The Sun Rising
James I and the Dawn of a Global Britain
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The Sun Rising
Narrated by:
Alix Dunmore
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Narrated by:
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Alix Dunmore
About this listen
A panoramic history of the arrival of the Stuarts, and how the reign of King James I saw England reach new corners of the globe
'A majestic, brilliant account of the birth of an empire. Spectacularly good' PETER FRANKOPAN
'With its gripping storytelling combined with historical rigour, The Sun Rising is just the right kind of zesty treatment a neglected period needs. Fresh and fabulous' LUCY WORSLEY
In 1603 England was on the edge of crisis. Queen Elizabeth I had died, bringing the Tudor line to an end.
Enter King James, who reached London after an unprecedented procession from Scotland. James established a new dynasty on the English throne and the first ‘united’ kingdom of England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales was born. The Stuarts had arrived.
But first, this new ‘Great Britain’ had to play catch up. England was behind, but James’s global ambitions began to shift the tide. As ships departed London for America, Russia, Persia, India and Japan, as the fledgling East India Company began to intertwine ever closer with the crown and as the English began to travel beyond the bounds of their island in greater numbers than ever before, the seeds of the future British Empire were sown.
Long overshadowed by the glory of Elizabeth I and the fatal nadir of Charles I, the reign of the first King of Great Britain is at last told in a new light. Taking in everything from the historic voyage of the Mayflower to the alliance between James and the Persian shah over a joint love of silk, The Sun Rising revolutionises our understanding of the early seventeenth century and the figures that forged a global Britain.©2025 Anna Whitelock (P)2025 Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Critic Reviews
A majestic, brilliant account of the birth of an empire. Spectacularly good (PETER FRANKOPAN, author of The Silk Roads)
With its gripping storytelling combined with historical rigour, The Sun Rising is just the right kind of zesty treatment a neglected period needs. Fresh and fabulous (LUCY WORSLEY)
Richly evocative and brilliantly provocative, The Sun Rising transports its readers far from Whitehall in pursuit of James I’s vision for a united, global Britain. From the plantations of Ireland and trading posts in Indonesia to the courts of Russia and Japan, Anna Whitelock’s compelling narrative looks afresh at James I, and at the idea of Britain that emerged during his reign – and which still resonates today (ALICE HUNT, author of Republic: Britain's Revolutionary Decade, 1649-1660)
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