When I was in college, I got to go to Europe with my family a few times. When we were in London, one of my favorite things we did was go to the Tower. If you ever find yourself there, I cannot urge you strongly enough to do the tour. It was super interesting and informative and maybe I am just a dummy, because I did not realize until we got there that the Tower isn’t just…a tower. It’s a whole fortress! It was awesome.
There are many towers in the world: Eiffel, Sears (I know it has some other name now, I don’t care), Leaning of Pisa. But when you say “the tower”, people usually know you’re referring to the Tower of London. Maybe it’s because we’ve all heard about Henry VIII sending Anne Boleyn there before she was executed. But she was also there before her coronation! Nigel Jones’ Tower explores the many lives of the Tower: as fortress, as royal residence, as prison, and these days, as tourist attraction, in a comprehensive history.
It shouldn’t be surprising that the Tower has seen such varied uses: it’s been around for nearly 1000 years. The central building, the White Tower, was initially built by William the Conqueror, and subsequent kings added on to that base. It once was the home of a small zoo, with lions and bears and even an elephant. During periods of civil war, possession of the Tower and its significant munitions stockpiles proved crucial to victory. The place’s reputation began to take a sinister turn when Edward IV’s sons went in and never came out, and Henry VIII sent the wives who had displeased him there to be executed. But clever escape attempts could prove successful! Roger Mortimer got out, as did Sir John Oldcastle, among several others. The last execution was held there during World War I, and London’s notorious Kray Twins were the last prisoners held there, during the 1950s.
Jones uses the story of the Tower, and the people who lived, were held, and/or died there, to give a reader a tour of English royal history. Because of the prominence of the building, this proves an effective technique. Though it kind of loses steam at the end as the modern era approaches, there are still hundreds of years recounted. This is a LOT of information. It’s organized thematically but roughly chronologically, which works well…too much jumping forwards and backwards in time would have rendered it hopelessly confusing, but the thematic grouping helps it feel like more than just a slog through dates and names.
It’s not a particularly long nonfiction book, a little over 400 pages, but it’s a dense one. I personally very much enjoy English royal history, but even for me it ended up dragging at times. Jones’s writing is lively enough, but there’s just so much there that it starts to run together. Some of the material probably could have been cut down or streamlined a little bit, because as is it feels like it’s stuck in an awkward middle ground: too much for many more casual readers, but it’s not formal enough to really be for an expert or academic. This book is a solid bet if you, like me, come in with a fundamental understanding of English history and a desire to know more, particularly about the royal families that have governed the country. But block out some dedicated time for this one, it’s not the kind of book that rewards a lot of picking up and putting down. I liked reading it, and felt like I learned a lot from it, but it’s not for everyone.