Episode · Conversations with Tyler · 2026-06-24
Books mentioned on Joanne Paul on Thomas More and the Tudor World
Joanne Paul is a historian at the University of Sussex, author, and a go-to Tudor expert on YouTube. She tells Tyler she's drawn to the 16th century because it sits between the medieval and the modern, and because its paths not taken are a way of asking whether our own world had to turn out this way.
Books mentioned, in the order they came up
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Thomas More
Discussed“She’s an expert in the Renaissance and early modern periods, and I very much enjoyed her latest book called Thomas More: A Life, which is on sale now.”
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... In Praise of Folly
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Discussed“Now, as you know, Erasmus wrote quite a bit about Thomas More, including a dedicatory letter in In Praise of Folly. If More was so dogmatic, what about him did Erasmus admire so much?”
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Utopia
Utopia by Thomas More is a foundational sixteenth-century work of political philosophy and satire that famously introduced the word utopia to the English language while depicting an idealized island society.
Discussed“Do you read Thomas More’s Utopia as satire, or Book 2? Do you think he meant it? This is the actual utopia.”
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A Man for All Seasons
Robert Bolt's acclaimed play examines the dramatic downfall of Sir Thomas More, who famously refused to compromise his conscience or endorse King Henry VIII's divorce from Catherine of Aragon.
Discussed“A Man for All Seasons. It’s a famous movie. It’s a portrait of More.”
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Wolf Hall
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel is a meticulously researched historical fiction novel that chronicles the rise of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII.
Discussed“He’s a hero in Man for All Seasons. He’s basically a villain in Wolf Hall. We lose some of that complexity of a contradictory, complex human individual.”
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Tudor Art
Tudor Art by Susie Hodge explores the visual culture, naturalism, and prominent portraiture of the Tudor period in England.
Recommended“I’m not an expert in this. There’s a fantastic book that’s just come out on Tudor art. I’d recommend people go and have a look at that. Yes, Holbein’s naturalism, realism is unmatched at the time.”
Other mentions in this episode (2) — ad reads, self-promotion and passing references, never counted
“Your last book, Thomas More: A Life, was what led to this podcast. Please tell us if you can, what will you do next?”
“It will be called Tyrant, and it will be a portrait of tyranny in the reign of Henry VIII.”