No comments about Amazing Grace: William Wilberforce and the Heroic Campaign to End Slavery.

5 comments about Wellington: A Personal History.

1. Christopher Hibbert's biography of the first Duke of Wellington is, as advertised, a personal history. His focus is on the man and much less on his long career in the British Army and British political life. His finding, that Wellington was a complex man with a many-sided personality, is not a new discovery. Hibbert's contribution to a crowded field of biographies is to delve into that personality with both enthusiasm and some intellectual discipline in order to put a human face on a distant historical figure.
   
   The first half of the book covers Arthur Wellesley's unpromising youth as the seemingly less talented middle child of an Anglo-Irish nobleman and his familar military career to the Battle of Waterloo. Hibbert skims the military narrative and his analysis is sometimes uneven. For example, he makes rather overmuch of a small skirmish before the assault on Seringapatam in India as a defining experience; but slights later achievements such as Wellington's disciplined and successful defense of Portugal in 1810-1811. He does provide a close examination of Wellington's unfortunate marriage with Kitty Pakenham and his relationships with other women, without necessarily exceeding the spotty factual basis for those relationships.
   
   Hibbert is to be commended for devoting the second half of the book to Wellington's long and often neglected career as politician and public servant. Here, Wellington's well-developed military talents and Tory instincts were often less useful in the indifferent chaos of politics. His relationships, alleged or otherwise, with various women, play a prominent part in Hibbert's treatment.
   
   Ultimately, this book is less satisfying as an examination of Wellington than, for example, Elizabeth Longford's longer but more balanced teatment. Hibbert's account perhaps a little too often reads like the gossip column of the Sunday newspaper.
   
   This book is recommended to those looking for a popular biography of the Duke of Wellington, one suited to contemporary interest in the personal side of public figures.



2. I read Dr Hibbert's biography of Horatio Lord Nelson and was so impressed by it that I ordered two more of his books. I've just finished reading this one, and I must say that, although I'd never really liked Wellington's often-characterised stiff-upper-lip persona, I found Hibbert's depiction very appealing. It reveals that, even though the marshal created a mask of aloofness and control, behind it he was charming and engaging. Wellington may not have possessed Nelson's instinctive, natural flair but he was solid, reliable, courageous, determined and a good learner. He comes a close second to Nelson as our greatest military hero.



3. I have always thought of the Duke of Wellington as the Hero of Waterloo, but little else. In "Wellington, A Personal History" I learned that he was much more.

   This book is, as the title indicates, a personal history of the man, rather than a history of his times. The reader learns little of the details of Waterloo, nor does he learn much about the impact of his career on the wider world.

   Wellington's story is an interesting one. Born the younger son of lower nobility, his dukedom was earned, rather than inherited. His career was diverse. He fought for the Crown in India before his first encounter with Napoleon's armies in Portugal and Spain during the Peninsular War. The possibility of service in America during the American Revolution was mentioned, but did not occur. The glory which he won at Waterloo was merely a stepping stone to higher service.

   After the banishment of Napoleon, Wellington entered the diplomatic service in France. This, coupled with his membership in the House of Lords, led to service as Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, among many other appointments. In office, Wellington was, generally, a supporter of privilege and order. Despite his dominant conservatism, Wellington was flexible enough to adjust to prevailing necessities. Although initially opposed to Catholic Emancipation, he supported Emancipation after concluding that the defeat of Emancipation would have led to more social unrest than the issue was worth. He then not only had to persuade opinion among the Lords and Commons, but also had to overcome the strong opposition of the King in order to get Emancipation passed. This is of particular interest to me, as family legend has it that we are descendants of Daniel O'Connell, whose election to the House of Commons forced the issue. Jews, whose potential for disorder was presumably less than that of Irish Catholics, did not enjoy his support when Emancipation for them was suggested.

   During his political career, Wellington endured wide swings in popularity. At times he faced the threats of the mob as a result of his policies. He was forced to turn his home into a fortress and to carry pistols while traveling about London. Even when his popularity was at its nadir, his prestige and personal presence were sufficient to insure his safety.

   Wellington's relations with his monarchs make interesting reading. Although he held George IV and William IV in low esteem, his relationship with Victoria was warm and close. He became an intimate and trusted advisor on whom Victoria and other politicians relied as an intermediatory.

   Wellington's marriage was unhappy and distant and he became a widower at a fairly young age. These facts caused him to seek and enjoy the companionship of many women through his lifetime. These relationships and their effects on Wellington account for a large portion of this book.

   As is common among heroes, Wellington's popularity grew as his vigor and involvement in public affairs diminished. Living to an advanced age, Wellington was revered as Britain's greatest hero.

   I often gauge a book by how it makes me think beyond the covers. I compared him to American political generals. His political career was more impressive than Grant's, and of longer duration than Eisenhower's. The closest comparison may be with Washington, both as his country's greatest hero and the man to whom his country repeatedly turned in crises.

   My only disappointment in this book, as minor as it is, is that it is so personal that one gets a sense of his times only indirectly. Overall it is a good study of this major historical figure.




4. Having just finished McCullough's John Adams, I picked this up, hoping for another wonderfully vivid portrait of a great historical figure. Instead I find a book so crammed with useless details, so choked with irrelevant facts about irrelevant characters in Wellington's life, as to be virtually unreadable. I have no objection to a high level of detail, when properly employed in the advancement of a good narrative. But I can't explain the purpose of the useless details in this book, unless to parade before us the author's exhaustive knowledge.

   I fall asleep each night after reading one and a half pages. If you're an insomniac with no real interest in Wellington, this book is for you. Otherwise, don't waste your time.




5. Author Christopher Hibbert concentrates on the personal aspects of Wellington's career, such as his relationships with family and close friends, and skirts over any lengthy analyses of the Duke's many campaigns. The Battle of Waterloo, for instance, is covered in only a few pages and the entire Peninsula War is given short shrift. Wellington's later years as a Tory politician, however, and his subsequent fall from grace with the populace is presented in detail and makes for quite an interesting read. Portraits of Wellington's brothers and other associates are also abundant in this volume and I was surprised as to how many I've never seen before. Hibbert himself is not totally enamored with his subject and portrays him as a very reticent and reserved aristocrat with little tolerance for fools and even less sympathy for the common folk. In this regard, I don't believe Hibbert has been able to lift the mask of command off Wellington and given us the definite look into his character. Wellington was certainly a man of many contradictions and Hibbert merely presents one side of him---the cold and aloof one. Still it's a worthy book with some scattered information not found in other sources. For the best read on this man, it's probably better for one to start with Elizabeth Longford's "Wellington: Years of the Sword". Hibbert's biography would certainly be a most interesting companion piece alongside it.

No comments about Kings and Queens of Britain's Golden Age: The glorious monarchs of the golden age of Britain, from Henry VII, Henry VIII and the magnificent reign of Elizabeth ... of the Stuarts and the rule of Queen Anne.

5 comments about Truly Wilde: The Unsettling Story of Dolly Wilde, Oscar's Unusual Niece.

1. How do you relate the life of someone who never stepped forward from the shadows of her disgraced uncle, Oscar Wilde? Someone who sparkled like a thousand shards of a broken mirror on a sunlit day?
   Dolly was a wisp of a shadow, mesmerizing, bewitching permanently etching herself into onto one's memory with her mere presence. Those who knew her well, Janet Flanner, Natalie Barney, Honey Harris - true wordsmiths all- struggled to explain her enigmatic aura. Captivating, enchanting - adjectives repeated over and over in a vain attempt to eplain her effect on all she met.
   Her magic was her brilliant conversation, her charming turn of phrase, the impermanence of flowing dialogue that she wouldn't or couldn't commit to paper. She lived and died in 'The Moment' nothing else mattered. Her flame burned bright and then was gone - a willing(?) or fated victim to excesses she could not (and would not) control and the ravages of a body aged long before its time. Suicide? accident? Murder? The myth and truth of 'Wilde' consumed her all the same.
   This biography isn't linear because Dolly didn't live her life linearly. Her life was moments of sight and sound and fury that the author captures completely.
   How do you truly explain the unexplainable? This book is at it's best a series of half glimpses, whispered hints, or even dim reflections in mirrors (Dolly hated mirrors)of someone so busy 'living in the moment' that after that glorious moment she was gone with only the faint trace of pleasure and grace.
   And somehow all that works and works well, this book recreates her life so much more then a dry recording of droning facts could ever capture of such a glorious spirit. No such dullness For Dolly Wilde! I highly recommend this book.



2. In the spirit of Schenkar's grasping at straws to add pages to her book, I'd like to provide a recipe of my own:
   How to Bore and Infuriate a Reader
   Take 1 very interesting character
   Add vast amounts of filler and repetition
   Lard with half-baked postmodern theory
   Heap in generous amounts of self-satisfaction
   Infer that you've egregiously taken advantage of Nathalie Barney's elderly and generous housekeeper
   Stir it all up with bad prose.
   Half-bake and serve forth to an unsuspecting audience.



3. With "Truly Wilde," author Joan Schenkar has reinterpreted and redefined the possibilities of the biographical form. Her strategy in recreating the world of Parisian intellectual and artistic salons in which Oscar Wilde's niece Dolly flourished in the 1920s - most notably Natalie Barney's Academie des Femmes - is stunningly iconoclastic, deeply compelling, and brilliantly written. From a base of scrupulous and capacious research, from interviews with primary sources and access to original documents, illustrated with a fascinating array of photographs, Schenkar uses a thematic rather than chronological approach to bring Dolly Wilde and her world to life, and to follow with fierce attention the course of her descent to a lonely death in London at the age of 45. Ms. Schenkar does not feel bound by academic niceties. Her book is rich in the odd detail - a palm reading, for instance, or a favorite recipe - that make that era and those brilliant characters as luminous as real life. In her hands, Dolly Wilde becomes a memorable and ultimately mysterious force of nature.



4. There is nothing like pleasure to motivate a book review and I took an enormous pleasure in reading -- and then in instantly re-reading - TRULY WILDE. This book gives such a precise and poetic view of the seductive and fascinating Dolly Wilde and such a generously ducumented look at the period in which she flourished -- a period in which conversation was still an art and identity was something that could still be invented - that you really feel yourself feeling with and for Dolly. It's an exemplary, inventive biography. And the photographs are wonderful.

   Truly Wilde assumes that its readers delight in language and ideas and bring to it a certain intelligence. I presume that this refreshing approach accounts for the stellar reviews on the book jacket by such brilliant writers as Jeannette Winterson and Edmund White; I presume that it also accounts for the few, suspiciously vitriolic comments found on this site - which seem to be motivated by something other than a desire to share an opinion.

   I HIGHLY recommend TRULY WILDE to all lovers of pleasure who like to think: this book, this life will reward you a thousand times over.




5. This is without a doubt the worst book I have ever read. The author's cohorts seem to have agreed upon "experimental" as the operative descriptor for this abomination. In these tedious pages, however, "experimental" means only this: bad research, no facts, meandering/aimless prose, lack of direction, and disorganization. Oh, yes, how could I forget? It also means enormous amounts of filler at the end, including recipes and a handprint analysis-all, no doubt, in an attempt to meet contractual obligations to the publisher for a page count.

   Don't take my word for it. Read the New York Times book review that appeared when this book was first published. It was written by a well-known lesbian feminist, and one would expect the reviewer to be sympathetic. Instead, she ripped this book to shreds. Deservedly so, in my opinion.

5 comments about The Housekeeper's Diary: Charles and Diana Before the Breakup.

1. this is the first book i've read about the royal family. i do trust everything this housekeeper says in the book. she seems very trustworthy and gets into VERY specific details (gossip!) is it wrong for her to have written this book? probably, but who cares?! you get to see the true sides of charles and diana's personalities, from how they treat their help, to how they treat their kids and each other. i read through the whole book with interest, so i must give it a good rating.



2. The book is written by the woman who worked as housekeeper to Prince Charles and Princess Diana for eight years. Much is made of the fact that it was "banned in Britain" - because the writer breached the confidentiality agreement she signed when she took the job, and would have had to give up the income from it had it been published in the UK. This sums up the book. It's a tattletale book, a dreadful breach of confidence on her part, and heavy on judgement about the royals and their lifestyle. In view of this, I find that I cannot take what Berry says on trust - she's a judgmental gossip and as such not about to write a truth and nothing but the truth book. If you want to read gossip, you will enjoy this book. It's not very well written, the grammar is poor, and Berry is not a good writer. She jumps around in time with her anecdotes, which are based only on what she saw as housekeeper, in one place where the royals lived. Since she was not with them when they were working, she does not describe the work involved, and makes no allowances for how exhausting it must have been, nor can she imagine this. She is critical of Princess Diana, and delighted to pass on others' criticism, while having no insight into what made the Princess what she was. It's a poor, shabby book.



3. It's a fun read, no doubt about it. Being a Midwestern girl, I'll never know what it's like to be a royal and I found this insider's view fascinating. To be fabulously wealthy, yet get all manner of freebies and presents. To have a staff there ready to wait on you, yet to never be away from their judgemental eyes. What a life! No wonder both Charles and Diana were spoiled and far from perfect. I don't see how anyone could be remotely normal given the lives they led. For this peek into Highgrove, I was grateful. However, Ms. Berry herself seems rather unlikeable. Always gossiping, making sure we know that's she's more educated that the Prince and Princess realized, saying that Diana never would have "dared" lose her famous temper with the housekeeper, it kept me shaking my head. Like other, I'm sure, I suspect if she didn't take this job in the first place just to pen a tell-all.



4. I got this book from Ebay as it was out of print. And Banned
   in London. It was a good book all in all. But, I learned nothing
   really new. We all know that Diana had alot of problems
   I guess I would as well if I lived with the Royals. Not an
   easy family to live with. She did her job and won the hearts
   of many people. She is still a hero in my heart. Hey, she was
   a person before she was royal.



5. I bought this book several years ago and have just re-read it.

   It's an interesting look at life inside the Royal Family. Well, at least one part of it. The self-centeredness of Prince Charles is not surprising. He expects every whim to be catered to without question and immediately. He comes across as very spoiled and out of touch.

   Princess Diana is another matter. Her instability is so apparent. It is too bad that she did not get professional help.

   The last sentence, "But where is it all going to end?" is sad when you think about what happened to Diana.

   The author doesn't take sides, but has given us a good look into the private lives of a very unhappy family.

4 comments about Ewan McGregor: An Unauthorized Biography.

1. I'm enjoying this book but find that it's a bit too short and because it's written by an American author it has a US slant on it (e.g box office takings of films are all in dollars and release dates are different too). Otherwise, I find the little snippets of fun information about the films he's worked on very interesting.



2. This is a really good book. It's very informative. Not only does it give information about Ewan but also about his movies which is nice when trying to convince one's mother to let them see a movie. It wasn't written in American english but not hard to read. It was a good book.



3. This is an awesome book with a lot of info for a small book. The draw back is the begining is hard to get into, the lack of photos and that fact that they're black and white, and that it's more about McGregor's movies, etc. instead of McGregor himself. Not great, not bad, but lots of info.



4. The book is good, but it isn't in American english so it can be a little funny, I wouldn't do a book reort on it ether it was hard.

5 comments about George Harrison (Beatles).

1. Thankfully I received this book as a gift - I would be upset had I paid money for this drivel.
   
   Clayson's knowledge of George Harrison's life is comprised mostly of information that has been hashed over a million times and recollections of people who had nominal contact with Harrison. However, write-arounds are not unusual in journalism; what is unusual is that a book with this little substance coupled with an alarming number of inaccuracies was published at all.
   
   My favorite "error," as such it is? Clayson refers to Robbie Robertson of The Band as "Jaime Robertson." Now why, I ask, would someone who knows enough about Robbie Robertson to know that his first name is indeed Jaime refer to him as Jaime, also knowing that few but the most rabid fans of The Band would even recognize Jaime Robertson as Robbie Robertson?
   
   Pass this up. I wish I had a recommendation for a better Harrison biography, but alas. Guiliano's (spelling?) "Dark Horse" is no better, and in fact may be worse.



2. Having read the 1996 and updated 2001 editions of this book, I think it's the worst book on George Harrison I've ever read (and there are more books about him out there than you would think). It just never seemed to talk directly about him, but around him and at times seemed very negative towards him. The only part I really enjoyed was Appendix 1 in both editions about George's sister. "Behind Sad Eyes", "Harrison", "Dark Horse", and even George's "I Me Mine" (even though he doesn't give a lot of personal information) are better books. Of course, if you are a great George fan (like me) you may still want to own it (again, like me) in order to have all the books written about him.



3. This intense biography of the youngest Beatle is rich in facts and information. This work traces George Harrison's life from his youth in Liverpool to his meteoric rise in fame as a musician and his tragic demise in 2001. People who knew George Harrison as well as the backdrop of events and issues of the times are richly expounded upon, thus making this work exceptional.

   I like the way many details are included in this work because it gives readers a multi-faceted look at the man who would set new standards among lyricists and guitarists. This unique individual, George Harrison stood out among his peers including the other Beatles. Clayson does him justice in portraying him in his natural state. He has a rich supply of sources and is able to account for each documentation. I really like the chapter Clayson included about George's 1963 trip to America to visit his sister, brother-in-law and their children. The impact the young Beatle had on the people he met in Benton, Illinois is well chronicled in this work.

   This is work well worth the read and I am the proud owner of it. Try Some, Buy Some and enjoy this book. It is very riveting and intense.




4. Not The best George Harrison book out there. Very tough read due to a lot of meaningless detail.



5. All i can say is that this author is some bitter hack, who tries to reduce George Harrison to the level of mediocrity. Very boring with no real insight or focus. Also it just left me with a bad taste in my mouth, brain, & heart.

1 comments about King Henry V: A Biography.

1. The material to understand this late-medieval conqueror is more abundant than one realizes: not only detailed chronicles, State documents and accounts of his wars, but personal anecdotes and financial records. And Hutchison makes good use of it, working not from secondary but from primary sources, giving a detailed, perceptive and highly readable account of a remarkable individual. If he works to contrast the Henry of history with the Henry of Shakespeare, that is understandable and indeed right, since it is through the plays - and especially through Laurence Olivier's unforgettable film - that most of us have become aware, if at all, of the fame and success of this usurper's son. Hutchison treats his subject with a sympathy that does not stop short of admiration, giving just and honourable due to all his remarkable qualities - able politician, bold and independent mind, excellent organizer, and finally, as everyone knows, superlative soldier. Yet his final verdict is inevitably negative: Henry stiffened the social situation of England, threw the country into a war which it did not have the resources to maintain, and which - but for his genius - would have ended in disaster early on (there is something very telling about the frenzied rejoicing which greeted his victories); brutalized his followers, degraded the rule of warfare, and, in the end, presided over the spiritual impoverishment and material ruin of two great countries, as the great age of Chaucer and the Roman de la Rose died out in a sea of blood and even the military glory of Henry gave way, not so much to the splendid but brief phenomenon of St.Joan of Arc, as to the crooked and cruel practical politics of Louis XI, the establishment of brutal royal tyranny in France and the collapse into civil war in England. Like that of all conquerors - think of Alexander of Macedon, of Gengis Khan, of Napoleon, Wallenstein, Gustavus Adolphus, Charles XII of Sweden, Hitler - Henry's ultimate legacy was purely one of collapse and negation: he achieved nothing except a blaze of unconstructive glory.

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.

1 comments about Captain Cook's World: Maps of the Life and Voyages of James Cook R. N..

1. This book caught my eye at Pearl Harbor on my first significant visit to Hawaii a few weeks ago. Had to order it as soon as I got home. Outstanding digest of Cook's lifetime of exploration. Excellent format with its mixture of concise narrative and outstanding maps. Fascinating "read", I couldn't put it down. Excellent level of detail -- enough to be truly educational -- not so much as to overload. Emotionally moving to recall standing on Hawaiian soil and try to imagine the worlds meeting in the explorations of Cook's time. This book helped stitch my own experience to the history of the explorations.