Dan Jones is the New York Times bestselling author of The Templars, The Plantagenets, Wars of the Roses, and Magna Carta. He wrote and presented the popular Netflix series Secrets of Great British Castles and appeared alongside George R.R. Martin in the official HBO film exploring the real history behind Game of Thrones. He is the historical consultant to Knightfall, an A&E drama on the legend of the Templars produced by Jeremy Renner.
“When it comes to rip-roaring medieval narratives, Jones has few
peers, and in The Templars he finds the perfect subject.
The warrior monks have always appealed to conspiracy
theorists, and although Jones strips away the myths, he has great
fun recounting their bloodthirsty crusading exploits.” -- The
Sunday Times, History Book of the Year
"Dan Jones gives no credence to the conspiratorial fantasies that
have been spun around the Templars over the years . . . His aim is
to present a gripping historical narrative, and in this he succeeds
. . . Religions collide and atrocities abound. Cries of 'Allahu
akhbar' pierce the din of battle. The power of states is
threatened, or seen to be threatened, by unaccountable forces with
global tentacles. Information is unreliable and easily manipulated,
allowing conspiracy theories to take root and spread." - Cullen
Murphy, The Washington Post
"Dan Jones has created a gripping page-turner out of the dramatic
history of the Templars, from their spiritual warrior beginnings
until their tragic destruction by the French king and the pope. It
is genuinely moving and a chilling contemporary warning about the
abuse of power through persecution and lies."
-- Philippa Gregory, author of The White Queen
“They combined the warrior code of aristocratic knights with the
poverty and religious devotion of monks. …In Jones’s bravura
account, this tension between aristocratic killer and humble monk
shadows the Templar story. Jones’s fast-paced history is laced with
tales of blood and bravery, disaster and victory. . . . Drawing on
Christian and Muslim sources, he carries the Templars through the
crusades with clarity and verve. This is unabashed narrative
history, fast-paced and full of incident.” – The Sunday
Times
“Gripping… Jones tells the story of the Templars with energy and
verve, regalling readers with well-chosen details and anecdotes.
The Templars became poster boys of the early middle ages, famed for
their piety and their military prowess. It was an intoxicating
combination... The author’s ambition, he says, is 'to write a book
that will entertain as well as inform.' He has done precisely
that.” – Peter Frankopan, The Telegraph
"Business chiefs listen up, especially in the world of big tech
where egos are becoming rather inflated . . . There's a vital
message for those who get too powerful tucked into this new
book: One day you'll draw the ire of someone more powerful,
and they will attempt to destroy you. The caution, although not
explicit, comes in the epic story of the warrior monks known as the
Knights Templar whose activities have given rise to much
speculation and theories, some reasonable and some absurd. Expert
history writer Dan Jones digs deep for the facts and chronicles
their history… Jones recounts the gruesome battles in the Holy Land
where the warriors fought to either take or hold key positions. If
you have any illusion that war was ever glamorous, then these
passages should be a quick antidote.” – Simon Constable,
Forbes
“The story of the Templars, the ultimate holy warriors, is an
extraordinary saga of fanaticism, bravery, treachery and betrayal,
and in Dan Jones they have a worthy
chronicler. Templars is a wonderful book!”
— Bernard Cornwell, author of The Last Kingdom
"This is a fascinating story of fanaticism, set in a land still
known for its brutality and strife. Jones is an entertainer,
but also a fine historian who knows how to render serious
scholarship into accessible prose. Seldom does one find serious
history that is so easy to read." -- The Times (London)
“A fresh, muscular and compelling history of the ultimate
military-religious crusading order, combining sensible
scholarship with narrative swagger, featuring a cast of exuberantly
monstrous sword swingers spattering Christian and Islamic blood
from Spain to Jerusalem.”
-- Simon Sebag Montefiore author of Jerusalem: The Biography
"In this thrillingly lucid account, Dan Jones demystifies the
Templars in a story spanning hundreds of years and countless
rulers, knights and archbishops, a seemingly disproportionate
number of whom ended up beheaded . . . Anyone who has read Jones’s
earlier medieval chronicles will know what to expect here:
fast-paced narrative history depicted with irresistible verve,
bloody battle scenes and moments of laugh-out-loud wit. There are
contemporary parallels, too, with the Templars eventually being
laid low by the medieval equivalent of a kind of 'fake news':
anti-Templar propaganda spread by the church. This is another
triumphant tale from a historian who writes as addictively as any
page-turning novelist."
--The Guardian
“Thank God this book is sane… Jones tells the engrossing story of
an ascetic order of warrior knights chiefly dedicated to the
defense of pilgrims on the road to Jerusalem… Templars is based on
a wide-ranging and thorough research and relies overwhelmingly on
primary sources… It reads like a morality tale.”
– Robert Irwin, Literary Review
“An up-close look at the legendary band of Crusaders. Jones
examines the storied Templars, an organization of quasi-monastic
warriors who rose to fame and power in the midst of the Crusades,
only to rapidly collapse in questionable scandals . . . A meaty,
well-researched history replete with primary source quotes [and]
accessible to general readers. An exceptional introduction to the
Templars.”
--Kirkus Reviews (starred)
“With engaging liveliness . . . Jones chronicles the Templars’
actual record of great military achievement, fiduciary
responsibility, exceptional faithfulness, and lasting
cultural significance.”
--Booklist
Praise for Dan Jones’s The Plantagenets:
“A real life Game of Thrones, as dramatic and blood-soaked as
any work of fantasy . . . 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.” —The Wall Street Journal
“The Plantagenets is rich in detail and scene-setting. . . . The
Plantagenets’ saga is the story of how English monarchs learned, or
failed to learn, how to be kings, and how the English people,
commoners and barons alike, learned how to limit their powers.”
—USA Today
“Jones has brought the Plantagenets out of the shadows, revealing
them in all their epic heroism and depravity. His is an engaging
and readable account . . . researched with exacting standards. [A]
compelling reading.” —The Washington Post
“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 Young Stalin
“Some of the greatest stories in all of English history . . . rich
in pageantry and soaked in blood.”
—Lewis Lapham, Lapham’s Quarterly
“Dan Jones’s epic portrait of the medieval royals is a timely
reminder that things haven’t always been so rosy for those on the
throne.” —GQ
Praise for Dan Jones’s The Wars of the Roses:
“Exhilarating, epic, blood-and-roses history . . . Thrilling. There
is fine scholarly intuition on display here and a mastery of the
grand narrative; it is a supremely skillful piece of storytelling.”
—The Sunday Telegraph
“An engrossing read and thoroughly enjoyable.” —The Spectator
“If you’re a fan of Game of Thrones or The Tudors, then Dan Jones’
swashbucklingly entertaining slice of medieval history will be
right up your alley. . . . Every bit as entertaining and readable
as his previous blockbuster The Plantagenets.” —Daily Express
“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.” —The Evening
Standard
“Jones tells a good story. That is a good thing, since storytelling
has gone out of favor among so many historians. . . . His
delightful wit is as ferocious as the dreadful violence he
describes.”—The Times (London)
Praise for Dan Jones’s Magna Carta:
“Lively and excellent.”
—The New York Times
“Excellent and very well crafted.”
—The New York Review of Books
“Dan Jones has an enviable gift for telling a dramatic story while
at the same time inviting us to consider serious topics like
liberty and the seeds of representative government.”
—Antonia Frasier
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