2 comments about In the Footsteps of William Wallace.

1. The combination of Alan Young's writing and Michael Stead's picture help bring to life and make Wallace more of a tangible person in my mind's eye. Mr. Young's biography is a nice and balanced presentation of the facts of a man with enormous strengths and some faults. I have seen the movie Braveheart and read many of the other books which make Wallace an almost unbelievable hero. This book brings balance to the history and tells of a passionate patriot dedicated to his life's end to his country and its people. This presentation make's him more of a real man and real hero to me. Wallace did his best as he got caught among the church and the Noble families' power plays. The Stewarts, Bruces and Comyns all support themselves, family interests and lands many times before their country. But not Wallace. He had nothing to loose but his life and a Nation to gain, for which he paid the ultimate price. He went from outlaw, to Knight to Guardian of Scotland to outlaw and finally wrongly executed by Edward I. Wallace is a true Martyr and patriot. This book is a fine balanced historical tribute to William Wallace.



2. There have been many books written on William Wallace and all provide a look into the history of Scotlands greatest hero.In the back of my mind I have often tried to imagine a picture with those written words and now the reader can get that "In the Footsteps of William Wallace". Each part of the life of William Wallace and the history of the "Wars of Independence" are described and images are provided in related photographs and maps...a most excellent book for those with an interest in this great hero!!

No comments about Charles Hadfield: Canal Man and More.

No comments about The Beauties Of The Court Of Charles The Second: A Series Of Memoirs Biographical And Critical.

No comments about Memoirs Of The Court Of Queen Elizabeth V1.

2 comments about Lemady: Episodes of a Writer's Life.

1. Lemady is subtitled Episodes of a Writer's Life and is a rambling, idiosyncratic stream of consciousness discourse which is probably the closest Keith Roberts ever came to writing an autobiography. Roberts is famous as the author of Pavane, an alternate history novel that brought him fame (though little fortune). Many of his other novels are worthy though they are very hard to find having been published mainly by very small presses with very limited print runs (though Wildside Press has brought several of the rarer novels back into print and they are now easily obtainable through Amazon.Com). One reason for this was Robert's rather irascible character - he had a positive genius for alienating his colleagues and sometimes he seemed to go out of his way to be difficult. Lemady contains its moments of bitchiness (he is quite scathing about Kerosina, a small press which almost single handedly kept many of his books in print in the 1970s) - but despite this a certain grace shines through. Nobody who could write such beautiful novels can be entirely devoid of soul and insight. Many of the obituaries published on his death concentrated on the negative aspects of his character - it seemed that even after he was dead, Roberts kept the enemies that he made in life, and those enemies proved to be very unforgiving. Well; distance lends enchantment. I never met Roberts, but I admired his books hugely and Lemady adds an extra dimension that I for one am very pleased to have discovered.



2. Subtitled "Episodes of a Writer's Life", Lemady is a fascinating and idiosyncratic fusion of fact and fantasy that records some key events and encounters in Roberts' life. Although, from one perspective, the narrative can be perceived as a personal record, it also features a fictional character, the Lemady of the title, who interacts with Roberts as he remembers. Truth and fantasy are therefore never what they seem; one becomes the other and the reader must decide where real life finishes and fiction begins. Not a major Roberts work, but essential for anyone interested in what makes the author tick.

No comments about I Am of Ireland: An American's Journey of Discovery in a Troubled Land.

No comments about King Henry VIII (British History Makers).

No comments about Histoire de la révolution française: Tome 2. Livres V - VIII.

No comments about Calendar of the Correspondence of Richard Baxter: Volume I: 1638-1660 (Calendar of the Correspondence of Richard Baxter).

1 comments about In His Own Little Room Again.

1. This book is an autobiographical account of growing up in the outer northern suburbs of London in the early 1940s, both in the war years and immediate post-war ones. To me it was an odd experience to read it as it mirrored my own experience of growing up at in the same place at much the same time. As well as an interesting autobiography it is an interesting and accurate sociological commentary of a place and time when children had much freedom, and independence than is safely available and acceptable in modern society