Book "The Gospel According to Lost" by Chris Seay

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Book “The White Horse King – The Life of Alfred The Great” by Benjamin Merkle

In the process of remaking our blog to a brand new domain, the archived post has been transferred to:

This is a biography from King Alfred of Wessex written by Benjamin Merkle in 2009. It was published by Thomas Nelson also in 2009 and they were kind enough to send me a copy for reviewing through the Thomas Nelson Book Review Bloggers Program.

The book tells us the story of Alfred, fifth son of King AEthelwulf from Wessex, far in line of succession to the throne and not likely to end up being the heir of the throne. Merkle describes with vivid language the struggle of Alfred, losing his mother and all his brothers one by one till he became king of Wessex in 871AD and later king of the Anglo-Saxons. We see his learning experience with the Dane Vikings invasion on Britain. The book teaches us the importance of Alfred on the development of military tactics, planning of roads, economy, and his effort on spreading Christianity, even among his enemies. He was also very important on the revival of literacy, education, and law codes.

Benjamin Merkle did a magnificent research job and he had all the elements necessary to compose a very boring book, but instead he transformed his research into a very enjoyable reading experience. It is a very inspirational book where we learn a lot about loyalty. If only our politicians have half the willing that Alfred had for protecting his people, we would be in a better place now. I never learned properly ancient British history and I am not that much into Biographies but definitely this book is an excellent reading choice and also a learning opportunity.

Pages: 256

My Rate: 4 Stars