience; but I did appreciate the footnotes and references.

There are many insights along the way, and one that I found interesting was that one of the problems for Richard as king, was that there was very few members of the royal family and so it was not easy for him to project the power of the monarchy. This is especially true after the death of his son Edward. Of course had Richard been the victor at Bosworth, this would not have mattered.

So, I have somewhat mixed feelings about the book – it is an in-depth look at Richard’s abilities to manage and overcome obstacles, and there is a lot of information here. On the other hand, there narrative is somewhat weak, and it may be somewhat confusing for readers who do not have a solid background in this area of English history