Why am I passionate about this?

I am a Professor of early-modern British History at the University of Oxford and a Senior Research Fellow at Jesus College, Oxford, who was a specialist in the Tudor period, especially the life and reign of Elizabeth I. However, while doing research over the past six years, I became excited by the politics, religion, and culture of the Jacobean period. James I’s reign had been a topic I taught in a week to undergraduates, but I realised that I didn’t do justice to this rich and important period. Not only is it fascinating in its own right, but James’s reign had a huge impact on a long stretch of British and world history.


I wrote

From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I

By Susan Doran,

Book cover of From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I

What is my book about?

My book tells the dramatic story of the accession and first decade of James I’s reign in England. By 1603,…

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The books I picked & why

Book cover of The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606

Susan Doran Why did I love this book?

I love this book because it combines history and literature, doing justice to both. By setting Lear and Macbeth in their cultural and political contexts, Professor Shapiro has given me new insights into both plays. Before seeing them again, I’ll go back to this book.

Shapiro is a model for me of an academic historian who successfully addresses a wider audience by avoiding academic jargon, explaining the unfamiliar, and telling a good story. He wears his great scholarship lightly, but he has done a huge amount of research and has a mastery of his subject.

By James Shapiro,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Year of Lear as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Preeminent Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro, author of Shakespeare in a Divided America, shows how the tumultuous events in 1606 influenced three of Shakespeare’s greatest tragedies written that year—King Lear, Macbeth, and Antony and Cleopatra. “The Year of Lear is irresistible—a banquet of wisdom” (The New York Times Book Review).

In the years leading up to 1606, Shakespeare’s great productivity had ebbed. But that year, at age forty-two, he found his footing again, finishing a play he had begun the previous autumn—King Lear—then writing two other great tragedies, Macbeth and Antony and Cleopatra.

It was a memorable year in England as…


Book cover of The Lost Prince: The Life & Death of Henry Stuart

Susan Doran Why did I love this book?

I love exhibition catalogues. They are usually lavishly illustrated with expert explanations of the visuals. I can dip into them at will, especially when I’m too tired for a major investment of time in reading.

This one is particularly fine as its production values are high and the explanations lengthy. Prince Henry, the son of James VI and I, who died suddenly in November 1610 at the age of eighteen, was, like his mother, Queen Anna, a patron of music, paintings, masques, architecture, and gardens. These interests are amply revealed in the fascinating pictures and text of this wonderful catalogue. 

By Catharine MacLeod,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Lost Prince as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

This exploration of Henry's life and image, and the extraordinary reaction to his death, transforms our understanding of this exceptional prince and the time in which he lived. In November 1612, shortly before his nineteenth birthday, Henry, the eldest son of James I and Anne of Denmark, died of typhoid fever after a short illness. The nation was struck by grief at the loss of this most promising prince who, it was believed, would become a king to transform Britain. Unlike his father, Henry was seen as militaristic, ardently Protestant and fiercely moral; he was also a precocious patron of…


Book cover of Courting India: Seventeenth-Century England, Mughal India, and the Origins of Empire

Susan Doran Why did I love this book?

I found this book utterly engrossing. The subject of Sir Thomas Roe’s embassy to India from 1616 to 1619 interested me in part because of my interest in cross-cultural exchanges and partly because of my own visit to some of the places previously trodden by Roe.

I liked the fact that the book had a clear argument, namely that Roe’s previous personal and political experiences influenced his perceptions and conduct in India.

Above all, I found the writing a joy. Despite its undoubted scholarship, the book reads as a novel. Das brings colour to all the descriptions, whether of people, places, or events. I wish I could write like that. 

By Nandini Das,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Courting India as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

WINNER OF THE BRITISH ACADEMY BOOK PRIZE A SPECTATOR, WATERSTONES, BBC HISTORY MAGAZINE, PROSPECT AND HISTORY TODAY BOOK OF THE YEAR A profound and ground-breaking new history of one of the most important encounters in the history of colonialism: the British arrival in India in the early seventeenth century. 'A triumph of writing and scholarship. It is hard to imagine anyone ever bettering Das's account of this part of the story' - William Dalrymple, Financial Times 'A fascinating glimpse of the origins of the British Empire . . . drawn in dazzling technicolour' - Spectator 'Beautifully written and masterfully researched,…


Book cover of Rebellion: Britain's First Stuart Kings, 1567-1642

Susan Doran Why did I love this book?

A good textbook is indispensable, and this is the one on James I that I most often resort to. It is lucidly written, covers an awful lot of ground, is properly referenced, and offers an in-depth look at the reigns of James VI and I and Charles I in England and Scotland.

Although it is ten years old now, I still place it top of my reading list for undergraduates studying this period of history. 

By Tim Harris,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Rebellion as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

A gripping new account of one of the most important and exciting periods of British and Irish history: the reign of the first two Stuart kings, from 1567 to the outbreak of civil war in 1642 - and why ultimately all three of their kingdoms were to rise in rebellion against Stuart rule.

Both James VI and I and his son Charles I were reforming monarchs, who endeavoured to bolster the authority of the crown and bring the churches in their separate kingdoms into closer harmony with one another. Many of James's initiatives proved controversial - his promotion of the…


Book cover of Anna of Denmark: The Material and Visual Culture of the Stuart Courts, 1589-1619

Susan Doran Why did I love this book?

I like to get stuck into specialized studies to extend and deepen my historical knowledge. This recent monograph, based on research in Denmark, England, and Scotland, taught me a great deal about how Queen Anna used visual and material culture to forge her own identity and bring prestige to the Jacobean monarchy.

I very much enjoyed reading Field’s descriptions of Anna’s clothes, jewelry, and collecting practices, all of which displayed the queen’s pan-European identity and interests. As a scholar, I am particularly interested in the public image of kings and queens, so this book greatly appealed to me. 

By Jemma Field,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked Anna of Denmark as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Approaching the Stuart courts through the lens of the queen consort, Anna of Denmark, this study is underpinned by three key themes: translating cultures, female agency and the role of kinship networks and genealogical identity for early modern royal women. Illustrated with a fascinating array of objects and artworks, the book follows a trajectory that begins with Anna's exterior spaces before moving to the interior furnishings of her palaces, the material adornment of the royal body, an examination of Anna's visual persona and a discussion of Anna's performance of extraordinary rituals that follow her life cycle. Underpinned by a wealth…


Explore my book 😀

From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I

By Susan Doran,

Book cover of From Tudor to Stuart: The Regime Change from Elizabeth I to James I

What is my book about?

My book tells the dramatic story of the accession and first decade of James I’s reign in England. By 1603, James VI of Scotland had emerged as Elizabeth I’s most likely successor, but he had no easy ride. He faced plots in England, unrest in Ireland, and a parliament opposed to his vision of uniting England and Scotland. There are plentiful stories here and many colourful individuals.

I also discuss how far the establishment of a new Stuart dynasty resulted in fresh personnel at the centre of power, shifts in political culture, and a different direction in governmental policies. To tell this story and answer this question, I draw on a wide range of sources including letters, drama, masques, portraits, and material objects.

Book cover of The Year of Lear: Shakespeare in 1606
Book cover of The Lost Prince: The Life & Death of Henry Stuart
Book cover of Courting India: Seventeenth-Century England, Mughal India, and the Origins of Empire

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Book cover of The Twenty: One Woman's Trek Across Corsica on the GR20 Trail

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Marianne C. Bohr Author Of The Twenty: One Woman's Trek Across Corsica on the GR20 Trail

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Why am I passionate about this?

Author Terminal wanderlust Francophile Outdoors nut Travel writer Introverted

Marianne's 3 favorite reads in 2024

What is my book about?

Marianne Bohr and her husband, about to turn sixty, are restless for adventure. They decide on an extended, desolate trek across the French island of Corsica — the GR20, Europe’s toughest long-distance footpath — to challenge what it means to grow old. Part travelogue, part buddy story, part memoir, The Twenty is a journey across a rugged island of stunning beauty little known outside Europe.

From a chubby, non-athletic child, Bohr grew into a fit, athletic person with an “I’ll show them” attitude. But hiking GR20 forces her to transform a lifetime of hard-won achievements into acceptance of her body…

By Marianne C. Bohr,

Why should I read it?

1 author picked The Twenty as one of their favorite books, and they share why you should read it.

What is this book about?

Great for fans of: Suzanne Roberts's Almost Somewhere, Juliana Buhring's This Road I Ride.


Marianne Bohr and her husband, about to turn sixty, are restless for adventure. They decide on an extended, desolate trek across the French island of Corsica-the GR20, Europe's toughest long-distance footpath-to challenge what it means to grow old. Part travelogue, part buddy story, part memoir, The Twenty is a journey across a rugged island of stunning beauty little known outside Europe.


From a chubby, non-athletic child, Bohr grew into a fit, athletic person with an "I'll show them" attitude. But hiking The Twenty forces her to…


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