1 comments about Persia in the Great Game: Sir Percy Sykes: Explorer, Consul, Soldier, Spy.

1. Persia was interested in the Great Game as one of the possible routes to India for the Russians and for this reason became the object of England's important presence in this area. The political situation of Iran today finds it roots in the confilctive relationships between Britain and Russia during the Victorian Age and the early Nineteenth Century.
   
   Sir Percy Sykes was one of the principal englishmen that influenced the permanence of the English in Persia and due to his remarkable caracter is still rememberd there today.
   
   Antony Wynn draws abbundantly from Sir Percy's, his sister Ella's and his wife Evelyn's diaries, official documents and correspondance to bring back to life this rocky and slightly megalomaniac server of his country. From training in the cavalry in India, to the extensive explorations of Kashmir, Ladakh, Turkmenistan and the whole Persian territory, Sykes' career is followed to the founding of the Kerman consulate and after that the permanence in Meshed, where he probably really influenced the insucess of the Russian attempt to annex the North of Persia.
   After WWI Russia and Britain became allies and the services of Sykes became very important. Eventhough a diplomat and not a military he founded and commanded the South Persia Rifles that became the first modern Persian army. In contrast to the Central Governement he managed to check the influence of the Germans and check the tribal disorders mustered up by Wassmuss and defeated the raiding tribes of the South ensuring the safety of commerce.
   After the war, Lord Curzon showed no sympathy for this knowledgable but difficult to treat military/diplomat, and practically determined his retirement. Sir Percy however had many arrows to his bow and through conferences, articles, books and public apprearances managed to support his vast family.
   
   Antont Wynn writes with detail and is never boring. Historical biographies gain much when contextualization is attempted. In this aspect I found the book a little defective even if the bibliography and the recalls to other sources is satisfying. The photographs add flavour to the reading helping to visualize the caracters.
   
   This book is an indispensable read for the understanding of how the Iranian opinion of the West has formed and is still ongoing. The description of the basis of the economical and political relationships between England and Iran are still part of our current situation.

No comments about Saint Patrick: The Man and His Works.

1 comments about Michael Faraday.

1. Michael Faraday is generally unappreciated as a scientist, he was clearly one of the greatest of all experimental scientists. In this book, we learn the many facets of this outstanding scientist, from his popular lectures to his deep-seated religious beliefs. He was an active member of a very small religious sect called the Sandemanians, a group whose numbers have never exceeded 1000. Religion was always present in his science, his firm belief in the conservation of energy was based on the thought that God would not waste anything. Often criticized for the lack of mathematical rigor in his publications, he nevertheless made fundamental contributions to the understanding of electricity, magnetism and chemistry.
   However, the most significant aspect of the book is how it takes us back to an era when scientists openly explained their results to the public. Faraday regularly delivered lectures to a public that was very interested in what he would say, and in many ways this is something that the scientific community has lost. Common wisdom is that the public is generally uninterested in scientific matters, but that is not true. If the reasons for the research are explained in a sensible manner, then the public will support it financially.
   A short, yet thorough book, it is ideal for a supplemental text in a history of science course. His scientific advances are explained using non-technical language with almost no mathematics.

No comments about HER LITTLE MAJESTY: THE LIFE OF QUEEN VICTORIA.

1 comments about David Roberts: Travels in Egypt & the Holy Land.

1. This is not nearly as nice as another David Robert's book, Egypt: Yesterday and Today, but the images are just as beautiful, even in their reduced size. His work is truly amazing and after traveling in Egypt you really appreciate his vision of the past.

No comments about Earl Of Chesterfield: Letters To His Son.

1 comments about The Story of Ireland: A History of an Ancient Family and Their Country.

1. This book traces an ancient Irish family from the mists of time into the 20th century. It shows the impact of historical events on a family and its fortunes. The author, I understand, is in his nineties and grew up in Ireland. So he saw and experienced some of the old ways and knows firsthand many of the recent changes. A charming and interesting book.

2 comments about Haig: The Evolution of a Commander (Potomac Books' Military Profiles series).

1. Field Marshal Sir Douglas Haig is one of the most controversial commanders of the First World War and indeed of all British history. Was he a military genius without the resources that he needed or was a military incompetent of the first order? According to Andrew Wiest, in this short study of Haig's years on the western front, he was more of the former than the latter. Wiest, however, is not offering some kind of sanitized version of history. He realizes and has no problem showing when and where his subject blundered. His coverage is through and his prose is easy to follow. This book makes for a nice introduction on the topic of Sir Douglas. Highly recommended.



2. Short (very short) look at Gen Douglas Haig during his command in the First World War. Much of the historical community is split on whether Haig is a genius or idiot and this book does little to shed light either way. Very little in the way of decisive praise of condemnation, Wiest's contribution is simply there. Most of the time, lack of bias is good, but not much is gained by reading this book that can not be gleaned from regular history books. Good for quick reference to Haig's career, but limited in what it covers or offers beyond ordinary vanilla.

5 comments about Diana & Dodi: A Love Story.

1. I found this book to be the best Diana book I have read. I do belive this story. I think Diana and Dodi did care for each other and I think Rene is telling it like he saw it. the book lets you see the personal side of Diana as well as Dodi.the book also tells you what happened the night of the crash. this book is the only book on Diana that I did not get bored with.a great love story.



2. I've probably read all or nearly all the books on Diana. Somehow I'd missed this one until a friend gave it to me as a gift. While I didn't give it 5 stars for its great literary qualities, I thought that for Diana fans, it delightfully delivered the goods - it is a pleasing intimate portrait with plenty of detail (food, clothes, toiletries, habits) yet with a real sense of affection, humor and respect.
   
   Setting this apart from most Diana books is the uniquely likeable voice of the narrator. Delorm is a class act, a man who respected and liked his boss, Dodi Fayed, and who seems to view everyone from his wealthy employer to his fellow cooks, butlers and masseuses with generosity of spirit and an open mind. This is a refreshing contrast with the self serving busybody tone of Patrick Jephson's Diana book, or any of the royal "experts" who simultaneously envy, fawn and snipe.

   The author's joie de vivre and eye for detail turn this book into a lovely little vacation on a yacht, along with two people we might have enjoyed knowing very much. And unlike many books published after their deaths, it does not lay on the pathos, but instead is more of a celebration.

   All in all, this is an intimate book you can enjoy without feeling like a voyeur, and a very welcome read for anyone who misses Diana. She sounds like a lot of fun.

   A great escape read in these glamour-free times. Highly recommended.




3. Rene Delorm, Dodi Fayed's former Butler, was clearly devoted to his former employer and this affection shines through these memoirs.

   The scene is well set with a brief thumbnail sketch relating how his and Dodi's paths originally crossed, before the more eagerly-awaited period is focussed upon. Never overstating his case, Delorm recounts the beginnings of Dodi's affair with the Princess of Wales with disarming candour and seems to me conscious of the temptation to embroider upon his recollections or, worse still, hypothesise on what the future for the couple may have held. This temptation he scrupulously avoids and it is to his credit that he refers only to what he saw and heard and shies away from hearsay and speculation.

   While necessarily anecdotal in content, the book gives a charming, if simplistic, insight into their last days together and makes an interesting addition to the huge library of titles dealing with the demise of Diana and Dodi, by one who was well-placed to observe their intimacies. Paul Burrell, Diana's Butler, (whom she referred to as her "rock") is arguably in a better position to reveal her state of mind in these last weeks but has, to date, sensitively deferred from comment. Delorm's book, though, is an affectionate and poignant recollection and his grief on hearing the devastating news is tangible.




4. This book was very warm, discreet and also revealing of a mgical romance. Anyone that loves Diana will be extremely happy with this book.

   In this book you can feel that Diana is being a real person- happy, smiling, laughing, eating, and falling in love, relaxing- an image she never got by hundreds of people- it is sad that her life was cut so short. She was a lovely, gracious woman who left way to early in life. Her time with Dodi- was to start a lifetime of romance that was ever so sweet. that was cut very short too.Now we will never know if they were to ever marry or not.

   I am a greatful of Rene for sharing his memories with the world of Diana- allowing people to see and to hear about her romance.




5. A starry-eyed account of the doomed pair's romance by Dodi's butler. So protective is Delorm of his late boss that he never mentions model Kelly Fisher, whom he must have known Dodi was two-timing after Diana came along.

   But Delorm's devotion can be touching. "You left me," he wrote in the condolence book at Dodi's funeral, and then dissolved into tears.

   A very one-sided look into a doomed duo's romance.

No comments about History of King Charles II of England.