No comments about History of Henry VII (Hesperus Non-fiction).

No comments about Gordon Brown: Past, Present and Future.

1 comments about The Sickly Stuarts: The Medical Downfall of a Dynasty.

1. When broadcast news of "the Royals" assaults my ears, I tend to flee the room. I never dreamed I'd read a book on English royalty, much less their maladies. I confess, the only reason I bought "The Sickly Stuarts" was that I personally know the author. But am I glad I did! What a fascinating, well-researched page-turner. Who needs fiction when the real stuff reads so well. It is penned in an engaging and witty style, neither condescending to the non-medical, or overly simplified for the author's peers. One benefit I had unavailable to most readers: in my mind I could hear Dr. Holmes' rich bass voice as I read these fascinating tales of the disease, disability and death of a dynasty. A helpful index, thorough footnotes, enlightening appendices, and an exhaustive bibliography strengthen the scholarship of this book. I have only one suggestion for a subsequent edition, that for those of us unschooled in the history of British royalty, an appendix include a chart showing the relationships between all the historical characters described. And it should include a health warning: Reading of this volume could lead to sleep loss.

No comments about The Life of Walter Scott: A Critical Biography (Blackwell Critical Biographies).

1 comments about Churchill and De Gaulle.

1. Excellent description of the complex relationship between these two
   famous WWII leaders. Both faced tremendously difficult odds against
   Germany in June 1940, when the German armies quickly invaded
   Benelux and France, throwing the British divisions back to England.
   At a time where the US was only standing by, and France was overwhelmed by
   a vastly superior ennemy, Churchill had the courage and vision to support De Gaulle's refusal to surrender and subsequent negation of the (collaborationist) Vichy government. The author also provides an excellent
   description of the two men, describing their trials and highly tempestuous relationship, including their enduring -if severely tested- friendship. In the end, it becomes clear that both men indeed truly loved France -and what it stood for, expecting it to fulfill its European role after the war. The book also describes Roosevelt's persistent attempts to undermine De Gaulle while pressuring Churchill to do likewise -- perhaps the origin of the strained rapport betwen France and the US ?

1 comments about The King and the Gentleman: Charles Stuart and Oliver Cromwell, 1599-1649.

1. In the preface to "The King and the Gentleman" Wilson boldly states his determination not to shrink from a thorough examination of the religious issues of the time, a subject about which Wilson finds previous biographers to be diffident. He delivers on his promise, but to the detriment of the book: the book is often bogged down by the minutiae of 17th Century Protestantism. However, the dual biography format is often informative, particularly in describing the early lives of Cromwell and Charles I.

4 comments about Flying Blind: A Memoir of Biplane Flying over Waziristan in the Last Days of British Rule in India.

1. As a pilot, I could identify/sympathize with Mr. Morley-Mower's flight training. A down to earth book that tells it like it was. This is a tale of an unasuming hero. A must follow on is his first book, Messerschmitt Roulette. Thank you Geoffrey.



2. Great heroic story! Fascinating records of army and air operations over the treacherous terrain of the Afghan border. Shortly after the war, a pilot fights to keep his flying carrer with his appeals to King George VI! Does he win his? I'll save that for you!



3. This account of army and air operations over the Afghan border in the last days of British rule in India will intrigue a wide audience, from those interested in books on early plane and biplane flight to readers of military accounts. The author joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in 1937, two years before World War II: his experiences in an antique plane provides a fine account of his adventures and close encounters.



4. I could not put this book down. What I found remarkable about FLYING BLIND is that Geoffrey Morley-Mower has already written one of the most engaging and insightful memoirs of any veteran of the Second World War, MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE. Yet FLYING BLIND is, in many ways, an even more satisfying book. Here, in the second volume of his memoirs, we meet the man and the pilot on the cusp of living his dream: flying for the RAF on the distant edge of the British Raj. Morley-Mower's self-deprecatory wit, his elegant and understated prose, and his gift for narrative sustain FLYING BLIND with a verve rarely found in fiction, much less in military biographies. The men who fought the good fight in the Second World War are fading from us, but this book reminds us of their honor, valor, and above all, their humanity, in ways that few other books have. Geoffrey Morley-Mower's second volume of his memoirs, like the first, is reminiscent of William Manchester's outstanding remembrance of serving in the U.S. Marine infantry in the Second World War, GOODBYE DARKNESS. Like Manchester, Morley-Mower has no room for bombast and plenty of room for reflective, highly-charged prose. FLYING BLIND is a must-read for anyone interested in great writing. For military scholars, it is a jewel, as so few of the iron-backboned RAF heroes are still alive. Thank God Geoffrey Morley-Mower wrote this book, bless him. And, as Hemingway once said, good books never suffer in the re-reading. FLYING BLIND is richer in the re-reading. Enjoy.

4 comments about Official Assassin: Winston Churchill's Sas Hit Team.

1. As a former soldier from the British army who had a lot to do with the S A S between 1980 and 1993 , as well as studying military history , I have to say that at least 75% of the information would poserble be correct ,
   A sargent peter mason served with the paras , transfeared to the S A S and belonged to the S I S hunter killer teams that tracked doen the germans who killed S A S and S O E operatives that were captured in operations during the secound world war ,
   He was promoted to officer rank and worked for both M I 5 and our M I 6 conducting Intelligence operations in Europe .
   accourding to my friends still serving in our security Intelligence services the large part of the book, 75% could very well be true ,
   I suspect that if I was to go and ask a certain friend who has access to all ex S A S operatives who have ever served in the S A S over the years , he would be able to give me chapter and verse on this gentleman , I like to keep my friends as friends

   I would say that this book is a good insight to the covert world of special forces activitys , and poserble the closes a none member of the regiment would get to the information ,
   I look forward to reading his next book called official assassin 2 when it's released as well as viewing the film that is ear marked for production .
   Ex Soldier of the British army




2. Having had the opportunity to serve in a number of U.S. Army and Air Force Special Operations Forces(SOF) units during my dual-service career--and therefore having some sensitivity to security concerns in this field--I approach with skepticism anyone making such flashy "I had a license to kill" claims. Beyond the outright wannabes, there is another group that has learned enough of the SOF lingo and lore to give their tales a seeming touch of reality when delivered to those who have never served in the clannish & closed Special Operations community. And as an author myself of three non-fiction SOF books, I find it unsettling when an author claims "writer's license" (Foreword, p. vii) with such apparent ease in writing what he himself admits is a composite picture of his adventures. Who can know what anecdotes actually happened? For all I know Peter Mason is everything he claims and more. But unfortunately what comes across in this book is someone needing to make some money after his military pension was "impounded" as the author reports.



3. While I don't doubt the author's credentials as a special forces operator and small arms expert, it seems to me that he has taken too many fictional liberties in an attempt to make the book more readable. In the book he tells one (not quite believeable) story of how he killed the nazi war criminal Ortgies, while on the tv documentary about his exploits a completely different version is told. This could have been a major exposé in the tradition of "Spycatcher" and "By Way of Deception", but unfortunately the book is written like a cheap spy novel. However, if the author had found a good ghost writer, I'm sure the book would have been an international bestseller like the two above mentioned books.



4. I found this book - a few interesting bits heavily padded with material intended to provide color but which failed to engage my interest - to be the literary equivalent of a hamburger sandwich that is long of bun and short of beef.

2 comments about Wedgwood: The First Tycoon.

1. There was a time when consumers had no brand names to go by, and now we have plenty of them. What was the first one? A good case could be made for the name Wedgwood, the fine pottery that has come for over two hundred years from the factory founded by Josiah Wedgwood in the pottery towns of Staffordshire, England. Not only has the name continued, but it has been from the beginning synonymous with fine taste. Its finest wares were bought for their elegance by aristocrats, and then there were other pottery creations that lesser mortals could buy as their betters set the trends for taste. Josiah Wedgwood knew all about the importance of a name, and about the need to catch the public taste and predict the next fashion. In _Wedgwood: The First Tycoon_ (Viking), Brian Dolan has given us a compelling account of a commercial success story that has many resonances with modern business practices on the cutting edge of technology, while taking into account a wider view of the social aspects of commerce in the eighteenth century.
   
   It is in many ways a rags to riches tale. Wedgwood's family had been Staffordshire potters for generations, but the potting works had been allowed to languish by Wedgwood's grandfather and father, who had no idea what innovation was. He was determined to do things differently, and he had absorbed the idea that progress and profits could be made scientifically. He was a Dissenter, a non-Anglican who favored rational inquiry rather than biblical interpretation as be the best manner of understanding the way the world works. He loved experimenting all his life. "Labor I will not call it," he said of his time-consuming and exacting experiments. He instead called it "entertainment," and he entertained himself into some of the most technically advanced potting techniques of the time. His innovations allowed calculated business gambles, which generally paid off. He was astute in predicting or making tastes; when Pompeian styles became vogue, Wedgwood was at the fore with the invention of "colored jasper", his medium for reproducing ancient pots.
   
   Wedgwood was dedicated to self improvement and to improvement of his society, and knew that business was a means to accomplish both. In pursuit of better business, he caused better roads and then a canal to be built as part of his social schemes. He provided training, housing, education, health care, and even retirement plans for those who worked for him. He was a tough boss, fuming against "dilatory, drunken, Idle, worthless workmen." When he strolled through the workshop, he might spy an offending vessel that failed to meet with his standards. He would smash it with his stick, exclaiming, "This will not do for Josiah Wedgwood." He was troubled by others stealing his ideas; there are tales here of commercial chicanery and theft that are the same as newspapers might report today. He valued fair competition; of another manufacturer, Matthew Boulton, he wrote, "He will not be a mere sniveling Copyist like the antagonists I have hitherto had," but rather a spur to better wares. Wedgwood had enormous confidence; having become Potter to Her Majesty, he wrote that he wanted to become "Vase maker General to the Universe." He largely succeeded, harnessing the technological, social, and commercial forces of his time. Dolan's admiring but full portrait shows that many of Wedgwood's values of style, research, innovation, and marketing were new with him but have continued to our own age.



2. My mother and some of my siblings worked in a pottery factory, and in my youth I went there many times and caught some glimpses of how things were done. This factory employed hundreds of workers. doing some awful, monotonous, carpal tunnel-generating routines. They made only the most basic stuff, quickly and cheaply. Nothing produced was of much beauty, but it was the town's most important employer, and many workers gave their lives over to it.
   
   Wedgewood pottery has always intrigued me--how the devil do they produce such incredibly beautiful stuff, so different from what I saw there? How are the finer pieces made with such reproducibility and perfection? There is a fine story here and Dolan has told it well.
   
   When Josiah Wedgewood was born in 1730, the youngest of twelve children, into the home of a potter in the Britain's Midlands. His humble beginnings, rising through the ranks, finally, at the age of 29, led him to establish his own small pottery business. Wedgewood was determined to achieve greater success and made a key decision--that he would continuously improve the processes used and invent new and wonderful things. He established a routine of constant experimentation and recorded all of his results meticulously into a laboratory notebook. He was constantly looking for new combinations of materials and firing methods to get new glazes and improved results. He looked for reliable, reproducible processes that could be introduced into his small factory. And he inspired his men to improve right along with the processes by paying careful attention to their working conditions, their safety, and their security. His men loved him, and he succeeded to become the foremost manufacturer of his day.
   
   Wedgewood's paid very careful attention to the fashions of the day, and strived to keep abreast. This required an approach that was constantly changing--resting on one's laurels and yesterday's success would only lead to failure. He produced much that was top of the line, and learned to market to the trend setters and royalty, then moving the product into the growing middle class.
   
   The setting in which he struggled was the early industrial revolution, where change was accelerating in Britain through a confluence of forces that are only poorly understood even today. Giants seemed to stalk the earth, and Wedgewood came to know many of them. He knew James Watt, and his metal-working partner Mathew Boulton, who at one point even tried to compete with him. This was the era of canal-building, and Wedgewood played a big role in this too.
   
   Much of this story is contained, though in much less detail, in _The Lunar Men_ by Jenny Uglow, which I would also recommend. Curiously, though, Wedgewood is counted as one of the five central members of the Lunar Society (encompassing a whole column in the index), this is mentioned only once by Dolan.
   
   The author has done an outstanding job in this book and it is well written. The sixteen pages of glossy photos contribute a lot to the book too. The story told here is an inspiring one, and will certainly encourage the reader to learn more about this astounding era.

No comments about I Heard the Wild Birds Sing: A Kerry Childhood.