Book Review: MacCulloch’s The Boy King

Diarmaid MacCulloch delivered the 1998 Birkbeck Lectures at Cambridge University which he expanded into this book. In The Boy King, MacCulloch addresses the six-year reign of King Edward VI (1547- 1553): what led up to his enthronement, the issues, challenges and accomplishments of his reign, and the lasting effects on church and society of a young king determined to land the newly formed Church of England in, what came to be called, Protestantism.