*A TIMES AND TELEGRAPH BOOK OF THE YEAR*WHAT CAUSED THE FALL OF THE MOST PROGRESSIVE GOVERNMENT IN TWENTIETH-CENTURY EUROPE, AND THE RISE OF THE MOST TERRIFYING?

The brilliantly compelling new biography of the treacherous and tyrannical King John, published to coincide with the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. King John is familiar to everyone as the villain from the tales of Robin Hood — greedy, cowardly, despicable and cruel.