Book Description

"A splendid book with two absorbing subjects. . . This is history at its most enjoyable."-Sunday Times (London) Henry VIII's sisters, neglected by generations of historians, affected the lives of their contemporaries much more forcefully than did any of their brother's famous six wives. In The Sisters of Henry VIII, Maria Perry brings history alive by examining the lives of these extraordinary women and their influence on Europe in the Tudor Age. Margaret became queen of Scotland at age thirteen; family members arranged beautiful Mary's betrothal to the aging King of France when she was twelve. But both women chose their second husbands for love: Margaret married and divorced twice after Henry's advancing armies slaughtered her first husband and kidnapped her children; Mary risked execution by proposing to the handsome Duke of Suffolk. Groundbreaking in both depth and scope, Perry's work rescues two remarkable princesses from the shadows of history and offers a fresh interpretation of a royal family and an era sure to fascinate readers of Alison Weir and Antonia Fraser. ... Read more

Reviews (9)

A very interesting book
This was a book I really liked. I found it facinating to read about another two members of the Tudor family. Maybe the most interesting thing about the Tudor family is how they managed to rule, or simply survive, in a time when cruelty, power struggles and dominance over women were common.

In this book Maria Perry tells us about the sisters' childhood and family background, as well as about their adult lives. In both cases the sisters had to marry a king as part of their father's attempt to keep or make allies, and not for love.

The eldest sister Margaret soon ended up as my favourite. She came across as a strong and couragious woman. In a time when women had no power, she fought to take control over her own life. When she was widowed and still pregnant, her brother tried to arrange a wedding for her. But Margaret wanted to marry based on her own choice, something her brother Henry VIII disliked. Later on she had to fight in order to keep her children, since they as heirs to the throne could be used as tools to rule the country by scroupulous men.

Very enjoyable and detailed History
Perry writes about the lesser known subject of Henry VIII's two sisters, Margaret and Mary who became Queen of Scotland and Queen of France respectively. It's really a review of his whole family, which shows that his sisters, even as political pawns were much more involved in events than wife focused biographies and legends would generally show. There is some early discussion of their parents, Henry VII and his Queen, Elizabeth of York, which shows how they inherited the royal propensity for pagentry and how, Perry's descriptions are sumptuous, the emphasis on sartorial wealth and jewels was really the political rhetoric of the day. More than that, it seems also have been a business, and many conflicts and wars can be explained by the need for the Tudors to pay for all their nice clothes and jewels--even, or especially, they owed money--so that they can keep being royals. Perry is as assiduous about the financial details as she is avid about the fashion details, and even if you aren't quite sure what the numbers mean the story is always readable, imaginative and intriguing, leaving its share of Historical what-ifs. (What if Mary's long-term youthful betrothal to Charles V of Spain had been honored, for example?) As one might expect Katherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn get their fair share of mention, but the context of their tribulations seems at once more mundane and more majestic.

For True Lovers Of Historical Biographies Only
--Because this book, for the most part, except when the author decides to basically abandon a person or issue in it, is loaded with details. If you are interested in the life and times of Henry VIII, his relatives, friends and enemies, then you will likely forgive the author's apologist attitudes toward him (and her seemingly hyper-critical eye, in my view, of his sisters). If you are relatively thick-skinned about writers who do that, weaving their own opinions through the story they are telling, while supposedly presenting historical fact, you will find this book very interesting and fairly absorbing. There are a lot of minute details about banquets, clothes and social behavior, which are a lot of fun to read and know about, again, if you're interested in the first place. Which I am, so I liked this book.

I Didn't Even Finish It
Disappointing. I kept hoping for something new, some tidbit of information which had just been discovered and never published before. It didn't happen. The only thing that was confirmed was that Margaret had it alot tougher than Mary and that detail had been found before in other biographies of Henry VIII. To my mind, King Henry figured too prominently in this book.

Why was this book even published?
This book, to put it bluntly, was utterly disappointing. Though the book sports a title that leaves little doubt as to whom the subjects are, it would be more accurate to read "Henry VIII's Interactions with his Sisters and Their Families". Little of the text relates to the personal lives and feelings of the women; most is dedicated to political happenings and of Henry VIII's life. The writing style of Perry is pathetic, as she often changes topics in the middle of a paragraph or goes on about some event that didn't have much or nothing to do with the sisters in the first place. Perry managed to write only a few sentences about the death of Margaret's early children (and none at all about how she felt about it) while writing pages on how many yards of cloth of gold were used for one of Cardinal Wolsey's parties. At times I had to put the book down, I was so annoyed. Sometimes, I found the wording was so confusing that I had to look up the events in another book or read over the text a few good times to perceive just what was going on. At the end, the book transforms into a wandering account of Henry VIII's divorce from Katherine and marriage to Anne. Of course, when Anne is executed, Perry gives us only a quick mention of it, commenting that the happenings are "not important to our story"; what a contradiction. The two stars that I gave the book are because of the few interesting facts about Mary, Margaret and Henry's childhood, as well as Henry Fritzroy's. I am aware that little historic fact can be found about these too ladies, but Perry doesn't present the information she has well or into a flowing, easy to read joint biography. I'm sorry that I bought this book, which is the only reason I finished it. I recommend Alison Weir instead. ... Read more

Book Description

"A majestic literary biography, a truly new, surprisingly fresh portrait. --
Newsday

A New York Times Book ReviewEditors' Choice
National Book Critics Circle Award finalist

"A biography wholly worthy of the brilliant woman it chronicles. . . . It rediscovers Virginia Woolf afresh."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer

While Virginia Woolf--one of our century's most brilliant and mercurial writers--has had no shortage of biographers, none has seemed as naturally suited to the task as Hermione Lee. Subscribing to Virginia Woolf's own belief in the fluidity and elusiveness of identity, Lee comes at her subject from a multitude of perspectives, producing a richly layered portrait of the writer and the woman that leaves all of her complexities and contradictions intact.Such issues as sexual abuse, mental illness, and suicide are brought into balance with the immensity of her literary achievement, her heroic commitment to her work, her generosity and wit,and her sanity and strength.

It is not often that biography offers the satisfactions of great fiction--but this is clearly what Hermione Lee has achieved. Accessible, intelligent, and deeply pleasurable to read, her Virginia Woolf will undoubtedly take its place as the standard biography for years to come.

"One of the most impressive biographies of the decade: moving, eloquent, powerful as both literary and social history."
--Financial Times

"The most distinguished study of Woolf yet."--The New Republic ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Exhaustively researched, crisply written, judicious
Of the many literary biographies I've read, only Peter Ackroyd's "Dickens" seems to me as "definitive" as Ms. Lee's terrifically compelling book. One finishes it with the sense, however illusory (see Janet Malcolm's extraordinary "The Silent Woman" for a convincing argument that it must be), that the Virginia Woolf found in its pages is essentially identical to the actual woman who lived and wrote and died. Anyone with even a slight interest in her must consider this book essential reading. I found it a real page-turner throughout its considerable length despite being unconvinced of Woolf's literary eminence (except for her sparkling correspondence) and finding her character unattractive (i.e. snobbish, frigid, a false friend, etc.) even by the usual standard for writers.

The best so far
Probably the best bio of Woolf we are likely to see for some time. Lee has succeeded brilliantly and gracefully in that most elusive and troublesome task of capturing the "spirit" of another human being and then conveying that without simplification or reduction. What is most moving is that Lee allows Woolf her complexity and contradictions, her courage and cowardice, her generosity and meaness, without indulging in a sort of inconoclastic glee in smashing received images of Woolf as victim or feminist icon (or any other of the several and various "Woolfs" to be found these days.) Lee's bio is a stunning feat of sympathetic imagination and rational scholarship which ranks with the other "best" bio of the last 20 years or so, Deirdre Bair's marvelous and beautiful "Simone de Beauvoir." I am grateful to both of these writers.

I don't want it to end
I am taking this book slowly and am nearing the end. It is terrific and I find, on the days I take off from reading it, that I miss Virginia Woolf and want to go back to the "place" that is her life. I thank Ms. Lee for giving me a closer intimacy with Virginia Woolf.

Interesting, but not for the Woolf neophyte
I enjoyed the book, but have a fairly detailed knowledge of Woolf & her contemporaries. I think a new reader of Woolf & her work might get lost in the maze of essentially unexplained personalties & their relationship to Woolf & her circle.

more than deserving of its accolades
A wonderfully fascinating book, which not only illuminates its subject's life, but any life of a reader and a writer. This bio does more than just offer a story of Woolf's live, it offers an artistic, thought-provoking look at life as seen through books, through early 20-century England, through the beginnings of Modernism. Through it all, is an exploration of the idea of trying to capture a life in a biography or in a novel, which enriches one's understanding of Woolf, and of writing about people in general. ... Read more

Book Description

"Fascinating . . . Alison Weir does full justice to the subject."
--The Philadelphia Inquirer

At his death in 1547, King Henry VIII left four heirs to the English throne: his only son, the nine-year-old Prince Edward; the Lady Mary, the adult daughter of his first wife Katherine of Aragon; the Lady Elizabeth, the teenage daughter of his second wife Anne Boleyn; and his young great-niece, the Lady Jane Grey. In this riveting account Alison Weir paints a unique portrait of these extraordinary rulers, examining their intricate relationships to each other and to history. She traces the tumult that followed Henry's death, from the brief intrigue-filled reigns of the boy king Edward VI and the fragile Lady Jane Grey, to the savagery of "Bloody Mary," and finally the accession of the politically adroit Elizabeth I.

As always, Weir offers a fresh perspective on a period that has spawned many of the most enduring myths in English history, combining the best of the historian's and the biographer's art.

"Like anthropology, history and biography can demonstrate unfamiliar ways of feeling and being. Alison Weir's sympathetic collective biography, The Children of Henry VIII does just that, reminding us that human nature has changed--and for the better. . . . Weir imparts movement and coherence while re-creating the suspense her characters endured and the suffering they inflicted."
--The New York Times Book Review ... Read more

Reviews (51)

Readable history....
I like Alison Weir's books because she is able to extract the pertinent facts from the most complex of sources and present a great deal of information in an immensely readable book. THE CHILDREN OF HENRY THE VIII is no exception. Although she is a "popular" writer, Weir does not shun primary materials. Her bibliography is very impressive and she seems to have "done her homework".

CHILDREN covers the lives of Henry's three children by Katherine of Aragon, Anne Boylyn, and Jane Seymour. I find it amazing that one of England's greatest monarchs, Elizabeth I, was the daughter of a woman who reigned for a mere 1,000 days. Known as the "French whore" by the Catholics who hated her, she was a lady in waiting to Katherine of Aragon the mother of Mary.

According to Weir, the young Mary was most solicitous for the life and welfare of her young sister Elizabeth after Anne Boylyn was beheaded. Had it not been for Mary's care, perhaps there would have been no Elizabeth I. Both of young princesses were at risk from various parties after Anne died. Mary, a bit older than Elizabeth was aware their lives were at risk and she did what she could to protect her self and her sister from whom she was later cruelly separated. Sadly, as they grew older and were kept apart by various scheming interest groups, Mary and Elizabeth grew more estranged and distrustful of each other until finally there was a parting which nearly cost Elizabeth her life.

Weir tells Mary's tale from the standpoint of a sympathetic viewer. After all, Mary had been raised to expect her place would be with her parents and that someday she would be queen if she had no brothers. Henry was married to Katherine for 20 years, and she bore him many children. Alas, only Mary survived.

The English could accept a woman on the throne, but most preferred a man. Hence, Henry VIII continued to father dozens of children with a succession of wives until at last a son lived. Edward was born to wife number three, Jane Seymour, and although he survided infancy Edward was frail and easily became sick in an era filled with plague and other misasmas.

Edward was crowned king however he died young. Although he was to be followed by his sister Mary who was next in succession for the throne of England, Edward's ministers plotted and placed Lady Jane Grey on the throne. Jane was a cousin to Edward and a direct descendent of Henry VII. Jane was Protestant, the main reason certain parties supported her. Jane was destined to be overthrown by Mary's forces nine days after she seized the throne. When Mary eventually claimed her throne she was not above buring a few Protestants including the ill-fated Jane who had plotted against her.

Most of us grew up reading history books written by Protestant historians who did not tell Mary's story objectively. In THE CHILDREN OF HENRY VIII, Alison Weir has redressed this wrong. Mary was indeed a queen of vengence, but she lived in times that tried women's souls.

A fascinating look at a tumultuous time
If you'd like to gain a better appreciation for the necessity of separating church and state, or for the orderly change of governments (for the most part) today, check this book out. Ms. Weir does a great job of putting together history books that communicate the intrigues and difficulties of British politics in the 15th and 16th centuries. I can't wait to see her book about Elizabeth I; this one ends just as Elizabeth gains the throne of England. I learned so much about the short lives of Edward and Lady Jane Grey, and the politics of marriage, through Weir's books. "The Princes in the Tower" and "Six Wives of Henry VIII" are also terrific reads.

Four British Monarchs and Their Relationship with Each Other
I am fascinated with the Tudors, particularly Elizabeth I and her cousin, Lady Jane Grey. I have read many biographies on the different players in this time frame yet I have read few books that focus on the relationships between those people. I yearned to know those details, however. How did Mary and Jane go from being on friendly terms to rivals? How did Mary react to Edward VI? How did Elizabeth react to the news of Jane's death?

Weir started off doing a splendid job addressing all of those issues. She started off addressing the character of Mary, Elizabeth, Jane and Edward and their feelings and relationships with each other. She painstakingly chronicled in great detail the tumultuous nature of Mary and Elizabeth's relationship, as well as how Mary viewed Edward VI and him her. Yet after Edward's death, she sort of lost touch of that track, and focused primarily on the nature of Mary's relationship to those around her, which while interesting, still did leave me with some unanswered questions. For instance, I never did get a good feel for how Elizabeth reacted to the news of Jane's death (it might be one of those mysteries of history, but if nothing was written about it at the time, I would at least like to know).

The writing style is good and clear, especially for a work of history, and the pages seem to fly by. My only complaint was her repetitiveness. For instance, she mentioned that Mary thought that Elizabeth was the daughter of Mark Smeaton three times.

In all, the book definitely addressed a lot of personal issues I had not yet seen addressed and was a pure pleasure to read. It would also, I believe, serve for those who know little of the time period or of Mary I, be an excellent starting place, for the work is not so bogged down in details as many other historical works are.

No "Part II Syndrome"
Although not advertised as such, this book should really be considered "Part II" of Weir's Tudor trilogy. If you haven't read "The Six Wives of Henry VIII" first, you really should; and "The Life of Elizabeth I" picks up right where this one ends. Usually part 2 in a trilogy is the weakest link between the beginning and the end, but this is an exciting and engrosing book chronicling the reign of Edward and Mary.

Edward VI usually gets more or less ignored: probably a combination of his father and sisters seeming much more exciting, and the fact that he became king at age 9 and died only a few years later. Weir shows that this is unfair: despite his age he managed to smoothly manipulate those who held power over him, and shows a surprising maturity in the letters and papers that he left behind.

Mary, poor Bloody Mary, is so easy to despise and/or mock, but Weir turns her into a sympathetic, if pathetic, character. With no interest whatsoever in ruling, the pressures of the throne, her marriage, and her inability to conceive basically caused her to go mad.

Throughout the book we see Elizabeth, but really only as she interacts with her half-siblings. Still, this book offers the foundation of her personality and drive. This, as well as the 2 other books I mentioned in the first paragraph, is an essential book for anyone who is interested in learning more about the Tudor period, or Queen Elizabeth. Best of all, it is exhaustively researched and written in a simple, accessible style that you don't have to be a historian to understand.

Wow, wow, and more wow
I know it's an asinine way to start a review, but it's honestly the most apt title I can think of: this book is absolutely outstanding. I was completely absorbed the entire time. "Bloody" Mary is given fair treatment, as is Lady Jane Grey; Weir doesn't play favorites and tells the story in compelling and thrilling detail. Hate history? This book is a good place to start, as the rich personalities of the Tudor monarchs and their contemporaries are fleshed out into truly lifelike figures. Is there anything this woman can't write? ... Read more

Reviews (1)

A Fine Edition of a Classic
"Brief Lives" has always been a delight, but it was Oliver Lawson Dick's scholarly editing that revealed Aubrey's genius. And Lawson Dick's Introduction, "The Life and Times of John Aubrey", is a miracle of synthesis and compression: certainly one of the finest biographical essays ever written. This Nonpareil Books edition is sumptuous - a joy to read in these days cheap, quickly produced paperbacks. ... Read more

Book Description

This first-person account of the Endurance crew's famed odyssey across the frozen Antarctic is one of the most amazing adventure stories ever.

In the summer of 1914, Sir Ernest Shackleton and his men set out to make the first sea-to-sea crossing of the most inhospitable continent on earth. One year later, halfway to their objective and their ship destroyed by ice, the expedition began an unbelievable journey back to the fringe of civilization. South is their story of battles against incredible obstacles for nearly two years, surviving on ice floes, sailing hundreds of miles on tumultuous seas, battling the unimaginable cold of the Antarctic winter, enduring debilitating hunger, injury, and misfortune, and finally overcoming improbable odds to reach help.

As Shackleton himself wrote at the time of the book's original publication in 1920, this is "a book of high adventure, strenuous days and lonely nights, unique experiences, and, above all, records of unflinching determination, supreme loyalty, and generous self-sacrifice on the part of my men." It is a story that resonates to this day as the classic tale of survival, resolve, and leadership.

Alfred Lansing's Endurance made the journey famous; Shackleton's book brings it dramatically to life. ... Read more

Reviews (5)

A True Leader
Shackleton was an amazing man full of true grit and true leadership. Among the many things that stand out in his story of survival is the importance of keeping a journal. Even after many supplies and equipment were left on the ice, the men were instructed to continue to carry their journals. And what if they had not? Where would be the true story that outshines most fictional adventure stories in the minds and imaginations of many, including myself?

If you want to read more about Antarctica, I suggest T.H. Baughman's "Before the Heroes Came."

Sheer will and nerve.
Ernest Shackleton's description of his voyage into and subsequent escape from Antartica is amazing. The matter of fact tone with which he describes his adventure seems wildly juxtaposed on the events which he led his men safely through. It's an interesting read which gives some glimpse into the calm and mechanically rational mind of Shackleton, the reason he and his men survived. I highly recommend this book.

Edge of Your Seat
Fascinating and exciting book. Shackelton writes in the most British of style -- he describes an ice floe splitting beneath his tent in the same plain delivery as the description of a depth sounding. The book is overflowing with the most amazing of events, placing Shackelton's crew in an adventure every bit as great as Lewis and Clark's expedition (read the Ambrose book "Undaunted Courage" if you like this one).

This is a fine edition, as it includes approx. eighty photographs of the expedition. From the outset of the voyage to the harrowing crossing of St. George Island, this guy would put today's extreme adventure-seekers to shame.

Riviting true grit adventure, endurance, and survival
Ernest Shackleton treats us to adventure and daring against dangers that most of us can only imagine ... 30 below zero, 90 mph winds, killer whales, crushing ice, dead reckoning across the open sea. His ship is stuck in the ice for 10 months before being crushed, throwing 27 men and 100 dogs on the ice flow that is ever shrinking. Escaping from the roaring crushing ice to the open sea is a death defying feat that only leads to more danger from giant swells and frozen sea spray that soaks cloths and sleeping bags and threatens to sink their tiny boats ...and they are still 800 miles from any civilization.

Incredible, absolutely. And through it all Shackleton manages to describe the beauty of the ice and the wonderment of all that surrounds the hapless little ship and its mighty men.

A reading must for those of us who lust after adventure.

Awsome, an inspiration, an unsung hero.
A fascinating and chilling account of almost two years of living under some of the most adverse conditions conceivable. Shackleton is a master at managing a limited amount of resources and in practicing the psychology necessary to keep his men alive. He writes in a totally understated narrative yet the reader can actually feel the blowing snow, smell the burning seal blubber and and taste the hoosh. Shackleton is truly an unsung hero! ... Read more

Book Description

Misogynist, anti-Semite, misanthrope -- Roald Dahl was reputed to be these, as well as war hero, devoted father, and philanthropist. As a friend once commented, "almost anything you could say about him would be true." To some, Dahl was the dashing husband of actress Patricia Neal and loving family man. To others, he was a ruthless, egotistical bully. And to millions worldwide, Dahl was the Evelyn Waugh of children's books, the beloved scrumdiddlyumptious storyteller of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The BFG, The Witches, and James and the Giant Peach, among other classics.

In this acclaimed unauthorized biography of Dahl, Jeremy Treglown reveals the man behind the controversy, tracing Dahl's life from its comfortable beginnings through shocking personal tragedy and enormous commercial success to his death in 1990. Drawing on Dahl's correspondence as well as on interviews with Patricia Neal, two surviving children, and numerous others, Treglown has crafted a "scrupulously fair-minded" portrait of a complex man, "the perfect antidote to Dahl's own triumph at image making" (New York Times Book Review). ... Read more

Reviews (1)

it sure helped
this biograhpy helped me learn more about this wonderful author, and see into the depths of Dahl's works. ... Read more

Book Description

This book offers a first-hand account of the heroic women who played an active part in the war between King and Parliament in the 17th century. The Royalists include Queen Henrietta Maria, who fled abroad with some of the Crown jewels to raise money and Mary Banks, wife of the King's Privy Councilor, who defended Corge Castle during an epic three-month siege, forcing the storming Roundheads to withdraw by heaving hot embers over the battlements. On the opposing side, there is Puritan Lady Brilliana Harley, who reveals her constant fear as she guarded Brampton Bryan Castle. Anne Fairfax, wife of Cromwell's northern General, who was taken prisoner after the battle of Adwalton Moor near Leeds and a classic account of the war from a Puritan's view by Lucy Hutchinson, wife of the Governor of Nottingham. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

marvelous!
A wonderful book, brimming with the fiery personalities of women long dead. Plowden's purpose in this book is not to give an overview of the English civil war (don't buy the book if that's what you need), but to show how women participated. She does this by giving specific examples from the lives of Queen Henrietta Maria, Ann Fanshawe, Charlotte Stanley, Mary Verney, Jane Lane, Mary Banks, Brilliana Harley, Anne Fairfax, and many more. Plowden draws her information primarily from letters, many of them between husbands and wives. While her focus is on the women, she does not hesitate to bring out the strengths and weaknesses of their husbands, and she shows the warmth and devotion of these 17th century couples with an intensity that makes their relationships seem enviable.

One caution: this is a very specific book about a specific subject. If you know nothing about the English civil war, you may be a tad confused. If you're interested enough, you'll still enjoy the book, but you'll enjoy it more if you already have at least a skeletal knowledge of the history and the major players.

One weakness: the organization of the book was at first confusing. It is organized more by individual women than by chronology, although the whole is chronological (we stay with one person for a while, then jump to another, then to another, finally back to person number one). This is a trifle confusing, but I'm not sure how I'd do it differently. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The four biographical essays that make up Eminent Victorianscreated something of a stir when they were first published in the spring of 1918, bringing their author instant fame. In his flamboyant collection, Lytton Strachey chose to stray far from the traditional mode of biography: "Those two fat volumes, with which it is our custom to commemorate the dead--who does not know them, with their ill-digested masses of material, their slipshod style, their tone of tedious panegyric, their lamentable lack of selection, of detachment, of design?" Instead he provided impressionistic but acute (and, some said, skewed) portraits. Rarely does Strachey explore the details of a subject's daily or family life unless they point directly to an issue of character. In short, he pioneered a deeply sardonic and often scathingly funny biographical style.

None of Strachey's Victorians emerge unscathed. In his hands, Florence Nightingale is not a gentle archangel descended from heaven to minister sweetly to wounded soldiers, but rather an exacting, dictatorial, and judgmental crusader. Her "pen, in the virulence of its volubility, would rush ... to the denunciation of an incompetent surgeon or the ridicule of a self-sufficient nurse. Her sarcasm searched the ranks of the officials with the deadly and unsparing precision of a machine-gun. Her nicknames were terrible. She respected no one." Dr. Thomas Arnold, the man appointed to revamp the very private British public school system, fares little better: in Strachey's acid ink, he became "the founder of the worship of athletics and the worship of good form." In this same vain, military hero General Gordon is portrayed as a temperamental, irascible hermit, occasionally drunk and often found in the company of young boys--a man who tended to forget and forgo the tenets found in the Bible he kept with him always. And the powerful and popular Cardinal Manning, who came within a hair's breadth of succeeding Pope Pius IX, belonged, Strachey writes, "to that class of eminent ecclesiastics ... who have been distinguished less for saintliness and learning than for practical ability."

As he offered up indelible sketches of his less-than-fab four, Strachey was intent on critiquing established mores. This effortlessly superior wit knew full well that deep convictions and good deeds often go hand in hand with hypocrisy, arrogance, and egomania. His task was to pique those who pretended they did not. --Jordana Moskowitz ... Read more

Reviews (12)

Four lives well told
Lytton Strachey gives us a revealing look at four prominent Victorian personalities: Cardinal Henry Edward Manning, Florence Nightingale, Dr. Thomas Arnold, and General Charles George Gordon. Personally, I most enjoyed learning more about Florence Nightingale and General "Chinese" Gordon. Manning and Arnold are simply more steeped in their own times and have, perhaps, less to offer to modern readers.

The section on Gordon is the best. It covers the end of his life at Khartoum in a much more interesting fashion than that portrayed by Charlton Heston in the movie. The modern problems in Darfur show that in many ways little has changed there in the last 120 years.

Strachey's style is to get behind the events of his subjects' lives to delve into their psychological motivations, and he is often less than kind to them. He frequently punctures their balloons and exposes their foibles in a very entertaining way.

Eminently wicked biographies.
(Giles) Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) introduced psychological depth to biographical writing, thereby forever changing the biography. Strachey "revolutionized the art of biography," E. M. Forster observed, by doing what no biographer had ever done before. He managed to get inside his subject's head. Strachey was a Victorian eccentric, educated at Trinity College, where he became a member of the secret society of "the Apostles," an elite group of passionate intellectuals who rejected Victorian mores, which later evolved into the Bloomsbury group (E.M Forester, Leonard and Virginia Woolf). Specifically written as an attack on Victorianism, EMINENT VICTORIANS caused a stir when it was first published in 1918. Strachey's radical goal in EMINENT VICTORIANS was to question the moral arrogance, hypocrisy, and ego of the Victorians. With his wicked pen, he targeted religion, education, imperialism, liberalism, and humanitarianism in such a flamboyant way that Strachey's book caused Bertrand Russell to laugh out loud while he was incarcerated for his antiwar activities.

EMINENT VICTORIANS is a splendid collection of four portraits of an ecclesiastic (Cardinal Manning), a woman of action (Florence Nightingale), an educator (Thomas Arnold), and a man of adventure (General Charles "Chinese" Gordon). Rather than approaching his subjects from a safe literary distance, Strachey understood that they were multifaceted and at times inexplicable, ambiguous, and self-contradicting human beings, and by no means flawless Victorian heroes.

G. Merritt

Eminently Readable
Although the institutions that Strachey targeted are no longer in existence, that does not render this work of art irrelevant any more than the outdated and archaic language of Shakespeare render the plays irrelevant.Strachey's is the portrait of an age, as much of the early twentieth century as the nineteenth that preceded it.

Not what you'd expect
This is a strange book. The author created quite a stir when he published it at the close of the First World War: it's not the laudatory, voluminous biography that was popular at the time. Instead, it's a more impressionistic work, artistic rather than factual. And since it's not one biography but four short ones, the individual sketches tend to be more along the lines of extended eulogies or obituaries.

The four people studied in this book are Cardinal Manning (who almost became Pope), Dr. Arnold (who reformed the British public school system), Florence Nightingale, and General "Chinese" Gordon (killed defending Khartoum). The first difficulty, I would imagine, for the average American reader is that of these four, only Florence Nightingale will be familiar. The book only briefly touches on the events of the people whose lives are sketched here, and it's helpful to know something of the individual's background and life prior to picking up the current book. I only knew "Chinese" Gordon, and him not that well, so the four bios were only of moderate interest to me.

The writing style, however, stood out. The author has a bad habit of stretching his thoughts out beyond all reason. Paragraphs, at various points, run upwards of two pages in length, and sentences fill line after line. The author is full of opinions, and pushes them at you rather relentlessly. The tone of the book, and the way it was recieved at the time, show a considerable irreverence, as all of the bios involved are at least somewhat negative. While "Chinese" Gordon has always been known to have been somewhat eccentric, and the criticism of Manning and Arnold are probably irrelevant to most now, Florence Nightingale is mainly criticized for being a pushy woman. I don't know that this will play very well these days, especially since she was right more than wrong.

I enjoyed this book reasonably well, given the shortcomings that I knew it had going in. I would recommend it to those interested in the topic, the author, or the era of British history.

So glad I finally got around to reading this one
Eminent Victorians has been on my `to read' list for about 20 yrs, and I'm so glad I finally got around to it. Perhaps Lytton Strachey was the first to create "the new biography," not wrapping his subjects in flowery adjectives as was the style of his times, but instead skewering them with sarcastic and scathingly funny written portraits. And, as he seemed on intimate terms with Everyone Who Was Anybody during the early 1900s, his book created quite a stir. Far from confining his critiques to people, Strachey also lambasted the stilted mores, the hypocrisy, and the severely limiting lines of social strata of his era.
Although it's dated, of course, Eminent Victorians makes terrific reading for anyone interested in that era before everything changed with the First World War. ... Read more

Book Description

Beautifully illustrated, the first full-length biography of Harold Godwinsson, the last Anglo-Saxon King of England whose death at the Battle of Hastings ushered in the Norman Conquest. ... Read more

Reviews (6)

A great achievement
This book has enough detail and judicious use of sources to be of great use to the academic historian, while the author's lucid writing style and the sensible structure of the book will no doubt make it accesible to the interested layperson. Well done!

If your looking for a good book on Harold, this is the one
In terms of English history,not much is ever really said about Harold. Those who are looking for an informative and surprisingly entertaining work on the Monarch should look no further.

Ian Walker has left no stone unturned in the telling of Harold Godwineson and his family. Starting from his grandfather and father and ending with his grandson becoming the prince of Kiev.
After reading the book, you come away with a sense of the time that he lived in and more importantly a sense of the man. Walker is also very good at surmising how certain decisions and choices that were made having an effect on the people at the time. Case in point the effect of how Harold's contemporaries veiwed his oath breaking to William. Few historians are able to do this.

The author does love his dates and locations, but he is very thorough when it comes to extended family. Also and most importantly, he writes with a point. Instead of going off on a half page tangent, Walker writes in brief and consise paragraphs. When a major player such as William, Tosti or Harald Hardrada comes along, he writes a full chapter.

I have been looking for a book on this king for long time and this has surpassed my expectations. A definite "must-have" for English Monarch and Anglo-Saxon enthusiasts.

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative study.
Everyone who takes English history probably remembers 1066, William of Normandy, the Battle of Hastings, and King Harold; essentially the date, the location and the leaders of the combatant armies. Some may remember that the fight was over the right of succession to the throne of England after the heirless death of King Edward the Confessor. A few may even remember that Edmond Halley's famous comet made an appearance just beforehand, creating great consternation that was immortalized in the Bayeux tapestry. For most, Harold's reign seems almost a foot note, hardly more than an intermission before the main event of the Norman conquest. With William and his successors come castle building, classic knighthood, feudal society, all the "romance" of the middle ages. Harold is so often treated as a cipher to all of this that the true drama of this transitional age is often lost on the student. Harold is just "the loser."

Ian Walker's book brings this period more into focus. He approaches his subject by examining, not only Harold's own life and career, but that of his grandfather and father, creating a sense of the venue for the events of the Conquest. Harold is no longer just "the loser." He is a powerful and intelligent warrior, dealing as often in diplomacy as in bloodshed, able to play the chess game of power politics in a very turbulent time. He was in fact "the last Anglo Saxon king," and his time, like the withdrawal of the elves from Tolkien's Middle Earth, is the end of an era. His predecessor Edward was the last of the line of Alfred the Great, the king who had wielded the tiny Anglo Saxon kingdoms into the one kingdom of England. William and his successors would turn the island into a developing nation state striving for a place in a world among other rising nation states.

I found particularly interesting the author's approach to the period as one of a family biography. Harold was not just a famous figure in history, he was a member of an ambitious extended family. Like the Borgias in a later time and place, Harold's father and his grandfather played major roles in English political life during the years preceding the Conquest, as did he and his brothers in their own time. Walker follows these careers, because it is the net created by their liaisons that defined the period. Pull out any of these lynch pins, and the history of the era would have been vastly different. Interesting too were the careers of Harold's children, who went on to carry the family into succeeding generations of international leaders. I have often wondered what the fates of descendants of famous people have been. What did happen to Cleopatra's surviving children for instance? At least in this instance, more is documented about Harold's children which gives a sense of closure to Walker's book.

Thoroughly enjoyable and informative study.

Fantastic!
This is a great book for anyone interested in the mysterious and obscure events of England in the year 1066. Walker does a great job, trying to bring Harold Godwinson to life.

Five stars!
This was an excellent, intense account of a unique king's biography. I read this book to get more info on William the Conqueror, but now I'm obsessed with Harold II. A must-read for history buffs. ... Read more

Book Description

The reign of Queen Anne, the last Stuart monarch, was a period ofsignificant progress for the country: Britain became a major military power on land, theunion of England and Scotland created a united kingdom of Great Britain, and theeconomic and political basis for the Golden Age of the eighteenth century wasestablished. However, the queen herself has received little credit for these achievementsand has long been pictured as a weak and ineffectual monarch dominated by her advisers.This landmark biography of Queen Anne shatters that image and establishes her as apersonality of integrity and invincible stubbornness, the central figure of her age. ... Read more

Reviews (1)

Excellent review of the turmoil of the Late Stuart period
During Queen Anne's reign Britain consolidated its position as a first rank
European power. Prior to that England had been the doughty underdog, who
somehow survived to trade another day, its politics plagued with factions and bloody
divisions. During Anne's reign the divisions persisted, but was worked out with less
bloody consequences.

Professor Gregg's was allowed access to the large volume of correspondence between
Anne and her one time close friend Sarah, Duchess of Marlborough. The Duke and Duchess of Marlborough were the power couple of the period. The Duke won great military victories for Britain on the continent and the Duchess was very influential in the early years of Queen Annes' rule. So the correspondence is very revealing of the twists and turns of the political process. Anne could only rule through parliament, and being childless (despite sixteen pregnancies!) was
susceptible to pressure as to who should succeed her. Her father, James II, a Catholic, had been deposed and was living in exile in France, where he had the support of Louis XIV. The next nearest Protestant relative was George Augustus of Hannover, a rather dour, provincial potentate. Through the later
years of her reign, Anne struggled with parliament to establish her own authority, limit the power of Louis XIV in Europe, secure the Protestant succession and
simultaneously deter the George Augustus from coming to Britain while she lived - this last was necessary to stop a rival power structure emerging. This was done against the backdrop of increasing expensive military campaigns and a country which was sentimentally attached to the Stuarts and neutral about the Hannovarians. The struggles within parliament and between parliament and the court are well described by Professor Gregg, who is especially good at describing the rather-stoic Anne's stuggle to establish her authority. The early letters to the Duchess of Marlborough are unusually revealing of her struggle to assert herself.

If the book has a weakness it is the over-reliance on these letters. The friendship between Anne and Sarah soured considerably, as Anne took more and more
decisions which contradicted Sarah's advice. Eventually Anne turned to a number of
other advisors, however correspondence with these others is much more limited, while Sarah continued to inundated Anne with increasingly shrill correspondence. Gregg, in the absence of other documentation, quotes heavily from later correspondence between the women, even though the relevance to contemporary events diminishes.

Overall the book is an excellent, personalized description of Annes times and life.
By being so focussed on the monarch it gives an insight into the connections between families in the fight for preferment - several examples exist of proximity to royalty translating into high office; the father of James II's 'low born' wife became the Earl of Clarendon, and Anne spent most of her reign ignoring and avoiding him. In this way it is possible to trace and understand the patterns of
patronage and influence which make English history seem so impenetrable.

I highly recommend this book ... Read more

Book Description

The winner of Britain's prestigious Whitbread Prize and a bestseller there for months, this wonderfully readable biography offers a rich, rollicking picture of late-eighteenth-century British aristocracy and the intimate story of a woman who for a time was its undisputed leader.

Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774, at the age of seventeen, Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying one of England's richest and most influential aristocrats, the Duke of Devonshire. Launched into a world of wealth and power, she quickly became the queen of fashionable society, adored by the Prince of Wales, a dear friend of Marie-Antoinette, and leader of the most important salon of her time. Not content with the role of society hostess, she used her connections to enter politics, eventually becoming more influential than most of the men who held office.

Her good works and social exploits made her loved by the multitudes, but Georgiana's public success, like Diana's, concealed a personal life that was fraught with suffering. The Duke of Devonshire was unimpressed by his wife's legendary charms, preferring instead those of her closest friend, a woman with whom Georgiana herself was rumored to be on intimate terms. For over twenty years, the three lived together in a jealous and uneasy ménage à trois, during which time both women bore the Duke's children—as well as those of other men.

Foreman's descriptions of Georgiana's uncontrollable gambling, all- night drinking, drug taking, and love affairs with the leading politicians of the day give us fascinating insight into the lives of the British aristocracy in the era of the madness of King George III, the American and French revolutions, and the defeat of Napoleon.

A gifted young historian whom critics are already likening to Antonia Fraser, Amanda Foreman draws on a wealth of fresh research and writes colorfully and penetratingly about the fascinating Georgiana, whose struggle against her own weaknesses, whose great beauty and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a part in the affairs of the world make her a vibrant, astonishingly contemporary figure. ... Read more

Reviews (42)

Good story, pathetic subject
I purchased this book to get some perspective of 18th c. England from an aristocrat's life. Amanda Foreman seems to have done extensive research on her subject. She presents the Duchess in such a way as to interest and entertain a 21st c. reader.

The story begins before Georgiana's debut, her marriage, everything else in between and finally to her death. As Lady Georgiana Spencer (great-great-great etc. aunt of the late Diana, Princess of Wales), she was born with birth, fortune and connections. She marries the Duke of Devonshire whose material advantages are even greater than hers. From an innocent bride (whose new husband already had a child by his 1st mistress) she becomes a popular figure in society due to her personality, sense of fashion and position. All the excesses of the partying peers are here:sex (adultery, lesbianism, what-have-you), alcohol and gambling. I felt for her in the beginning; virtually ignored by the Duke, she did her best to please everyone, her mother, her friends, the hangers-on and whoever came her way. I thought of her as pathetic when she gambled obsessively ($6 million dollars almost 300 years ago?), lied about it constantly and was in debt to the end. What I found repulsive was her reliance and friendship on a woman who was her husband's mistress, Lady Bess. The latter lived with them along with her children with the Duke, used the Devonshire's money and stayed on to marry the Duke himself. Jealous of Georgiana, she did all to promote and advance herself. Georgiana was passionate in her loyalties, but her energies and talents were wasted on people who used her. The strength of her loyalties made her spineless and malleable. I felt frustration for her because at every turn, when a decent relationship with her husband could be had (and he forgave her on several occasions) she would fall in love with someone else. She loved her children and this was her redeeming quality. If not for that, her life was a waste.

A Great Read
Georgianna deserves to find an American audience as proportionately big as its British audience. Georgiana was a smash over there in England, a country fond of behind-the-scenes stories of aristocratic ladies in the past. (And in the present, too: much has been made of the connections between the Duchess of Devonshire and her descendent, Diana, Princess of Wales.) Yet Amanda Foreman's Georgiana is much more than one of those ersatz popular biographies full of pillow talk and emotions that result more from the biographer's imagination than real research. The book is written in an unpretentious, straightforward style that values clarity above everything. You don't have to be a Masterpiece-Theater-watching anglophile to appreciate its glamour, wit, and intrigue, and you don't have to be a professional historian to grasp its many provocative implications about history and the birth of mass political campaigning. Amanda Foreman must thank heaven every day that such a brilliant subject came her way, and she serves it well. Still, it would be hard to write an uninteresting book about the Duchess of Devonshire. She is a wonderfully paradoxical figure whose meaning seductively eludes the reader's grasp: was she a dilettante or a genuine, energetic talent frustrated by the sexism of her time? Was she merely acting out of the privilege of her class (really, she was above class) or was she genuinely driven ? The ladies of Stella Tillyard's Aristocrats come across as pampered pawns who infrequently lucked into a little free will. Foreman's Georgiana, in contrast, proves that at least one late-18th-century Englishwoman was capable of acting upon her will-even if she made more than one life-altering whopper of a bad decision. Foreman clearly loves her subject, but she does not leave out the flaws and weaknesses in Georgianna's character--all her indulgence, dishonesy, and self-interestedness are on display here. Still, one of Georgianna's greatest charms was learning from her mistakes, and thus her life-narrative has the arc of a good novel. One problem: it's hard for the non-historian to judge Foreman's claim that the duchess's political success represented a general involvement of women in politics of the time greater than is usually acknowledged. What woman other than Georgiana, so unlike anyone else, enjoyed her kind of power and how many were so advantageously poised, by birth and marriage, to find or create that power? Still, Georgianna's story, in Foreman's skillful telling of it, points to the truth of her claim that "the propensity of women's historians to ignore high politics, and of political historians to ignore women, has resulted in a profound misunderstanding of one of the most sexually integrated periods of British history."

Doesn't deserve a crown
This book was merely a by-product of the Diana-hysteria.

Loved this book and would read again!
This book was amazing and I got it at a discounted rate at a bookstore and never thought I would fall in love with it. Amanda Foreman's writing style is vivid, easy to comprehend and specific enough to be entertaining without it being stagnate. The book was appropraitely paced and truly gave you an understanding of daily life for the Devonshires as well as London during this period. I was extremely pleased with the exaplanations in modern terms of ailments that existed during this period and exactly how trying the times were due to social constrictions. I would highly recommend this book!

Biography Brilliantly Done
GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE is a beautifully written biography. Amanda Foreman's style is so sure that it's more like reading a novel than nonfiction. In the end, one is as fascinated by the Duchess as her generation was. The book consists of four parts under which several chapters are given. Part One is called Debutante under which are the following: chapter 1 - Debutante: 1757-1774, chapter 2 - Fashion's Favourite: 1774-1776, chapter 3 - The Vortex of Dissipation: 1776-1778, chapter 4 - A Popular Patriot: 1778-1781, and chapter 5 - Introduction to Politics: 1780-1782. Part Two is called Politics and contains the following: chapter 6 - The Newcomer: 1782-1783, chapter 7 - An Unstable Condition: 1783, chapter 8 - A Birth and a Death: 1783-1784, chapter 9 - The Westminster Election: 1784, chapter 10 - The Opposition: 1784-1786, chapter 11 - Queen Bess: 1787, hapter 12 - Ménage à Trois: 1788, and chapter 13 - The Regency Crisis: 1788-1789. Part Three is called Exile and has the following: chapter 14 - The Approaching Storm: 1789-1790, chapter 15 - Exposure: 1790- 1791, chapter 16 - Exile: 1791-1793, chapter 17 - Return: 1794-1796, chapter 18 - Interlude: 1796, and chapter 19 - Isolation: 1796-1799. Part Four is the final part and is called Georgiana Redux. It consists of chapter 20 - Georgiana Redux: 1800-1801, chapter 21 - Peace: 1801-1802, chapter 22 - Power Struggles: 1802-1803, chapter 23 - The Doyenne of the Whig Party: 1803-1804, and chapter 24 -"The Ministry of All the Talents": 1804-1806. The biography also includes an introduction, A Note on Eighteenth-Century Politics, Chronology, Family Trees of Spencers and Cavendishes, an epilogue, Notes, Select Bibliography, Index, Reading Group Guide, and many picture, both b & w and in color.
This book will appeal to romance readers of Georgette Heyer, to readers of Georgian or Regency novels, to those interested in the 18th century and those interested in women's history. ... Read more

Reviews (7)

Fasctual Errors
I was disappointed at the factual errors in this book as well as the poor proofreading. On the edition I read the jacket itself refers to Edward as King Edward VII rather than King Edward VIII. The name of Wallis's chauffeur is spelled both Ladbrook and Ladbrooke on successive pages. The decorator Stephan Boudin is said to be with the Maison Jensen rather than Maison Janson. The most egregious error was on p. 395 where the author states that the motto of the Prince of Wales is "Dieu et mon Droit" when the correct motto is "Ich Dien."
One hopes these errors were corrected in subsequent editions of this book.

Uncommon life, uncommon love
Greg King's thoroughly-researched and highly readable biography of the Duchess of Windsor's life is simply excellent! At the outset the author explains that his book is a "sympathetic" portrait of the Duchess, and is not a re-hashing of old gossip and rumors.

Rather, this is a very balanced and highly interesting look at not only the lives of the Duke and Duchess, but of the time and world they inhabited with such joie de vivre, glamour and above all, humor and compassion for others. So many books have emphasized the lavish lifestyle, the Duchess' wardrobe and jewels, her society friends, etc. Here, we are privy to the other side of their lives: one in which Wallis and Edward devoted enormous amounts of their personal time and money to helping those persons less fortunate than themselves. Of particular interest is their years spent in the Bahamas, when the Duke was Governor-General, and Wallis spent years coordinating efforts to improve the lives of native Bahamians. It is sad that Buckingham Palace ignored not only their charitable efforts, which the British Royal Family is so eager to promote in the UK with their "Civil Duties", but that Edward's brother, King George VI, and Queen Elizabeth (now the Queen Mother) ensured that Edward and Wallis were not allowed to represent the Royal Family within the UK itself. King George lived in great fear that their popularity with the common people of Britain (and all over the world) would usurp his authority as monarch supreme.

All in all this is a story to be remembered for all time.

A Balanced View - At Last
For those readers who have an inherent interest in the British Royal Family, and especially the late Duke & Duchess of Windsor, much of this book will be repetitive. However, this book's author approaches his subject as though she were a real, living, breathing individual, with complexities and contradictions in her makeup. Wallis Simpson has almost always been portrayed as a ruthless, calculating woman bent upon becoming Queen of England. While I think she must have had a tremendously strong personality, and that the former Edward VIII might have had a somewhat weak character, common sense tells us that most people are neither all one way or the other, that they are capable of bad - and good - motivations. I came away from this book feeling that while Wallis Simpson may not have been 'in love' with the Duke, she truly did love him. Evidently, that was enough for him, and seeing her portrayed as a believeable human being rather than some shrill, cardboard characture made this book an informative and enjoyable read.

"Windsor Wonderland," a fresh and positive view.
If you want to take an enjoyable journey into the Duke and Duchess of Windsor's "Windsor Wonderland," then read Greg King's book. Maybe I'm and incurable romantic, or maybe I am more receptive to a positive focus on the Windsor love story, but I am impressed with Mr. King's descriptive ability and vindication of the much maligned Duchess of Windsor. In addition to inviting the reader into the larger than life existence of THE trend setting lovers of the 20th Century, Mr. King shows how down to earth the Duchess was during the war years while living in the Bahamas. Oh yes, there are vivid descriptions of the lavish surroundings the Duchess created for the former King of England, but she took her responsibilities seriously and guarded against making social mistakes. The result of her efforts actually set social standards. The jewel in the (never to be worn) crown has to be the successful, happy marriage to her husband of 35 years. Bravo Greg! WE have been waiting for a book like yours. The Windsors would be pleased.

Very porly done
More fantasy than fact, this is a fourth-rate biography that is a waste of all effort involved, including the reader's time. ... Read more

Book Description

Sir Winston Churchill began painting during World War II, and it became his lifelong passion. His works, which number over 500, are of remarkable quality and have received the most positive criticism in the English press. Had he signed his pictures ‘Jones,' the critic would still find himself pausing in front of them, noted one Sunday Times of London art critic in 1949. Another opined that At least a dozen of these pictures will stand against any of the best impressionists. This exclusive, comprehensive collection of the paintings of one of the greatest statesmen in history is licensed by the Churchill Heritage, which will provide marketing support. Written by the renowned art critic who catalogued all of Churchill's paintings shortly after his death, along with Sir Winston's granddaughter-in-law, this sumptuous art book collects all of the images painted by Churchill, primarily in oil on canvas, and in essence provides a look at his life story through his paintings. It also includes authoritative text by the authors, Sir Winston's complete 1925 essay Painting as a Pastime, and 40 rare, previously unpublished photographs of Churchill and his world, in both color and black and white. ... Read more

Book Description

Reviews (4)

Gripping tale of religion dividing a country and a family
This book is an exciting and entertaining look at the power struggle in Restoration England, and how the divide between Catholics and Protestants caused a King to be dethroned by his own daughters. I really liked Ms. Waller's tone and her storytelling abilities, using the actual letters written between Queen Mary and Princess Anne, making them seem that much more real to us as the reader.

I also like it that you can't really see a bias for or against any certain person or religion...you will read good things and bad things about everyone involved, you'll feel anger and pity for these people and their lives. I was completely engrossed from start to finish.

How sharper than a serpent's tooth it is.
Ungrateful Daughters treats the last days of the house of Stuart as seen through the perspectives of the major characters: James II, Mary of Modena, Mary II, William of Orange, and Queen Anne. It begins essentially with the restoration and ends with the handover of power to the Hanovers.

The material is absorbing and the book was seemingly quite well-researched. However, for me, much of the pleasure was spoiled by Waller's organisation and tone. The narrative is not linear, but shifts with the perspectives of the different players. I found the effect jarring and occasionally confusing. I also heard more than I wanted of Waller's opinions about the people involved (particularly Queen Anne).

It's funny that I'm willing to forgive a history writer like Mitford her harsh asides, but I wasn't willing to forgive Waller. I found her judgements heavy-handed and they made me suspicious of how (and from what perspective) she was telling the story. Too bad-- because it's a really great story.

This shouldn't discourage others from reading the book-- it's still a good use of time and a book that I'm going to keep in my collection.

Excellent read, ill-considered title
A well-written history of the last Catholic king of England, and one of the most inept, and his two daughters.

The title is unfortunate because no royals of that period (or our own?) ever expressed gratitude. Princesses were raised apart from their parents, and in this case Charles II wisely
decided that James' daughters, Mary and Anne, had to be raised
Protestant. As Pepys points out, James was a talented administrator at the Admiralty (and a friend of Pepys) but a stupid, politically incompetent determined Roman Catholic, at a time when the French Catholics were murdering Protestants in the streets. The English nobility felt threatened, and they, together with William of Orange, kicked out James.

The title is also a misnomer in that the princesses did not steal their father's crown; the credit belongs to the English nobility such as the Duke of Marlborough and the gay King William (a fact not mentioned in this story except very obliquely).

Queen Anne, by the way, did have many children but none survived.

Neither Mary nor Anne was an educated or personable Princess or Queen; both were ill-suited for England. It is even more remarkable, therefore, that Maureen Waller makes them interesting, and the asthmatic but determined William of Orange
completely fascinating.

terrific telling of one of the key events and its aftermath
Maureen Waller's contention is that the "Glorious Revolution" of 1688 occurred due to religious differences that came to a head due to royal pregnancy. King James II was a Catholic and his two daughters were Protestant. When James' Catholic wife became pregnant, leading Protestants including James' oldest daughter Mary, married to the King's nephew Prince William of Orange, encouraged her spouse to take the crown from her father. When James II turned to the military to defend him, he found the army and navy deserted him. His other daughter, Anne, a Protestant, supported William and Mary. Ironically, Anne became the last Stuart ruler as neither she nor her sibling had children so the throne passed down the Hanoverian line after her.

UNGRATEFUL DAUGHTERS is a terrific telling of one of the key events and its aftermath (approximately a quarter of a century) in English history. Based on a tremendous assortment of documents, especially secondary sources, readers obtain a close look at the period and why the change occurred in an entertaining manner. Historical fans obtain a close look at James II whose pompousness never enabled him to understand the opposition until he was exiled to France. The book also looks deeply at what motivated his daughters, his replacement as king, and later his exiled son. However, purists need to realize that Maureen Waller juxtaposes modern day values on late seventeenth England, which is difficult to accept because religious choices of that era were much more dramatic and eternally painful than today. Still this is a wonderful biography that British historical buffs will enjoy and learn from.

Harriet Klausner ... Read more

Book Description

Flora Fraser gives us the fascinating story of a mismatchedPrinceand Princess of Wales, married in 1795 and separated less than a yearlater.George III arranged the marriage of his niece Caroline of Brunswick tohis sonGeorge. Their disastrous, and probably bigamous, marriage (George havingearlierprivately married a Catholic widow), had profound political consequencesculminating in the trial of Caroline for adultery. Caroline's place inhistoryhas generally been limited to that of persecuted wife but Fraser, withaccess topreviously unavailable documents, provides a complex portrait of aspiritedwoman who refused to be victimized. ... Read more

Reviews (10)

Flora's Biography of Historical Palace Intrigue: Delightful!
Flora Fraser: Scholar with a Sense of Fun.

By: Sheila Coffin

An Interview with Flora Fraser:

The very British and rath