5 comments about Charles: Victim or Villain.

1. This is a run down on Prince Charles' behavior. A single guy(and a future king) cheats with his friend's(Andrew Parker-Bowles) wife(Camilla); then continues to cheat with this same married woman while engaged to Lady Diana.
   Then takes gifts to his married lover against the wishes of Lady Diana. On his honeymoon, tokens of his continuing love affair shows up in Camilla photos falling from his diary and cuff-links(two C's connecting).
   The new Princess of Wales is rightfully hurt and confused.
   This behavior of Charles hardly gets the marriage off to a good start.
   Throughout the marriage, Diana is witness to numerous occasions where Charles(through actions or words) declares his never-ending love for a married woman and continues with his adultery.
   Charles and Camilla showed as much disregard for Andrew Parker-Bowles' feelings as they did for Diana.
   What is especially upsetting is that rather than publicly admit he was a heartless, cheating man, Charles continued to portray himself as a loving husband to Diana and a respectable man who would one day be crowned king. He was willing to let his subjects believe he was an honorable man.
   Not only is the future king a cad, he is a liar as well!
   Besides there is NO evidence showing Diana as metally ill, un-balanced or anything before her association with Charles. As for her tantrums, I would site inmaturity and sheer frustration as the reasons for her outbursts.
   Diana was a normal, sane, healthy young woman prior to her engagement. Her bulminia did not start until after she moved to Buckingham Palace and she realized she was a Lamb to the Slaughter. It was then she realized her future husband did not love her and was very much committing adultery with a married woman. Adultery was something that Charles would continue to practice throughout their marriage.
   What is equally the mark of a cad, is Charles even cheated on his mistress!
   To write a book that basically white-washes Charles' moraless antics, is a disgrace and an insult to everyone's itelligence.
   He is a Villain if I ever saw one!!!!!



2. This book is very pro-Charles which was to be expected. After all, both author and Charles are still alive. Diana can't fight back. And who knows what the truth is anyway?

   There isn't anything really new in this book except details about how news of Diana's death was received at Balmoral, actions of Charles and the Queen then, etc. There are conflicts with other accounts I've read. Was Diana's face damaged? Was an autopsy done in Paris? Other sources said her face was unmarked and body was not autopsied until it was returned to London. It is little details like this that make me wonder about rest of the book. What is the truth?

   I continue to be amazed at the influence the press has in England. Do they really have that much control over the Royal Family? Apparently they just make stuff up and everyone believes it. The Royals are so out of touch and isolated. I think they should just be left alone and out of the newspapers like they used to be.




3. I knew when I picked up this book that Ms Junor was always very anti-Princess Diana - even when she was alive she was very outspoken - and was obviously very pro - Prince Charles. I had hoped though that with the death of the Princess even this hardened lady would present a balanced view of both sides. Instead I was left with the distinct impression that she had swallowed the whole "poor Charlie " line. It takes two to make a marriage and two to destroy it. But her bitterness towards both the princess and the Queen were quite frankly astonishing - especially for someone who used to be editor of the Majesty magazine. This lady has more chips on her shoulder than a totem pole.

   I was horrified when Ms Junor decided she had the right to take on the role of amateur psychiatrist. That for me - was the end. I finished the book - but at the end of it all her superior attitude and downright condemnation of the Princess was appalling. I have no illusions that the Princess was not perfect. But she sold the princess as someone so calculating and evil that it does not equate with anything the rest of the world saw. I am not sure any of us thrown into that kind of limelight at the age of 19 would have coped any better - most of us would not. That does not excuse bad behavior. We all behave badly but most of us do not have "staff" to tittle tattle and exagerate our worst points.

   I enjoyed certain parts of the book and learned a lot more about Prince Charles - assuming that that part of the book is a true and detatched discription. However - having just read the introduction to another biography where the biographer states that it is easy to become self absorbed with the person they are writing about and to loose their sense of detatchment. I feel that Ms Junor did not achieve that.




4. Where does the author get her evidence? First that Diana was first to cheat, second she threatened Camilla Parker Bowles. The book seems to justify the fact that Charles was involved with Mrs. Parker Bowles from even before the marriage and that it was alright because Diana was scheming and nasty to him. It tries to create a spin on the royal marriage favoring Charles and his liaison with Camilla. This is the book to buy if you are ardently pro-Charles and agree that Diana was completely to blame for the breakup of the marriage.



5. This book is very interesting! The author is obviously a GREAT fan of Prince Charles! From interviews that I have seen with the author, I fully expected a Diana-bashing book and I wasn't far from the mark! Just the mere fact that the Princess of Wales is not here to defend herself against these so-called "facts" of Ms. Junor's shows you what kind of diabolical mind the author has! Ms. Junor herself is making quite alot of money writing about the misfortunes of the Prince & Princess of Wales. I should hope that the proceeds for this book would go directly to royal charities and those who are TRUE victims all around the world! Surely Ms. Junor would not want to line her own pockets with this scathing book - or would she? Think on, Ms. Junor!

No comments about 'A More Beautiful City': Robert Hooke and the Rebuilding of London After the Great Fire.

No comments about Richard the Lionheart: King and Knight.

No comments about Queen Victoria - The Story of Her Life and Reign.

4 comments about The Windsor Beauties: Ladies of the Court of Charles II.

1. Without repeating what other reviewers have said about the content and composition of this book, I do want to reiterate that it is an excellent and fascinating study of life in Restoration England. (For newbies, that refers to the reign of Charles II.) While there are some problems with readability that the original author (Charles Melville, in the 1928 edition) did not fully resolve, such as smoothly incorporating all of his quotes into the text--it is nevertheless a greatly enjoyable book. As much of it comes from diaries and correspondence that were contemporary to the time, the reader is treated to the uncensored opinions that people only write privately, or at most, to one or two other people--usually--but we get to "eavesdrop" as it were. Rich, gossipy, full of small details that delight--it's a painless history lesson. You learn about the period, the monarch, and the mistresses (many of them, at any rate) by people who were there. It is not a scholarly book, which I mention as encouragement for the casual reader; but it is a fabulous introduction to the time, and to a great many amazing characters that you will find yourself wanting to know even more about, afterwards. That's what I call history at its best! Many thanks to Victorian Heritage Press for publishing this valuable work.



2. Reviewed by Joanne Benham for Reader Views (08/06)
   
   Samuel Pepys was born in London, England in 1633. He attended Cambridge University, graduating in 1654 and became a well-known man of business in London, with an insatiable thirst for knowledge as well as an appetite for pleasure. In 1660, Pepys began keeping a diary in which he recorded all of the details of his life in London.
   
   At approximately this same time, Count Grammont of France arrived at the English court after being banished from the French court of King Louis XIV for seducing the King's mistress.
   
   Lewis Melville used the memoirs of Count Grammont and the diaries of Samuel Pepys extensively when he wrote this book in 1928. The book is a fascinating look into the inner workings of the royal court of King Charles II of England woven around a series of pictures commissioned from Sir Peter Lely by Anne, Duchess of York, who wished to have portraits of the most beautiful women in the court. The eleven portraits were called "The Windsor Beauties" because they were originally hung in the Queen's bedchamber at Windsor Castle.
   
   This revised edition, supervised by Victor R. Volkman, retains the original text. To help the reader better understand the political and social issues of the time, Mr. Volkman has added a large glossary as well as extensive footnotes. He has also added a proper bibliography for anyone who wishes to do further reading.
   
   The Windsor Beauties is the first of a series of restorations Mr. Volkman hopes to do, introducing the great literature of the 17th and 18th centuries to a new generation of readers. I spent several wonderful hours reading this book and then many more online as I started reading more and more about the people in this book.
   
   



3. The Windsor Beauties: Ladies of the Court of Charles II is the newly revised edition of the classic 1928 text. An absorbing masterpiece that meticulously and faithfully renders the day-by-day interplay of court life during the reign of Charles II of England, especially focusing upon those women notable enough to be immortalized in a portrait project at the behest of the Duchess of York, The Windsor Beauties is sparsely illustrated with black-and-white copies of the famous portraits. Yet the real draw is the eye-opening, unrepentantly honest written account, now enhanced with a new glossary, bibliography, extended footnotes for lay history readers, and the first-ever translations of French language poems, letters, and epistles. Highly recommended especially for lay historians and writers planning to pen court life period pieces.



4. As an editor and biographer, Lewis Melville (the pseudonym for Lewis Saul Benjamin) produced numerous works of literary and social history. Though written nearly a century ago, his books on such figures as William Makepeace Thackeray, John Gay, and Lady Mary Wortley Montagu persevere as well-written and insightful studies of their subjects. This book is something different, a collection of chapter-length biographical studies of women who were prominent in the court life of King Charles II. Eleven of them were noblewomen who were the subjects of a series of portraits commissioned from Peter Lely by the Duke of York, to which Melville added studies of the Duchess of York, Nell Gwyn, Louise de Keroualle and the Duchess Mazarin.
   
   First published in 1921, this book has been reissued by Victorian Heritage Press in a revised edition, with explanatory footnotes, translations, and a glossary added. This is obviously a labor of love, one designed to make Melville's enjoyable accounts accessible to a new generation of readers. Though the research could have been more solidly based (I had a problem with the reliance on Wikipedia as a source, especially when the shelves overflow with so many excellent scholarly works on Stuart England), this is a welcome resuscitation of a useful study of the English upper class in the 17th century.

2 comments about Princess Diana: Revised.

1. If you are just looking for a well-written, concise biography of Diana, Princess of Wales, this is your book. Buskin is one of the few "Diana" authors who seems to have no personal agenda- just a straightforward story of her life. If you want to know more about her murder, you need to also read my book, Princess Diana the Lamb to the Slaughter.



2. After reading most books, you can easily put the book back on the shelf without looking back. Princess Diana: Her Life Story was not like that at all. In fact, after reading it, you have to sit back and think about what a great book it was. This books didn't just tell the story of a great and accomplished woman, but it also described her thoughts, emotions, loves, and her shocking death that affected the whole world. Most biographies are all facts and dates, which for most can get quite dull. When I read the first few pages of this biography on Princess Diana, I knew for sure this would was different. The book made you feel lik you were there with Diana through the worst and best times of her life. Her life story was not just an ordinary biography, it was an amazing journey through the life of a time-treasured Princess.

No comments about Selected Letters (Oxford World's Classics).

5 comments about Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography Of Angela Lansbury: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury.

1. Hello Ms. Lansbury:
   
   I just wanted to tell you how much enjoyment your performances have given my wife and I, over the years. Oh, and your decision to move to Ireland after your house in Malibu burned down: Brilliant! I grew up in Santa Monica, where there was too much money and too many drugs... So many kids my age (I was born in 1954, and graduated from Santa Monica High in 1972) had their lives destroyed by drugs. Los Angeles and Hollywood are terrible places to raise kids! You are so very lucky, to have raised a beautiful son and daughter, and to have had a husband who loved you, for so many decades. I only hope that my wife and I can enjoy over 50 years of marriage, as you and your spouse successfully did! Best wishes to you and your family. [...]



2. If you are an Angela Lansbury fan like I am, you will love this book. It tells of her family, her marriage, children, her days at MGM, her talks and encounters with movie stars, her movie career, Murder She Wrote and after. It is a well-written book not trashy like the Kitty Kelly biographies or sugar coated. I enjoyed reading this book. A GREAT READ.



3. This authorized biography of Angela Lansbury is interesting and well-written...but she was a part of the project, had final say over what was and wasn't included, and left SO MUCH out! Her personal life is covered much better in the other two unauthorized biographies of Angela Lansbury. But what really floored me in this one was her descriptions of "fan psychology" and the way she talks about teenagers who looked up to the character she portrayed in shows like "Mame." She describes the kids' adulation of her in terms of being "a tragedy." While one fan clearly became out of control in terms of following her around and pestering her, the rest of us - legions of us - didn't. Hello! What's so tragic about children looking up to, and being inspired by, a responsible celebrity?



4. With angela Lansbury's cooperation, the author was able to construct the life of the star and her dreams without being intrusive into episodes of her life. He truly respected the subject and the star rewarded him with candor. it is too often that authors choose biographies to sensationalize a life. In this case, the author told it straight but with humanity and dignity and affection for a woman of icnredible talent and character.



5. This is one of the finest celebrity biographies that I have ever read. Actress Angela Lansbury is profiled with candor and wit in Martin Gottfried's "Balancing Act". Gottfried conducted countless interviews with the star herself of whom he says, "No biographical subject could have been more cooperative.", and many, many of those who knew her and worked with her. The book details her early life in London, her arrival in America during WWII, and her first film, at MGM, where they promptly decided to change her name to "Angela Marlow". The book writes with candor about her first failed marriage and her Hollywood years into the late forties, when she married Peter Shaw (and the marriage is still going strong). In the early fifties, she gave birth to her son Anthony and daughter Deidre Shaw, and in the late sixties, with her Hollywood career in a slump, she bounced back on Broadway in her Tony-Award winning title role in the musical "Mame". The book is at its most exciting when detailing her Broadway career, and not just with "Mame", but with her three other Tony-Award winning roles in "Dear World", "Gypsy", and "Sweeney Todd". And after Broadway, Lansbury conquered television with her ever-popular "Murder, She Wrote" series. Since then, Lansbury has enjoyed steady acting and puttering in her rose garden. Many humorous anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories told by Lansbury concern stars like Ingrid Bergman, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Bea Arthur among them. She is a rueful raconteur and thrilled with her extraordinary professional and personal life. With the color and gusto of "Balancing Act", Angela Lansbury is profiled up close and personal and, as always, absolutely great!

5 comments about The Friendly Jane Austen: A Well-Mannered Introduction to a Lady of Sense and Sensibility.

1. I just happened upon this little gem at my local bookstore and after thumbing through the pages for about a minute, I knew I had to have it. The layout of the book is superb as it highlights each of Miss Austen's novels and gives facts, fun lists and quotations in a light-hearted yet interesting manner. There is something for the long-time fan as well as anyone new to the novels. A must-have for any Jane Austen fan and a fantastic resource for any book club reviewing a Jane Austen novel. Well done.



2. Of all the references I have seen so far, this is the most complete as far as covering all of Jane Austen's personal life, the last 200 years of how other famous people saw her, a clear discussion of each of her novels, and how the many adaptations have had an impact in the late 20th and early 21st centuries. This book is must reading for oldtime fans of Jane and a great and full introduction for first time readers. Who can resist being a fan after reading this fine book? It deserves to be kept handy all the time.



3. This fine little book is a great encyclopedia of Jane Austen, her life, all her works, impact on other writers, and on other forms of entertainment over the two centuries her works have been amongst us. I find it is frequently used as a resource for discussion. Those new to Jane Austen will get an excellent start in becoming a fan. The writing is lively, well illustrated and easily translated to the 21st century investigator.



4. The Friendly Jane Austen: A Well-Mannered Introduction to a Lady of Sense & Sensibility is a wonderful resource for the die-hard Austen fan as well as Austen newbies. Ms. Tyler takes each book in turn, gives a synopsis of the plot and places it in historical context and in the context of Austen's life. She then explains those details that might be abstract to those not familiar with Regency culture, such as entailed property, the importance of walking and the attitude toward marriage, making the reader comfortable with the novel. She includes illustrations, interviews, quizzes and delightful bits on the side such as "10 Surefire Ways to be Vulgar", a table of average income and "Sense and Sensibility: A Checklist". In addition, she finishes the book lists of movie versions, book spin-offs and sequels and shows Austen's role (her "legacy") in our century.
   
   An Austen fan from way back, I found this a truly delightful book. Ms. Tyler is humorous as well as informative and her enthusiasm for Austen is apparent. This is a must-have for Austen fans, no question about it; the resources provided in The Friendly Jane Austen further the enjoyment of reading Austen's novels. It is also an excellent book for those that have just started reading Austen. With this book by your side, you can't fail to see just how wonderful Jane Austen was, and still is.



5. This was a truly fun book. It was written with a sense of fun about Jane Austen. Synopsis of the novels and characters are interspersed with interviews from actors who've had roles in movie adaptations of Jane Austen's novels, famous writers' thoughts on the impact of Jane Austen in their own writings, silly quizzes that will have you nodding your head or guessing out loud and even lists of the most obnoxious characters.

4 comments about A Traitor's Kiss: The Life of Richard Brinsley Sheridan, 1751-1816.

1. This is a wonderful biography of a fascinating and engaging personality. Sheridan is a fine poet and an honorable politician (a nearly impossible achievement in the eighteenth-century as it is today), a genuine wit, he was also one of the greatest playwrights in the London theater of his day.
   
   Sheridan was a man of fashion and society, but not a fop. He wrote clever, romantic comedies, liked to live on the edge and yet always held fast to his principles -- supporting the American colonists, for instance, in their struggle for independence -- while refusing to be bought at any price.
   
   He lived in grand style from the first moment that he arrived in London (despite having nothing but his wife's dowry), spending all of the money that he made as quickly as he earned it -- sometimes MORE quickly than he earned it. He was passionate about few women but appreciative of the beauty of many, and he was a devoted and caring father. (His poem "If a Daughter You Have" is a small gem.)
   
   When he came home one night to find his theater burning as a result of a fire (probably set by his enemies in parliament), he calmly sat and sipped some wine, explaining to shocked witnesses: "Surely a man can have a glass of wine by his own fire."
   
   Toward the end of his life, although he was burdened by crippling debts, he refused an offer of a large sum of money in compensation for his support offered by the American colonists. He explained that his support had been a matter of principle.
   
   Read this biography and anything by Sheridan himself.



2. It's enough to say that a major artist has met with a superb biographer and this happy marriage has produced a very moving and absorbing account of this great man's life. Thank you Mr O' Toole!



3. I was familiar with Sheridan from his theatrical comedies, plays that have become standard in the repertoire. I was dimly aware of his service in Parliament. I wasn't aware of his extensive involvement in the great political questions of the day, particularly the Irish questions, nor of his centrality in the great debates of the late 18th century--the American war for independence, the expanding power of the East India Company, and many others.

   The book covers all of this, but what elevates this bio from the typical is the author's focus on Sheridan's rhetoric--his use of language. The richness of wordplay, situation, and satire in his plays turns out to be just a special case of a characteristic lifestyle of thought and interaction. It's just splendid to read this sort of thing from an intelligent writer. The book gets you thinking, and there are points at which you may challenge the author's conclusions, but you're not going to find many biographies of this depth, thoroughness, and thoughtfulness. A great read!




4. Sheridan (1751-1816) is best known for a few plays, superficially comedies of manners and morals, mainly The Rivals and The School for Scandal. O'Toole's work explores beneath the surface of these and other literary works, showing them as the products of Sheridan's personal and political life.

   Widely praised in the English and American press, this biography portrays Sheridan as a passionate (and compassionate) politician. He was a major player in a struggle for various complicated and sometimes seemingly contradictory causes and parliamentary power in the era of the American Revolution, King George III's intermittent madness, the French Revolution, and troubles in the British empire.

   Sheridan is shown to be a humanitarian, and, less convincingly, an Irish patriot in the guise of an English politician who happened to be Irish by birth at a time when Ireland was at times openly rebellious toward England. The family heritage in Ireland was actually Protestant, but tolerant of Catholicism to the point of having Jacobite tendencies, i.e. favoring the return of the Stuart monarchy that had ended with James II in the so-called Glorious Revolution of 1688. Sheridan's father, Thomas, was a man of the theatre, and also a scholar, concerned particularly with propriety in matters of language and spoken discourse. Richard was not his father's favorite and his mother, herself a writer, died while Richard was still a young boy.

   O'Toole's biography manages to relate the playwright's works to his family circumstances without indulging in psychological speculation. For example, the memorable character Mrs. Malaprop, in The Rivals, (immortalized by our word "malaprop" or "malapropism") is shown to be in part based on Thomas, who had pedantic tendencies. (Malaprops are best when they come from pretenders to perfection in language. An especially good one appeared a few years ago in The Smithsonian magazine when James J. Kilpatrick, a conservative political commentator and sometimes word policeman, referred to a mistake in diction as a "solipsism" instead of a "solecism".)

   The many portrayals of hypocrisy and venality in Sheridan's plays are well explained by reference to the politics and society of the period, but are timeless in their effectiveness. The book is most interesting in describing the realities of theatrical performances, whether the particulars are staging details, audience characteristics, or financial exigencies. But this is a political biography of a character whose political accomplishments and enlightened ideals outshine his well known literary works.

   Many of Sheridan's Irish contacts and English partisans in the intrigues within England in the years after 1789 were openly sympathetic to, or even allied with the French revolutionaries. Yet Sheridan was during this time a prominent member of the House of Commons and close to the Prince of Wales, later George IV. Some of his personal and political friends were tried as traitors during the peak of Sheridan's political prominence; he survived primarily because of his political acumen, eloquence, and insight.

   To the general reader, not well acquainted with the intricacies of English history, the work will nevertheless be interesting and convincing in portraying Sheridan as a politically adroit and ingenious man, even an Enlightenment figure. Sheridan's speeches and writings were well known to the American revolutionaries, and remained popular even after his death. He eloquently advocated religious toleration, freedom from colonial oppression, even feminism, and opposed slavery so effectively as to influence the young Frederick Douglass.

   Sheridan's personal flaws (he was a drunk and an adulterer), theatre life in London, political intrigues, the struggle for religious and political freedom in Ireland, and the impeachment trial of Warren Hastings for mismanagement of affairs in British colonial India, all well explained, make this book accessible and interesting. I offer three points of criticism.

   First, and most importantly, characters, terms, or events not known to the general reader or history reader, should be explained briefly. The English reader may know what a "rotten" borough was, and what a "pocket" borough was, in the days before parliamentary reform, but a sentence or two would explain this and give the reader a better understanding of the electoral politics involved.

   Second, an attempt at a definitive biography, published by a prestigious house such as Farar, should include illustrations. It is frustrating to read descriptions of presumably extant political cartoons of the day, some involving Sheridan's Drury Lane theatre, or major political figures, and not be able to see reproductions-surely the private collection or library would give permission. (In fact, the New York Review of Books included one cartoon in its review of this book.)

   Finally, O'Toole's prose is afflicted with some of the unfortunate mannerisms of academic style. He repeatedly uses the awkward, almost always disruptive "former...latter" construction, and equally often uses the term "context" when referring to real relationships or circumstances-the term should be reserved for relationships between words. These usages may be epidemic in doctoral dissertations or in the "scholarly" journals no one reads, but that does not excuse their appearance in a work like this-the author is the drama critic of the New York Daily News. In the age of word processing, surely an editor at Farar should have caught these irritating errors of style, possibly in preparation of the American edition. Then again, a careful editor might have noticed that at the end of the "Preface to the American Edition" the date is incorrectly listed as May 1988.

   If this clever and talented author had made his entertaining book more accessible, he would be open to the charge of "popularizing", anathema in academic and some literary circles. But it is a measure of his success in eliciting the nature of Sheridan that one wishes he had done so. After all, the political and religious difficulties in Ireland persist, and one could as well look beyond the Emerald Isle and argue that we too live in an age of comparably flawed, but ultimately noble political actors and causes, in need of better understanding of their human qualities.