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I've used Christopher Haigh's Elizabeth I in the "Profiles in Power" series; it's short, lively, readable, and organized not as a biography but in chapters focusing on E. in her various spheres (The Queen and the Court, the Queen and the People, etc.). Haigh is more opinionated than balanced, but this is useful for discussion, esp. since I use the text in a course focusing primarily on Sidney and Spenser. Haigh presumes a little too much familiarity with the players in the Tudor court for my students' background, but they seem to deal with that aspect o.k. The last "straight" bio I used was Christopher Hibbert's "Elizabeth, Genius of the Golden Age," but I prefer the Haigh book. Renée Pigeon Professor, Department of English, CSUSB 5500 University Parkway San Bernardino, CA 92407-2397 (909) 880-5896