A good narrative history of the reign of Stephen written from the point-of-view of the contemporary ruler. The lack of decisiveness to a modern eye is thus pushed aside and Bradbury places the campaigns in the same category as the siege campaigns of the Dutch Revolt. The mixture of politics and military affairs, personality and blind chance are well-shown. Of all the motley characters only Count Geoffrey of Anjou comes through as being in control, a trait he passed to his son Henry II and grandson Richard I. More Book Reviews The Wars of Napoleon The Military Revolution In The Sixteenth Century In Search of The Dark Ages The Viking Art of War The Wars Of Frederick the Great Suleyman The Magnificent And His Age The Hundred Years War For Morocco Battle Tactics of Napoleon and his Enemies Russia's Military Way To The West Fisher's Face Stephen And Matilda: The Civil War of 1139-53 The Anarchy of King Stephen's Reign Swiss Regiments a L'Étranger The Italian Reverse At Adowa Back to Perfidious Albion #92 Table of Contents Back to Perfidious Albion List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1996 by Charles and Teresa Vasey. This article appears in MagWeb (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other military history articles and gaming articles are available at http://www.magweb.com