Richard II: A True King's Fall

Richard II is a figure famous in England's national myths—the king who went insane, the narcissist, the tyrant of Shakespeare's play. History regards his rule either as that of a superhuman monarch or a crazed and vicious ruler. But Richard II was a complex and conflicted man—a person with faults and shortcomings thrust into a role that demanded greatness. In this book, Kathryn Warner returns with the first modern biography of Richard II in decades, to paint a portrait of the king with all of his strengths and imperfections left in the picture. An aesthete and patron of the arts as well as a person troubled by a much-maligned "personality disorder," Richard II here emerges from behind the mask of a theatrical character.
New paperback edition - A new biography re-examining the complex and fascinating king, whose very humanity saw him deposed from his divine role.