Æthelred the Unready
Penguin £6.99
A temperamental leader, written off by many when he came to power in controversial circumstances. A man with complex family relations and a constantly changing cast of allies. A high-energy politician hamstrung by a true national crisis.
Sound familiar? Boris Johnson could profitably leave his classical comfort zone and pick up Richard Abels’s new minibiography of Æthelred the Unready if he needs a cautionary tale
