My new book, ‘The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings Who Invented England’ will be published by Harper Press on 1 April 2012. It is a family portrait of England’s greatest medieval royal family, sweeping through eight generations of history from the creation of the vast Plantagenet empire in the twelfth century to the majestic tyranny of Richard II.
Here are some very kind things that those who have read it in advance have said:
“Dan Jones’ The Plantagenets is outstanding. Majestic in its sweep, compelling in its storytelling, this is narrative history at its best. A thrilling dynastic history of royal intrigues, violent skulduggery and brutal warfare across two centuries of British history.”
SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE, best-selling author of Jerusalem: The Biography
“The Plantagenets played a defining part in shaping the nation of England, and Dan Jones tells their fascinating story with wit, verve and vivid insight. This is exhilarating history – a fresh and gloriously compelling portrait of a brilliant, brutal and bloody-minded dynasty.”
HELEN CASTOR, best-selling author of She-Wolves
You can pre-order ‘The Plantagenets’ here







Peasants online
I am both a medieval nerd and a neophile. So I will be following with interest the links between the fourteenth century and new forms of electronic publishing in 2010, not least because Summer of Blood is now available to buy on Amazon Kindle.
Many of my fellow writers are suspicious of e-Books and e-readers, worrying that they will displace the printed book entirely, to the ruin of authors, detriment of humanity etc. I have mixed feelings, erring ever-more towards being very excited by the possibilities of e-publishing, once a really good portable device hits the market. (Probably this will be the iSlate/iPad/iWhatever.)
This thought came to me as I was reading John Naughton’s excellent piece on Kindlemania in today’s MediaGuardian.