5 comments about Hidden Agenda: How the Duke of Windsor Betrayed the Allies.

1. You attempt to contribute to the cover up for Edward VIII of England.
   
   He certainly thought it more important to marry a divorced American
   
   than remain King of his country in time of crisis. He also violated the
   
   integrity the Church of England of which he was the official head and
   
   protector.
   
   What about Lord Halifax and George VI in the early going?
   
   What about the Welsh coal miners who were already loosing too many
   
   lives because of an indifferent government and other English citizens
   
   who were about to put their lives and honor on the line to defend England
   
   against Nazi aggression?
   
   
   
   
   Wendell M Kury



2. Martin Allen`s book „Hidden Agenda - How the Duke of Windsor betrayed the Allies" provides us with an interesting look behind the stage on which the beginning of the Second World War was taking shape. Martin Allen describes in considerable detail the interests of the various parties involved in this conflict - the actors, the observers, and the by-standers, and he adroitly shows how some of the players, at times, would switch from one category to the other.

   The lynchpin of the book is a letter, supposedly written in late 1939 by the Duke. Its purpose was to introduce to Hitler the Duke`s messenger, the Franco-American industrial consultant, Charles E. Bedaux who, in those early months and years of the war, was able to travel quite freely from one side of the „Sitzkrieg" front to the other.

   A facsimile of the letter is shown in the book. Obviously, for a mere reader, it is impossible to say whether the letter is genuine or not. The (German!) text of the letter is, however, just ever so slightly off the track with respect to normal German style, grammar, and vocabulary that it may well have been written by a person, such as the Duke, whose command of the language was good, but not perfect. It would have taken an excellent forger to achieve such a convincing degree of (im)perfection.

   The immediate military results of the Duke`s overtures toward Hitler were twofold. They represent, in a way, each party`s ante in the bargain: the Duke`s information on the French defenses allowed the Germans to turn the „sitzkrieg" into a „blitzkrieg" in the summer of 1940, whereas the German contribution was to hold their panzers back when they reached the Channel, thus allowing the British Expeditionary Force to retreat from Dunkerque with acceptable losses.

   At this point, the book argues more or less explicitly, it would have been possible for some sort of peace deal to be reached. However, the Duke`s position at home had been undermined by internal machinations that had led to his resignation and he was unable to realize his ambition which, according to Allen, was to recover his throne through this admittedly risky alliance with Berlin.

   The obvious argument that comes to mind at this point is that any peace with Hitler would have constituted an abandonment of Poland for whose integrity and protection the Allies had, after all, gone to war. We must realize, though, that at the end of September, 1939, when the war in Poland had come to its rapid end, the Germans had occupied only the western half of that country. The eastern half of Poland was, by then, under Soviet domination, because the Soviets had, on 17 September 1939 (when the victory of their German ally was evident) sent in the Red Army to take over the rest - and to hold on to it to the present day.

   This overt act of aggression did not cause a stir in the Allied camp and voids the argument sketched out above. The value of Allen`s book lies in its exposure of the duplicity of the policy of the Allies. Only five years later, the world witnessed and for the most part, welcomed the complete hand-over of Poland and the rest of Eastern Europe to Stalin who, by that time, had become the West`s most valuable ally in the fight for the ideals of freedom and democracy. It took History a mere fifty years and millions of dead to rectify that situation. One wonders if the price that might have had to be paid to Hitler would have been quite as high as that.




3. This book charges that the Duke of Windsor, formerly King Edward VIII, gave Allied military secrets to Germany in a deliberate scheme to help the Nazis against his own country.

   The British establishment, the author says, used Edward's love for Wallis Simpson as a pretext to force his abdication because of his pro-German views. Then, he says, that same establishment used Edward to spy on French military installations for Britain--but that Edward simultaneously passed the secrets along to the Germans through Charles Bedaux, a shadowy character with ties to both Edward and Adolf Hitler.

   The book is built around a handwritten letter, in German, from Edward to Hitler, which the author says his father received years later from Hitler's architect, Albert Speer. The book surmises that Edward gave the letter to Bedaux, who hid it in his hat band, or elsewhere, and then personally delivered it to Hitler.

   On the surface the letter is cryptic. Was Edward really trying to hurt Britain--or help Hitler put him back on the Throne? Was he being solicitous, or devious? If the circumstances surrounding the letter are indeed what the author claims, then this book has a real story to tell.

   Unfortunately, the book's shortcomings as a serious history cast doubt on its conclusions. There is some original research, particularly with respect to the background of Bedaux himself. Most of the text, however, rests either on secondary sources or on no acknowledged source at all. The author does not cite the particular pages of the secondary sources, so it is virtually impossible for readers to evaluate the information for themselves. Worse yet, many highly accusatory and critical passages have no source references whatsoever, leaving frustrated readers to wonder whether the undocumented conversations and events actually happened. The overall tone suggests that the author has let his own animus toward Edward dictate the scholarship, rather than the other way around.

   The author explains that many of the primary source documents have been destroyed, are not available for inspection, or are perhaps even being hidden by the British royal family itself. That, though, is not a license to make critical assumptions that result, essentially, in a charge of treason.

   The letter appears to bear Edward's handwriting, as far as one can tell from the lithographic reproduction in the book. In an appendix the author recounts that a handwriting expert authenticated the letter. Sadly, however, he does not identify the expert, and the glaring absence of the expert's identity further undermines this book's claims.

   Even if the letter is genuine, it does not prove the author's thesis. Edward was not anti-German, and he may well have thought that the Nazis were Europe's best defense against Soviet expansionism. He may also have been careless in his dealings with both Bedaux and Hitler. But that certainly does not mean that Edward would deliberately seek to harm the Empire that he served so long as Prince of Wales, and later as King.

   The overreaching premise of this book makes the story of royal intrigue entertaining, but one should not uncritically accept all of the story.




4. This most biased reflection of Charles Eugene Bedaux demonstrates an underlying bias on the part of the Autoho. Unsubstantiated facts based upon Allen's prejudice are slanderous and if Bedaux were still alive, he would have set the record sttraight and possibly involved many prominent US citizens. Bedaux did much to styme the Naxi operarionf in France and this is totally ignored in this book.



5. This book gets one star simply for its value to take space on a bookshelf! Otherwise, some of the probably accurate conslusions about the Duke of Windsor are rendered suspect by Martin Allen's faulty and obviously ill-researched and biased conclusions regarding Charles Eugene Bedeaux!

   I have studied and researched Bedeaux for several years now. Allen would have done well to talk with the few surviving Frenchmen in and around Tour that knew of Bedeaux's efforts in putting kinks in all Nazi manufacturing ans ship-building production in France under his direction.

   Jim Christy's book, "The Price of Power, The Story of Charles Eugene Bedeaux", more accurately concludes that Bedaux may certainly have courted the Duke for his "star power" of the day and that Bedeaux was NOT a Nazi collaborator but rather worked skillfully to sabotage wartime production in France that could have greatly benefitted the Nazi powers.

   Allen appears more inclined to follow his own "conclusions" that are far from conclusive. It is my opinion that Bedeaux took his own life, probably with some relief by many powerful Americans, and with perhaps aid from his captors. Had he lived and told the entire story, too many powerful US citizens would have become involved.

   Sadly, this flawed tale could have been told better with adequate research and less unproven ideas expressed as fact.

   Find Jim Christy's book for a much better-told tale and much, much more accuracy.

1 comments about A Ragged Schooling: Growing Up in the Classic Slum.

1. 
   Personal account by Robert Roberts (a son of a shopkeeper within a large family) of his early years, growing up in a run-down area in Salford, Greater Manchester, England, covering the period from 1905 to about 1921.
   
   Interesting, informative, well-written, entertaining; an enjoyable read. Worth reading.
   
   9 out of 10

No comments about Brothers in the Raj: The Lives of John and Henry Lawrence.

3 comments about Wind in the Ash Tree.

1. When the hustle and bustle of modern life has you totally frazzled reach for any of Jeanine McMullen's books and slow down. Her descriptions of life on a small farm in Wales are not only delightful but a real hoot. Who would have thought a horse named Doli could create such pandominium? And her little whippet, Merlin; you will never forget some of the stunts he pulls. The goat Little Nana (black-hearted rebel that she is) is also always causing one sort of trouble after another. I just wish Jeanine had written more than three books about her life in Wales.



2. When the hustle and bustle of modern life has you totally frazzled reach for any of Jeanine McMullen's books and slow down. Her descriptions of life on a small farm in Wales are not only delightful but a real hoot. Who would have thought a horse named Doli could create such pandominium? And her little whippet, Merlin; you will never forget some of the stunts he pulls. The goat Little Nana (rebel that she is) is also always causing one sort of trouble after another. I just wish Jeanine had written more than three books about her life in Wales.



3. The marvelous sequel to "A Small Country Living", this book continues with the amusing and touching experiences of a BBC radio broadcaster's life on a tiny farm in the mountains of Wales. Her writing is wonderfully evocative, and her observations are most often funny or ironic. Think of "Under the Tuscan Sun" with looney livestock in place of the luscious food and lots more clouds and damp. Years later, Jeanine McMullen remains one of my all-time favorite writers. And if you love dogs, you'll especially enjoy her books--they're all keepers!!

No comments about The Irrepressible Churchill: Through His Own Words and the Eyes of His Contemporaries.

No comments about Eminent Edwardians: Four Figures who Defined their Age: Northcliffe, Balfour, Pankhurst, Baden-Powell.

No comments about Lives and Letters of the Devereux, Earls of Essex: In the Reigns of Elizabeth, James I, and Charles I, 1540-1646. Volume 2.

1 comments about Phoenix: King Charles I (Phoenix Press).

1. In this book, Pauline Gregg does a magnificent job of painting a multifaceted picture of the life of King Charles I, from his birth in Scotland in 1600 to his death on the scaffold in 1649 after losing the English Civil War. Gregg presents an evenhanded narrative of Charles's life, mostly sympathetic but not glossing over his faults. The changing political landscape in England over the course of Charles's reign is presented very well and in detail, including the financial and turbulent religious aspects that make his reign a most interesting one. Much treatment is also given to the English Civil War and its causes as well as to the life of Charles as a private family man. Whether you are interested in the English Civil War, English ecclesiastical history, the British Monarchy, or just history in general, you will find this book informative and entertaining. Far from being a ponderous historical tome, it maintians a steady pace throughout that keeps the reader well informed but never bored. I would recommend this book to any history buff, and it's a must-have for any enthusiast for English history!

2 comments about Sir Philip Sidney: Courtier Poet.

1. What a great book! This is biography at its best. Katherine Duncan-Jones succeeds in that most difficult of tasks - writing a biographical work that is at the same time scholarly and amusing. She paints a convincing portrait of this gifted, generous and tormented individual,who was also remarkably tolerant and warm-hearted for the times in which he lived. Sidney emerges from this book as a sophisticated and highly intelligent man who felt bitter and frustrated because of the unfair treatment he received at the hands of a capricious Queen, in whose service he nevertheless lost his very life. Altogether, I found Sidney very different from the typical Elizabethan - his dislike of hunting as a cruel, bloody sport, and his enlightened views on women are some of the traits in which we recognize a modern mind. And, nevertheless, after his absurd death he became a sort of hero or role-model for his contemporaries - many of whom hadn't recognized his worth while he lived. Duncan-Jones writes elegantly and in an entertaining style, quoting extensively from Sidney's writings as well as from those of his relatives and friends. I completely disagree with another reviewer, who criticized the "extraneous material" and the quantity of facts and persons in the book. No material is extraneous here: everything is relevant, either to Sidney's life or to the social and political context in which it must be viewed. As to the amount of characters - well, think about your own life: if someone were to write your biography, how many characters would there be? Four of five? I wouldn't trust a biography that didn't have many characters (even counting only the significant ones). After all, every person's life is complex - and full of other persons. All in all, this book is highly recommended - you'll gain a great awareness of an exceptional man.



2. Out of print? Good! This book is so filled with bits of extraneous material that it is almost impossible to follow. Despite considerable interest in the subject matter, and despite returning to the book four or five times, I could not distinguish which facts pertained to Sir Philip Sidney and which to the hundreds of people with whom he came into contact without almost graphing out the characters. It was worse than any Russian novel.

No comments about The Life of Captain Frederick Marryat (A Fireship CONTEMPORIZED CLASSIC).