I really enjoyed this book – it’s well written in a casual kind of style,  and gets to the points we’re interested in today (although I still don’t have much use for long battle details).  I only listened and feel like the graphics etc in the Kindle would have been invaluable. That said, it doesn’t really cover his whole reign – the focus is on the battles with Scotland and Wales.  But that means the subtitle: “The Forging of Britain” is right on.  

A Great and Terrible King: Edward I and the Forging of Britain
By Marc Morris
2015 / 480 pages (hc) 
Read by Ralph Lister – 18h 28m
Rating:  8.75 / medieval history 

From Amazon –
 “Edward I is familiar to millions as “Longshanks,” conqueror of Scotland and nemesis of Sir William Wallace (in Braveheart). Yet this story forms only the final chapter of the king’s action-packed life. Earlier, Edward had defeated and killed the famous Simon de Montfort, traveled to the Holy Land, and conquered Wales. He raised the greatest armies of the Middle Ages and summoned the largest parliaments. Notoriously, he expelled all the Jews from his kingdom.In this book, Marc Morris examines afresh the forces that drove Edward throughout his relentless career: his character, his Christian faith, and his sense of England’s destiny-a sense shaped in particular by the tales of the legendary King Arthur. He also explores the competing reasons that led Edward’s opponents (including Robert Bruce) to resist him.