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
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