Charles II: The Man And The Statesman

History Book Club. Very Good/Good +. 1971. Hard Cover. 8vo 368pp, Dust wrapper portrait of Charles II, tiny pieces missing at edges. Original red cover with bright gilt titling to spine. No ownership marks. 16 pages of illustrations on plates. 358 pages clean and tight. Charles II: the Man and the Statesman is the first full-scale study of the king for some forty years. In it Maurice Ashley portrays Charles as a consummate politician, but questions whether he was, in fact, a great statesman. He pictures Charles as clever and resolute, and denies the time-honoured assertions that he was weak-willed, lazy or wholly absorbed in his pleasures by showing the extent of his involvement with his governments' policies and his forceful role in, for example, the exclusion crisis. His personal charm, intelligence and political skill- including a remarkable ability to lie when ever the occasion demanded - made him a highly successful politician. But Dr Ashley suggests that the aims of his policy were unimportant, and that insofar as he sought to win greatness for his kingdom he failed in his objectives. Nearly everything he struggled for was destroyed during the reign of his successor. Illustrated with sixteen pages of plates, including some lesser known portraits of the king and his mistresses, Charles II is a finely-drawn portrait of the man as well as a serious contribution to the history of the seventeenth century. .