{"product_id":"thomas-cromwell","title":"Thomas Cromwell","description":"\u003cp\u003eA SUNDAY TIMES  THE TIMES  DAILY TELEGRAPH  SPECTATOR  FINANCIAL TIMES  GUARDIAN  BBC HISTORY BOOK OF THE YEARThis is the biography we have been awaiting for 400 years Hilary MantelA masterpiece Dan Jones  Sunday TimesThomas Cromwell is one of the most famous - or notorious - figures in English history. Born in obscurity in Putney  he became a fixer for Cardinal Wolsey in the 1520s. After Wolseys fall  Henry VIII promoted him to a series of ever greater offices  and by the end of the 1530s he was effectively running the country for the King. That decade was one of the most momentous in English history: it saw a religious break with the Pope  unprecedented use of parliament  the dissolution of all monasteries. Cromwell was central to all this  but establishing his role with precision  at a distance of nearly five centuries and after the destruction of many of his papers at his own fall  has been notoriously difficult.Diarmaid MacCullochs biography is much the most complete and persuasive life ever written of this elusive figure  a masterclass in historical detective work  making connections not previously seen. It overturns many received interpretations  for example that Cromwell was a cynical  secular politician without deep-felt religious commitment  or that he and Anne Boleyn were allies because of their common religious sympathies - in fact he destroyed her. It introduces the many different personalities of these foundational years  all conscious of the terrifyingly unpredictable Henry VIII. MacCulloch allows readers to feel that they are immersed in all this  that it is going on around them.For a time  the self-made ruffian (as he described himself) - ruthless  adept in the exercise of power  quietly determined in religious revolution - was master of events. MacCullochs biography for the first time reveals his true place in the making of modern England and Ireland  for good and ill.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"My Store","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44986821869621,"sku":"ByrdShop_1846144299","price":92.08,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0627\/8139\/0901\/files\/9781846144295_d14ebd57-4e53-4860-a0c5-4092d6c1f423.jpg?v=1772670704","url":"https:\/\/atxbooks.com\/products\/thomas-cromwell","provider":"ATX Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}