The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England’s Most Notorious Queen

In 1991 Lucy Hughes-Hallett wrote a book called: Cleopatra: Histories, Dreams and Distortions which was a breath of fresh air. Rather than write yet another biography about a famous queen using the same available historical documents, this book was about the LEGEND of Cleopatra and how portrayals of her in art, literature, tv and film are reflections of time and culture. Like Anne Boleyn, Cleopatra was basically the victim of a "fake news" campaign meant to smear her in her own time, and she has been portrayed in pop culture in many different guises, always evolving with current tastes and values. The Creation of Anne Boleyn is not a biography, but a study of portrayals of Anne Boleyn from her own time to the present day.There are discussions of popular movies, novels and tv shows which you may love or hate. And discussions of the most prominent biographies about her and their biases. I have read all the biographies under discussion, and I have to say I mostly agreed with the authors assessments. I consider the Ives biography to be the most comprehensive and least biased of them all, and I highly recommend that book to anyone just looking for a good biography of Anne Boleyn. There are fun discussions about Phillipa Gregory's novel "The Other Boleyn Girl" and Showtimes "The Tudors". I especially loved the interviews with Natalie Dormer who played Anne Boleyn in the Showtime production: I always thought she had a good deal to do with the vastly higher quality production in Season 2 and now this book confirms it. It is hilarious to read Michael Hirst's comments about the characters of TOBG being middle class American in attitude (they were), when he has his Tudor characters acting like drunken American frat boys, screwing everyone in sight and howling out their sexual frustration or fake orgasms. There is so much slap and tickle in the Tudors that I was either howling with laughter or hitting the fast forward button until they got back to the story. It sounds like Natalie Dormer had to beg them to put some actual real history in the story, and she is definitely the best thing to happen in the Tudors by a long shot. It is interesting how Anne goes blonde in Victorian times, when one of her most discussed physical characteristics in her own time was her dark brunette hair and olive skin which made her stand out in a time when pink skinned blondes were the beauty standard. It is fascinating to watch her evolve in pop culture through the ages from witch to seductress to victim to mean girl to feminine icon. If you are a life long fan of Anne Boleyn like I am, this book gives you a chance to revisit a lot of novels and movies, good and bad.Before the book gets to the pop culture part, there is a brief biography of Anne and the events that led up to her startling fall. One of the most poignant chapters is: "Henry: How Could He Do It"? which discusses various theories about Henry's mental and physical states that might explain how he could be the first person to ever execute an English queen (other problem queens were locked up under house arrest or banished to a nunnery). I have read other biographies, particularly by Weir and Fraser, that attempt to "see things from Henry's point of view". They say she was tried and found guilty under the laws of her time. Yes, the king decided what verdict he wanted and her judges gave the required response to keep their own skins. Henry had sent for the executioner from France even before the trial began, the verdict already decided. No one in her own time ever thought it was a FAIR trial, even Chapuys who loathed her. Since the king was the law of the land, he got his way. I think too many recent biographers of Henry, in order to get away from the old caricatures, portray him too sympathetically. Even for his time, Henry was notorious as someone who could embrace and fawn over a person who had served him faithfully for many years and brutally kill them the next day. The most despotic kings in Europe all thought he was bizarre in his own time, an "English Nero". I like the no excuses approach of this chapter: Henry could have annulled his marriage, set Anne aside, but he chose to execute her instead. He signed the warrant.The only thing that really turned me off about the book was the authors OWN biases based on her feminist agenda. I don't disagree with feminists, I consider myself to be one, but it promotes a more black and white point of view. She disparages Queen Katharine, stating often that she should have just rolled over for the good of the country, that she was stubborn. Katherine bad, Anne good. While I am more in camp Anne than camp Katherine, I could see where Katherine might be considered the feminist as well as Anne. Katherine stood up for her rights and her status. She didn't consider that SHE was the cause of the break with Rome - that was on Henry. She probably saw it as her God given duty to keep him on the righteous path. Why should she have rolled over, given up the high position she was groomed for all her life and set a precedent for other kings to follow? She was the daughter of a highly successful and militant queen, so I'm sure she saw the possibility of Mary succeeding the king rather than a son in a much different light than Henry did. And I think the author ignores Anne's many faults, the main one being she never was able to adopt the temperament to be queen. She was arrogant and made enemies of almost everyone. She was a complex woman who was brave, empathetic to the poor and needy, and a spiritual person, but I feel she is somewhat whitewashed in the biography part of the book to make a feminist point. Then there is the strange feminist discussion about how great it was that the curvy body types of the 1950's gave way to the Audrey Hepburn body type in the '60's as if that is some great accomplishment. Less emphasis on making babies, yes, but some would say the extremely thin boyish body type is difficult or impossible for many modern women to achieve except by extreme dieting and exercise - impossible for big boned women to look like "waifs" no matter how much they diet. I feel that whole section did not contribute a lot to the book and maybe should have been edited. That is small potatoes though compared to the value of the rest of the book.Bottom line: Great read if you love biographies, novels and movies about the Tudors and Anne Boleyn!

Anne Boleyn is one of the most controversial figures in history. She is either a well-loved or a reviled figure. Many who sympathize with Catherine’s plight often describe Anne as a seductress and a dangerous woman. Anne Boleyn sympathizers view her as a feminist icon. Mrs. Bardo delves into history to give a portrait of who the real Anne Boleyn is. She also shows us a modern historian’s view on Anne Boleyn and how Anne has been portrayed in popular media. I thought that Mrs. Bardo did a great job in reconstructing the life of Anne Boleyn. She reminds us that we really do not know the real Anne Boleyn because most of the sources were written by Anne’s enemies. She also did an excellent job in describing Henry’s personality and explored the reason why Henry killed her. She explained that Henry had a tendency of turning on those he loved the most. Thus, she gives us a detailed look at Anne’s romance and why she fell from favor. I also liked how Mrs. Bardo looked at how modern historians have portrayed Anne Boleyn. She claims that David Starkey’s famous biography, The Six Wives of Henry VIII is more of a dramatic soap opera than history. She claims that he portrayed Anne as a woman who cries to Henry in order to get her way (on p. 4). I was a teen when I first read David Starkey’s book, but I do remember he did not paint her in a positive light. She also claims that Mrs. Weir makes many negative suppositions about Anne that are not backed up with evidence. Thus, she advises us to not take these historians words at face value, but to do further research. This is because they have a negative bias to Anne and paint their narrative to fit their agenda. I have to say that I have read many of Alison Weir’s books because she is my favorite historian. She does have a bias in her novel. However, I think that in her books regarding Anne Boleyn, she is very objective and holds a certain amount of sympathy for her. I like how Anne Boleyn has been portrayed in our popular culture. Most see Anne as a femme fatale. She shows how Anne is portrayed in Anne of a Thousand Days. Anne is seen crying and believes that Elizabeth will be queen. In The Tudors, she is also stereotyped in the home-wrecker role. However, she is shown to be a caring mother. She also analyzes Philippa Gregory’s novel, The Other Boleyn Girl. She claims Philippa Gregory’s novel is the most vicious portrayal of Anne Boleyn. She is seen as the Wicked Witch of the West doing whatever is necessary to get her way. She tells us how Philippa Gregory got Anne wrong. I am a huge Philippa Gregory fan, and The Other Boleyn Girl was the first novel to introduce me to her. However, Mrs. Gregory also uses the witch trope a lot. Many of the royals are witches, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Elizabeth Woodville, and Elizabeth of York. Anne as a witch is really nothing new with Philippa Gregory. Her books are usually in the historical fantasy category. Thus, I do not think that Mrs. Gregory’s portrayal of Anne was the cruelest, and that her creation of Anne tainted many people’s view of her. Overall, The Creation of Anne Boleyn gives us an in-depth look at this tragic queen. While I did not agree with some of her views of how she portrays Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory, I was reminded that Anne deserves to be further examined. The novel was very engaging and it was fun to learn how popular culture has shaped our image of Anne. Mrs. Bardo shows that many people throughout the world still love Anne Boleyn. It is clear that the author has an admiration for her subject, and she wrote this book to redefine Anne because she believes that she has been unjustly attacked in history and popular media. This book is obviously written for those who know Anne Boleyn’s story. So, if you do not know much about this queen I suggest you read other biographies prior to reading this. While The Creation of Anne Boleyn may not be the best book in Tudor history, it is still a must-read book for fans of Anne Boleyn!

This book was a fascinating look at how our historical stories about people are shaped through our own cultural lens. Bordo first walks through what is know and unknown about Boleyn, and where historians have taken liberties to fill in the blanks. That alone is quite illuminating, but she then applies her expertise as a media critic to evaluate how people have viewed this infamous woman through the cultural lens of their own times over centuries, and continue to do so today. Bordo really breaks it down in three important ways. First, she separates what is known and what is unknown, stripping away all off the dubious inferences about Boleyn that continue to adhere to her today. Next, she provides important color about what the cultural influences were for Boleyn and the Tudor court, and how to evaluate the remaining historical documents which reference Boleyn within the context of what axe the writer had to grind when they were written. Finally, she walks us through how our understanding of Boleyn has been shaped by the cultural lens of novels, movies and plays, which by their nature are designed to sell stories, and not so much to represent historical accuracy. What sells over time has shaped our understanding of Boleyn in interesting ways. Bordo's writing is very direct, and she manages to infuse personal musings with objective references in a way that is refreshing and at times humorous. Throughout the book, it was easy and somewhat alarming to see how 16th century societal expectations for women continue to be in place centuries later. It was a fascinating read!

I never write reviews to the books I buy because there are so many semi-professionals out there doing it and much better than I ever could. But I really enjoyed this cultural historian's take and loved the 'created' image of Anne Boleyn on the front cover!

Highly readable, interesting and thought provoking. An excellent and refreshing read on Anne Boleyn, I really enjoyed it, and if you love everything AB you must read it. Well done Susan Bordo !

Interesting book about Anne's image over the centuries..the writer enjoys debunking the views of othe historians.

Well worth a read ..a balanced view.Highly entertaining.

I pondered this book for a while before ordering it. I'm glad I bought it. The writer has split the book into two sections: one of which re-examines the known facts of Anne's life leading up to her eventual downfall and execution. Anne comes across as more complicated than one might think - scheming gold digger, or sacrificial lamb for the cause of the new religion, or innocent victim of her mercurial husband? We are presented with a very nuanced take on the situation, including a phsychological profile of Henry the Eighth based on the nature of his pampered, largely female dominated, somewhat disfunctional upbringing. This interpretation of his character,as a spoilt and self-centred man, even in his younger days, shows him as a creature of extremes in his friendships and affections. Many people whom he once loved and lionised (Anne B. included) were turned on eventually, as they somehow "let him down", often in ways that they themselves did not understand. By loving or caring about a person, he was in effect giving them an element of power over him, and this he could not tolerate. This aspect of the book is well presented and well argued. Anne herself swore before witnesses, on the brink of death and trusting in the reality of her immortal soul (which as a believer she could not risk perjuring) that she was innocent of any sexual betrayal of Henry. Would such a devout woman have lied at such a critical moment?The second part concentrates on how we, her public down the centuries, have interpreted her story in all its complexity, in fiction, in film, on TV and in biography. This endless fascination has rendered her simultaneously both extremely familiar and utterly unknowable. Henry as he embarked on a new marriage with Anne's polar opposite (the mild, docile Jane Seymour)had workmen slaving away in all his residences to erase every trace of the doomed second wife, the woman for whom he had defied Christendom. Her cultural memory has not been as easy to obliterate as her portraits, emblems and letters, and she remains a vivid if always elusive presence.Is this a good book? I think so, and will shortly re-read it more slowly. It is certainly different and poses some interesting suggestions as to why Anne's tragedy unfolded as it did.