Overview

A major reassessment of King James, revealing the long origins of an uneasily united kingdom King James, often overlooked or, more often, cruelly stereotyped, presents a fascinating figure: a diplomat whose long reigns encompassed extraordinary dramas. James identified himself with the ""Mirror of Great Britain,"" a spectacular jewel commissioned upon his accession to the English throne, which not only furnished him with one of his favorite metaphors―that of the mirror, with its limitless capacity to magnify, illuminate, and distort―but gave symbolic endorsement to his vision of British union. Wolfson History Prize-winning historian Clare Jackson finally reappraises the life and legacy of the ""first king of Great Britain."" Jackson contextualizes the tempest of James's childhood as well as the many attempts on his life. So, too, does she consider the renewed creativity of the Jacobean era, culminating in the King James Bible, Macbeth, and King Lear, and demonstrates how the king's keen interest in joining worlds old and new set the geopolitical stage for centuries to come. In so doing, Jackson reveals King James as perhaps the most consequential monarch of the early modern era, whose impact, for better and for worse, still reverberates today. Closely attentive to James's own words, The Mirror of Great Britain tells the story of this highly unusual, significant monarch with flair, insight, and, above all, empathy for the man who bore the crown.

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Reviews

""An impressive biography, which combines a variety of productive approaches to the life of James into one scintillating work."" -- ""The Telegraph (London)"" ""Brisk, fluent, pleasing to the ear, Emma Gregory's narration does justice to a fine historian and her landmark biography of one of Britain's most misunderstood rulers...The narrative is organized topically, rather than strictly chronologically, and requires a high level of vocal skill to deliver clearly and effectively. This finely nuanced biography has the gifted, insightful narrator it deserves. Winner of the AudioFile Earphones Award."" -- ""AudioFile magazine"" ""In research, analysis and imagination, it's a masterpiece."" -- ""The Times (London)""

""An impressive biography."" -- ""The Telegraph (London)"" ""In research, analysis and imagination, it's a masterpiece."" -- ""The Times (London)""

Author Information

Clare Jackson is Honorary Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Cambridge and Walter Grant Scott Fellow in History at Trinity Hall. For her book Devil-Land: England under Siege, 1588-1688, Jackson was awarded the 2022 Wolfson History Prize. She lives in Cambridge, England. Emma Gregory has enjoyed an extensive and varied career. Some of her many radio titles include The Diary Of Samuel Pepys, Don Quixote (with Paul Schofield), The Bell, In the Native State (with Peggy Ashcroft), Dombey and Son, The Quatermass Memoirs (with Andrew Keir), and Great Expectations. She has also recorded Shakespeare on CD for Riverrun Productions and the soundtrack of The Beggars Opera for the Royal Shakespeare Company. She works regularly as a voice-over artist for various companies, including the History and Biography channels.

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