Synopses & Reviews
From the best-selling author of The Places in Between, “a flat-out masterpiece” (New York Times Book Review), an exploration of the Marches—the borderland between England and Scotland—and the people, history, and conflicts that have shaped it In The Places in Between Rory Stewart walked through the most dangerous borderlands in the world. Now he walks along the border he calls home—where political turmoil and vivid lives have played out for centuries across a magnificent natural landscape—to tell the story of the Marches.
In his thousand-mile journey, Stewart sleeps on mountain ridges and in housing estates, in hostels and in farmhouses. Following lines of ancient neolithic standing stones, wading through floods and ruined fields, he walks Hadrian’s Wall with soldiers who have fought in Afghanistan, and visits the Buddhist monks who outnumber Christian monks in the Scottish countryside today. He melds the stories of the people he meets with the region’s political and economic history, tracing the creation of Scotland from ancient tribes to the independence referendum. And he discovers another country buried in history, a vanished Middleland: the lost kingdom of Cumbria.
With every step, Stewart reveals the force of myths and traditions and the endurance of ties that are woven into the fabric of the land itself. A meditation on deep history, the pull of national identity, and home, The Marches is a transporting work from a powerful and original writer.
Review
“This is history at its most epic and thrilling. I would defy anyone not to be right royally entertained by it.” —Tom Holland
Review
“Outstanding . . . Majestic in its sweep, compelling in its storytelling, this is narrative history at its best. A thrilling dynastic history of royal intrigues, violent skullduggery, and brutal warfare across two centuries of British history.”
—Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem
Review
“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, author of She-Wolves
Review
“Jones, a protégé of David Starkey, writes with his mentor's erudition but also exhibits novelistic verve and sympathy. . . . This is a great popular history, whether you are au fait with the machinations of medievalism or whether Magna Carta mystifies you. . . . The Plantagenets is proof that contemporary history can engage with the medieval world with style, wit and chutzpah. It is a long book at more than 600 pages, but remains engaging throughout.” —The Observer (London)
Review
“Jones has written a magnificently rich and glittering medieval pageant, guiding us into the distant world of the Plantagenets with confidence. This riveting history of an all-too-human ruling House amply confirms the arrival of a formidably gifted historian.”
—Sunday Telegraph
Review
“Entertaining and informative . . . Jones cuts through these myths effectively, marshalling primary sources to introduce the reader to the actual men who wore the English crown. . . . Jones’s work benefits from his colourful and engaging style. . . . He has produced an absorbing narrative that will help ensure that the Plantagenet story remains ‘stamped on the English imagination’ for another generation.” —Sunday Times (London)
Review
“The Plantagenets offer a glaring contrast between their even balance of outstanding kings and outstandingly bad ones. This adds to the already exciting dynamics of a dramatic period, captured to great effect in Dan Jones’s big book on a big subject. . . . He succeeds admirably. It is traditional narrative history at its best.” —The Spectator
Review
“This action-packed narrative is, above all, a great story, filled with fighting, personality clashes, betrayal and bouts of the famous Plantagenet rage. . . . Jones is an impressive guide to this tumultuous scene. . . . The Plantagenets succeeds in bringing an extraordinary family arrestingly to life.”
—Daily Telegraph
Review
“An excellent book . . . The Plantagenets is a wonderful gallop through English history. Powerful personalities, vivid descriptions of battles and tournaments, ladies in fine velvet and knights in shining armour crowd the pages of this highly engaging narrative.” —The Evening Standard
Review
“A dashing historian goes swift with a colourful chronicle of the kings who made England. . . . Jones pulls the hectic centuries into a coherent whole.” —The Independent
Review
“Dan Jones' epic portrait of the medieval royals is a timely reminder that things haven't always been so rosy for those on the throne. The House of Plantagenet ruled England for more than two centuries, giving us eight generations of our best and worst kings and queens - and some bloody, brutal and brilliant tales to match.” —GQ
Review
“The risk with a long dynastic history is that it becomes just one damn thing after another, and the reader gets lost in the snowstorm of names and events. Jones avoids this with a combination of gripping storytelling and pin-sharp clarity. . . . The Plantagenets is a satisfying as well as an enjoyable read. There is no need for added goblins in this real life Game of Thrones.”—The Literary Review
Review
“This is an exciting period and Jones describes it with verve. He has a keen appreciation of how power was seized and wielded by medieval monarchs, and the way they manipulated history, religion and symbolism in the service of kingship. . . . Medieval history is enjoying its time in the sun again thanks to some excellent writers. Heaven be praised for that.”
—The New Statesman
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;This is history at its most epic and thrilling. I would defy anyone not to be right royally entertained by it.andrdquo; andmdash;Tom Holland
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;Outstanding . . . Majestic in its sweep, compelling in its storytelling, this is narrative history at its best. A thrilling dynastic history of royal intrigues, violent skullduggery, and brutal warfare across two centuries of British history.andrdquo;
andmdash;Simon Sebag Montefiore, author of Jerusalem
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;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 historyandmdash;a fresh and gloriously compelling portrait of a brilliant, brutal, and bloody-minded dynasty.andrdquo;
andmdash;Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;Jones, a protandeacute;gandeacute; of David Starkey, writes with his mentor's erudition but also exhibits novelistic verve and sympathy.andnbsp;. . . This is a great popularandnbsp;history, whether you are au fait with the machinations of medievalism or whether Magna Carta mystifies you. . . . The Plantagenetsandnbsp;is proof that contemporary history can engage with the medieval world with style, wit and chutzpah. It is a long book at more than 600 pages, but remains engaging throughout.andrdquo; andmdash;The Observer (London)
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;Jones has written a magnificently rich and glittering medieval pageant, guiding us into the distant world of the Plantagenets with confidence. This riveting history of an all-too-human ruling House amply confirms the arrival of a formidably gifted historian.andrdquo;
andmdash;Sunday Telegraph
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;Entertaining and informative . . . Jones cuts through these myths effectively, marshalling primary sources to introduce the reader to the actual men who wore the English crown. . . . Jonesandrsquo;s work benefits from his andshy;colourful and engaging style. . . . He has produced an absorbing narrative that will help ensure that the Plantagenet story remains andlsquo;stamped on the English imaginationandrsquo; for another generation.andrdquo; andmdash;Sunday Times (London)
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;The Plantagenets offer a glaring contrast between their even balance of outstanding kings and outstandingly bad ones. This adds to the already exciting dynamics of a dramatic period, captured to great effect in Dan Jonesandrsquo;s big book on a big subject. . . . He succeeds admirably. It is traditional narrative history at its best.andrdquo; andmdash;The Spectator
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;This action-packed narrative is, above all, a great story, filled with fighting, personality clashes, betrayal and bouts of the famous Plantagenet rage. . . . Jones is an impressive guide to this tumultuous scene. . . . The Plantagenets succeeds in bringing an extraordinary family arrestingly to life.andrdquo;
andmdash;Daily Telegraph
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;An excellent book . . . The Plantagenets is a wonderful gallop through English history. Powerful personalities, vivid descriptions of battles and tournaments, ladies in fine velvet and knights in shining armour crowd the pages of this highly engaging narrative.andrdquo; andmdash;The Evening Standard
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;A dashing historian goes swift with a colourful chronicle of the kings who made England. . . . Jones pulls the hectic centuries into a coherent whole.andrdquo; andmdash;The Independent
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;Dan Jones' epicandnbsp;portrait of the medieval royalsandnbsp;is a timely reminder that thingsandnbsp;haven't always been so rosy forandnbsp;those on the throne. The Houseandnbsp;of Plantagenet ruled Englandandnbsp;for more than two centuries,andnbsp;giving us eight generations ofandnbsp;our best and worst kings andandnbsp;queens - and some bloody,andnbsp;brutal and brilliant tales toandnbsp;match.andrdquo; andmdash;GQ
Review
andnbsp;
andldquo;The risk with a long dynastic history is that it becomes just one damn thing after another, and the reader gets lost in the snowstorm of names and events. Jones avoids this with a combination of gripping storytelling and pin-sharp clarity. . . . The Plantagenets is a satisfying as well as an enjoyable read. There is no need for added goblins in this real life Game of Thrones.andrdquo;andmdash;The Literary Review
Review
andldquo;This is an exciting period and Jones describes it with verve. He has a keen appreciation of how power was seized and wielded by medieval monarchs, and the way they manipulated history, religion and symbolism in the service of kingship. . . .andnbsp;Medieval history is enjoying its time in the sun again thanks to some excellent writers. Heaven be praised for that.andrdquo;
andmdash;The New Statesman
Review
Praise for The Plantagenets
and#8220;Like the medieval chroniclers he quarries for juicy anecdotes, Jones has opted for a bold narrative approach anchored firmly upon the personalities of the monarchs themselves yet deftly marshaling a vast supporting cast of counts, dukes, and bishops. . . . Fast-paced and accessible, The Plantagenets is old-fashioned storytelling and will be particularly appreciated by those who like their history red in tooth and claw. Mr. Jones tackles his subject with obvious relish.and#8221;
and#8212;The Wall Street Journal
and#8220;Delicious . . . Jones has produced a rollicking, compelling book produced a rollicking, compelling book about a rollicking, compelling dynasty, one that makes the Tudors who followed them a century later look like ginger pussycats. . . . The Plantagenets is told with the latest historical evidence and rich in detail and scene-setting. You can almost smell the sea salt as the White Ship sinks, and hear the screams of the tortured at the execution grounds at Tyburn.and#8221;
and#8212;USA Today
and#8220;Jones has brought the Plantagenets out of the shadows, revealing them in all their epic heroism and depravity. His is an engaging and readable accountand#8212;itself an accomplishment given the gaps in medieval sources and a 300-year tableauand#8212;and yet researched with the exacting standards of an academician. The result is an enjoyable, often harrowing journey through a bloody, insecure era in which many of the underpinnings of English kingship and and#172;Anglo-American constitutional thinking were formed.and#8221;
and#8212;The Washington Post
and#8220;Brilliant and entertaining . . . a set of fine vignettes relating dynastic life, death, war, peace, governance, and palace intrigues. The result is a history book that frequently reads like a novel and can be opened to any chapter.and#8221;
and#8212;Tampa Bay Times
and#8220;Blood-soaked medieval England springs to vivid life in Jonesand#8217;s highly readable, authoritative, and assertive history.and#8221;
and#8212;Publishers Weekly
and#8220;They may lack the glamour of the Tudors or the majesty of the Victorians, but the Plantagenets are just as essential to the foundation of modern Britain. . . . The great battles against the Scots and French and the subjugation of the Welsh make for thrilling reading but so do the equally enthralling struggles over succession, the Magna Carta, and the Provisions of Oxford. . . . Written with prose that keeps the reader captivated throughout accounts of the span of centuries and the not-always-glorious trials of kingship, this book is at all times approachable, academic, and entertaining.and#8221;
and#8212;Booklist
and#8220;A novelistic historical account of the bloodline that and#8216;stamped their mark forever on the English imaginationand#8217; . . . Perhaps Jonesand#8217; regular column in the London Standard has given him a different slant on history; however he manages, itand#8217;s certainly to our benefit. . . . For enjoyable historical narratives, this book is a real winner.and#8221;
and#8212;Kirkus Reviews
and#8220;Outstanding . . . Majestic in its sweep, compelling in its storytelling, this is narrative history at its best. A thrilling dynastic history of royal intrigues, violent skullduggery, and brutal warfare across two centuries of British history.and#8221;
and#8212;Simon Sebag Montefiore, bestselling author of Jerusalem: The Biography
and#8220;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 historyand#8212;a fresh and gloriously compelling portrait of a brilliant, brutal, and bloody-minded dynasty.and#8221;
and#8212;Helen Castor, author of She-Wolves: The Women Who Ruled England before Elizabeth
and#8220;This is history at its most epic and thrilling. I would defy anyone not to be right royally entertained by it.and#8221;
and#8212;Tom Holland
and#8220;Jones has written a magnificently rich and glittering medieval pageant, guiding us into the distant world of the Plantagenets with confidence. This riveting history of an all-too-human ruling House amply confirms the arrival of a formidably gifted historian.and#8221;
and#8212;Sunday Telegraph
and#8220;Entertaining and informative . . . Jones has produced an absorbing narrative that will help ensure that the Plantagenet story remains and#8216;stamped on the English imaginationand#8217; for another generation.and#8221;
and#8212;Sunday Times (London)
and#8220;Traditional narrative history at its best.and#8221;
and#8212;The Spectator
and#8220;Jones, a protand#233;gand#233; of David Starkey, writes with his mentor's erudition but also exhibits novelistic verve and sympathy. . . . This is a great popular history, whether you are au fait with the machinations of medievalism or whether Magna Carta mystifies you. . . . The Plantagenets is proof that contemporary history can engage with the medieval world with style, wit and chutzpah.and#8221;
and#8212;The Observer (London)
and#8220;This action-packed narrative is, above all, a great story, filled with fighting, personality clashes, betrayal and bouts of the famous Plantagenet rage. . . . Jones is an impressive guide to this tumultuous scene. . . . The Plantagenets succeeds in bringing an extraordinary family arrestingly to life.and#8221;
and#8212;Daily Telegraph
and#8220;An excellent book . . . The Plantagenets is a wonderful gallop through English history. Powerful personalities, vivid descriptions of battles and tournaments, ladies in fine velvet and knights in shining armour crowd the pages of this highly engaging narrative.and#8221;
and#8212;The Evening Standard
Review
Praise for The Wars of the Roses
“Its not often that a book manages to be both scholarly and a page-turner, but British historian Jones succeeds on both counts in this entertaining follow-up to his bestselling The Plantagenets. . . . He sets a new high-water mark in the current revisionism of the Tudor era.”
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)
“Jones authoritatively sets the scene for the 15th-century succession crises . . . valiantly pared down for fluid readability.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Exhilarating, epic, blood-and-roses history. There are battles fought in snowstorms, beheadings, jousts, clandestine marriages, spurious genealogies, flashes of chivalry and streaks of pure malovelence. . . . Joness material is thrilling, but it is quite a task to sift, select, structure, and contextualize the information. There is fine scholarly intuition on display here and a mastery of the grand narrative; it is a supremely skilful piece of storytelling.”
—The Sunday Telegraph
“Joness greatest skill as a historical writer is to somehow render sprawling, messy epochs such as this one into manageable, easily digestible matter; he is keenly tuned to what should be served up and what should be omitted. And he still finds rooms for the telling anecdote and vivid descriptive passage. It makes for an engrossing read and a thoroughly enjoyable introduction to the Lancastrian-Yorkist struggle.”
—The Spectator
“A fine new history . . . Tautly structured, elegantly written, and finely attuned to the values and sensibilities of the age, The Wars of the Roses is probably the best introduction to the conflict currently in print.”
—The Mail on Sunday
“Jones is a born storyteller, peopling the terrifying uncertainties of each moment with a superbly drawn cast of characters and powerfully evoking the brutal realities of civil war. With gripping urgency he shows this calamitous conflict unfold.” —The Evening Standard (London) “Jones tells a good story. That is a good thing, since storytelling has gone out of favor among so many historians. . . . He admits that the era is at times incomprehensible, yet he manages to impose upon it sufficient order to render this book both edifying and utterly entertaining. His delightful wit is as ferocious as the dreadful violence he describes.”
—The Times (London)
Synopsis
Outstanding . . . A thrilling history of royal intrigues, violent skullduggery and brutal warfare. Simon Sebag Montefiore
From the author of Magna Carta: The Birth of Liberty
The first Plantagenet king inherited a blood-soaked kingdom from the Normans and transformed it into an empire stretched at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. In this epic history, Dan Jones vividly resurrects this fierce and seductive royal dynasty and its mythic world. We meet the captivating Eleanor of Aquitaine, twice queen and the most famous woman in Christendom; her son, Richard the Lionheart, who fought Saladin in the Third Crusade; and King John, a tyrant who was forced to sign Magna Carta, which formed the basis of our own Bill of Rights. This is the era of chivalry, of Robin Hood and the Knights Templar, the Black Death, the founding of Parliament, the Black Prince, and the Hundred Year s War. It will appeal as much to readers of Tudor history as to fans of Game of Thrones."
Synopsis
The
New York Times bestseller that tells the story of Britain's greatest and worst dynasty--"a real-life
Game of Thrones" (
The Wall Street Journal)
--by the author of
The Templars The first Plantagenet king inherited a blood-soaked kingdom from the Normans and transformed it into an empire stretched at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. In this epic history, Dan Jones vividly resurrects this fierce and seductive royal dynasty and its mythic world. We meet the captivating Eleanor of Aquitaine, twice queen and the most famous woman in Christendom; her son, Richard the Lionheart, who fought Saladin in the Third Crusade; and King John, a tyrant who was forced to sign Magna Carta, which formed the basis of our own Bill of Rights. This is the era of chivalry, of Robin Hood and the Knights Templar, the Black Death, the founding of Parliament, the Black Prince, and the Hundred Year's War. It will appeal as much to readers of Tudor history as to fans of Game of Thrones.
Synopsis
andldquo;Outstanding . . . A thrilling history of royal intrigues, violent skullduggery and brutal warfare.andrdquo; andmdash;Simon Sebag Montefiore The first Plantagenet king inherited a blood-soaked kingdom from the Normans and transformed it into an empire stretched at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. In this epic history, Dan Jones vividly resurrects this fierce and seductive royal dynasty and its mythic world. We meet the captivating Eleanor of Aquitaine, twice queen and the most famous woman in Christendom; her son, Richard the Lionheart, who fought Saladin in the Third Crusade; and King John, a tyrant who was forced to sign Magna Carta, which formed the basis of our own Bill of Rights. This is the era of chivalry, of Robin Hood and the Knights Templar, the Black Death, the founding of Parliament, the Black Prince, and the Hundred Yearandrsquo;s War. It will appeal as much to readers of Tudor history as to fans of Game of Thrones.
Synopsis
andldquo;Outstanding . . . A thrilling history of royal intrigues, violent skullduggery and brutal warfare.andrdquo; andmdash;Simon Sebag Montefiore The first Plantagenet king inherited a blood-soaked kingdom from the Normans and transformed it into an empire stretched at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. In this epic history, Dan Jones vividly resurrects this fierce and seductive royal dynasty and its mythic world. We meet the captivating Eleanor of Aquitaine, twice queen and the most famous woman in Christendom; her son, Richard the Lionheart, who fought Saladin in the Third Crusade; and King John, a tyrant who was forced to sign Magna Carta, which formed the basis of our own Bill of Rights. This is the era of chivalry, of Robin Hood and the Knights Templar, the Black Death, the founding of Parliament, the Black Prince, and the Hundred Yearandrsquo;s War. It will appeal as much to readers of Tudor history as to fans of Game of Thrones.
Synopsis
The New York Times bestseller that tells the story of Britains greatest and worst dynastya real-life Game of Thrones” (The Literary Review) A stunning achievement that brings one of the most tumultuous and fascinating periods of British history to life, The Plantagenets transports readers to the era of chivalry and the Crusades, the Black Death and the Hundred Years War. The first Plantagenet king inherited a broken, bloodsoaked realm from the Normans and transformed it into an empire that would stretch at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. His descendants and their fiery queens, including Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, Edward II, and King John, shaped England into the country we recognize today and gave it many of the laws, contracts, and bodies of governancelike Parliament and the Magna Cartathat would shape our own nation.
The Plantagenets will appeal to fans of Game of Thrones, as well as to anyone who has curled up with a history of Henry VIII or Queen Elizabeth and marveled at the cunning, the treachery, and the seductiveness of Englands most illustrious monarchs.
Synopsis
From the New York Times-bestselling author of The Places in Between, an exploration of the landscape of his home on the borderland between England and Scotland - known as the Marches -- and the history, people, and conflicts that shape it
Synopsis
The author of the New York Times bestseller The Plantagenets chronicles the next chapter in British historyand#151;the historical backdrop for Game of Thrones
The crown of England changed hands five times over the course of the fifteenth century, as two branches of the Plantagenet dynasty fought to the death for the right to rule. In this riveting follow-up toand#160;The Plantagenets, celebrated historian Dan Jones describes how the longest-reigning British royal family tore itself apart until it was finally replaced by the Tudors.
Some of the greatest heroes and villains of history were thrown together in these turbulent times, from Joan of Arc to Henry V, whose victory at Agincourt marked the high point of the medieval monarchy, and Richard III, who murdered his own nephews in a desperate bid to secure his stolen crown. This was a period when headstrong queens and consorts seized power and bent men to their will. With vivid descriptions of the battles of Towton and Bosworth, where the last Plantagenet king was slain, this dramatic narrative history revels in bedlam and intrigue. It also offers a long-overdue corrective to Tudor propaganda, dismantling their self-serving account of what they called the Wars of the Roses.
and#160;
Synopsis
From the author of the New York Times bestseller The Plantagenets, a short, lively, action-packed history of how the Magna Carta came to be
The Magna Carta is revered around the world as the founding document of Western liberty. Its principles can be found in our Bill of Rights and in the Constitution. But what was this strange document that dwells on tax relief and greater fishing rights, and how did it gain legendary status?
Dan Jones takes us back to 1215, the turbulent year when the Magna Carta was just a peace treaty between Englands King John and a group of self-interested, violent barons who were tired of his high taxes and endless foreign wars. The treaty would fail within two months of its confirmation.
But this important document marked the first time a king was forced to obey his own laws. Joness 1215 follows the story of the Magna Cartas creation, its failure, and the war that subsequently engulfed England and is book that will appeal to fans of microhistories of pivotal years like 1066, 1491, and especially 1776when American patriots, inspired by that long-ago defiance, dared to pick up arms against another English king.
Synopsis
The dramatic and blood-soaked story of a tumultuous chapter in British historyfrom the New York Timesbestselling author of The Plantagenets
In this riveting follow-up to The Plantagenets, Dan Jones describes how the longest-reigning British royal family tore itself apart in a brutal blood feud and succumbed to the unlikely Tudors. Treachery and intrigue ruled the land. Some of the great heroes and villains of history were thrown together in these turbulent timesfrom Henry V, whose victory at Agincourt and prudent rule marked the high point of the medieval monarchy, to Richard III, who murdered his own nephews in a desperate bid to secure his stolen crown. A long-overdue corrective to Tudor propaganda, this masterful and compulsively readable narrative dismantles the Tudors self-serving account of what they called the Wars of the Roses.
Synopsis
The New York Times bestseller that tells the story of Britainand#8217;s greatest and worst dynastyand#151;and#147;a real-life Game of Thronesand#8221; (The Literary Review) A stunning achievement that brings one of the most tumultuous and fascinating periods of British history to life, The Plantagenets transports readers to the era of chivalry and the Crusades, the Black Death and the Hundred Years War. The first Plantagenet king inherited a broken, bloodsoaked realm from the Normans and transformed it into an empire that would stretch at its peak from Scotland to Jerusalem. His descendants and their fiery queens, including Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lionheart, Edward II, and King John, shaped England into the country we recognize today and gave it many of the laws, contracts, and bodies of governanceand#151;like Parliament and the Magna Cartaand#151;that would shape our own nation.
The Plantagenets will appeal to fans of Game of Thrones, as well as to anyone who has curled up with a history of Henry VIII or Queen Elizabeth and marveled at the cunning, the treachery, and the seductiveness of Englandand#8217;s most illustrious monarchs.
About the Author
RORY STEWART is the bestselling author of The Places in Between and The Prince of the Marshes. A former director of the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy and Ryan Professor of Human Rights at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, he was awarded the Order of the British Empire for services in Iraq. He is the Conservative Member of Parliament for Penrith and The Border, a constituency in Northern Cumbria, where he lives with his wife.