4 comments about How It Was: A Memoir of Samuel Beckett.

1. At this point, given the reviews, it is clear that Anne Atik has written a fine memoir. What I would like to comment on in particular is the role she herself plays as both writer and actor. She manages to be remarkably self-effacing, something not at all easy for a writer who was a close friend of a famous artist. There is no tone of bragging, there are no self-serving anecdotes, and there are minimal details about the memoirist herself. In fact, if anything, I found myself wanting to know a bit more about her. But her discretion is admirable.



2. This is a revealing, insightful portrayal of the great Irish writer, by a close friend of his, the poet Anne Atik, wife of the painter Avigdor Arikha, whose striking portraits of Beckett are reproduced here. The book is unique for its descriptions of, and insights into the springs of artistic creation, for the refined 'table talk' it lovingly and discretely recounts, for the details that only a friend could know and see so well - all told by a poet. This is definitely a must for Beckett fans and lovers of literature.



3. This memoir is what we hope for. Lots of new information, inside anecdotes, and pictures.
   
   If you love Beckett you must have this book. I would've gone without meals to buy it, if necessary.
   
   Also be sure to buy Why Beckett, by Enoch Brater. It is magical.



4. 
   
   
   This book ( How it was)
   
   well,... it was amazing.
   
   I am so glad I bought it.
   
   I was in cafes with Beckett....
   
   ( no other book can do that)
   
   I wondered for a long time whether I should buy it...
   
   I'm glad I did..
   
   
   What a wonderful book!
   
   if you love Beckett

No comments about The Life and Times of Archbishop Ussher: An Intriguing Look at the Man Behind the Annals of the World.

No comments about Michelet.

5 comments about Killing Rage.

1. This is an incredibly valuable work because we get to see the inner workings of the IRA war machine from an insider himself. Eamon Collins was a hardcore IRA member for years, passing intelligence to IRA hit squads who then did the close-in dirty work, assassinating various members of the security community and spreading terror through IED attacks and bombings. This is a rare work because few IRA men write 'tell all' books about themselves and their organization.
   
   I found it most interesting that the author lost faith in the movement and eventually began helping the British through their infamous "supergrass" system of informants. And, amazingly, the author just couldn't grasp why his former friends and guerrillas turned against him after he spilled his guts to the British! After multiple warnings to shut his mouth and stay away from Northern Ireland, the IRA finally got to him and killed Eamon after he had already published this book. A sad post-mortem to a gripping tale.



2. This along with Ed Moloney's Secret History of the IRA, gives a huge insight into what sustained the conflict in Northern Ireland for so long. Collins was an intelligence gather for the IRA in South Down, his task being to gather details on the movements of security force personnel which could be used to plan their assassinations. He did this from at least 1979 until 1985, the first victim being a work-colleague. Collins was a union representative in the Customs and Excise, he set up the details of the assassination, went to his colleague's funeral, and had discussions with the (state) employer about security in the wake of the assassination. He details these contradictions without any pleas for sympathy, he describes how he was possessed by a cold hatred, and a desire to be as ruthless as possible. He disparages another IRA man who talks about only killing those security force personnel who had mistreated Catholics - Collins reckons that they all deserve to die, as representatives of the system, whatever their personal characteristics.
   
   He is equally raw in his description of the foibles of his colleagues in the IRA. He describes some who are dishonest - stealing from a premises they are about to blow up ; stupid, clumsy and cowardly. He also expresses admiration for the acumen of others.
   There is a contradiction at the heart of the book - he is addicted to ruthlessness, alienated from the forces within the IRA which want a political route, and simultaneously disgusted at the results of the ruthlessness. He describes a bombing which resulted in a child being killed due to an insufficient warning being given, this horrified him; however later when he sets up an assassination and finds out that his information had been incorrect and that an innocent man had been killed, he is quite numb.
   
   The process of his moral decay and the stress involved in his secret life - throughout his time in the IRA he held down a job as a Customs officer - is very well described. His breakdown, while in custody, which led to him giving evidence (and later withdrawing it) against his former IRA colleagues is less well described, in my opinion. Eventually he came to an agreement with the IRA that if he left the area, he and his family would not be harmed.
   
   The book does not cover the rest of the story , Eamonn Collins moved back to Newry in the mid 1990s. He became a critic of the IRA, though, I presume, a supporter of the peace process. He gave evidence, for the defence, in a libel trial taken by a senior IRA against the Sunday Times newspaper. The IRA man lost the case, suffering financial loss and humiliation. Collins was later murdered.
   
   His was a rare voice, unflinchingly honest in his description of his own hatreds and motivations; unsparing of his colleagues faults; giving the view from the `engine room' of the conflict.



3. Book Review:
   "KILLING RAGE" By Eamon Collins
   Reviewed By Ralph Couey
   
   "Killing Rage" vividly recounts the compelling personal journey of Eamon Collins through the violent morass of Northern Ireland politics; the evolution from committed Republican, to terrorist, to an activist for peace.
   
   For most Americans, the dominant impression of the war in Northern Ireland would be a confused mélange of news video images, reports of exploded bombs, and dead women and children. With little exception, the violent tactics of the Irish Republican Army have met with universal condemnation. Even a basic understanding of the roots of the conflict and the reasons for its perpetuation would prove quite beyond the ability of most to recount. For the first time, however, the words and passion of Eamon Collins provide an honest, if chilling account of his involvement in the conflict as a member in various capacities of the Provisional Wing of the Irish Republican Army between 1978 and 1987.
   
   The book opens abruptly and brutally with a detailed description of Collins' first operation in December 1978, the killing of Major Ivan Toombs of the Ulster Defense Regiment (UDR). As Collins works to gather intelligence on his target he takes us through the process of dealing with a very human conflict:
   
   "For me, the more I found out about him, the more admirable I found him. I liked him and felt that in other circumstances we might have been friends." (Page 20)
   
   "...to strike at Toombs was to strike at an ancient colonial system of elites. Killing Toombs would also be a symbol of our dogged resistance to inequality and injustice..." (Page 23)
   "He was an idea, a force, not a person with a face. He had no humanity for me." (Page 17)
   
   This apparent moral conflict occurs repeatedly throughout the book in Collins' continual debates with himself over the effectiveness of political violence. Collins also spends some time discussing the roots of the Irish conflict, which began as a growing dislike between the Protestant majority and his Catholic minority, which he characterizes as "... (The) Catholic underclass, marginalized, on the periphery of society, jobless, poorly educated, powerless and voiceless." (Page 12) Students of the American Civil Rights Movement might recognize some clear parallels between life as a Catholic in Northern Ireland and life as an African-American in this country. Indeed, Collins recounts several incidents during both his and his parent's childhood of acts of discrimination and outright violence committed against Catholics by Protestant civilians, police, and military. As might be expected, this violence went largely unpunished. It was out of this atmosphere of hate that the Republican movement gained strength. Over time, however, it changed from just a civil rights movement to "...a very ultra-left kind of Marxism." Collins continues,
   
   "I believed that the IRA could be turned into an organization which could take on the capitalist state and the agents of that state... I saw the struggle in internationalist terms: I believed Irish republicans should forge links with their brothers and sisters in Lebanon, in Germany, Italy, or Palestine, to help overthrow the forces who were retrenching capitalism in all the western democracies." (Page 12)
   
   Much of the book contains accounts of various IRA operations in which Collins was involved. While he still remained a committed soldier, he nevertheless began to see things that in his mind tarnished the image of the IRA warrior. He describes the killing of a man named Norman Hanna in January 1982 who had been wrongly identified as a member of the Ulster Defense Reserve by an IRA hit man who Collins had recruited. His remorse for this wrongful death is clear:
   
   "That night for the first time, I could not be reassured by any grand or angry political scheme. Where were we going? Where was I going? I had never felt so empty. I remember touching my wife, kissing her hair and crying silently. I was crying for Hanna, perhaps for his wife and child, but also mostly for myself, for what I had become." (Page 117)
   
   Later on, Collins rationalizes the killing by recalling the thousands of Catholics who had died in the cause. He spends the subsequent 18 months struggling to suppress his compassion. Over time, he notes, "Each subsequent death mattered less to me than the previous one." (Page 120) However, from this point Collins began to realize the abject amorality and violent banality of those with whom he was associated. His vision of helping to bring an end to injustice included participation by committed patriots. The reality was his involvement with men of violence, not political passion; in effect, stone killers. In September of 1983, he begins to have his first serious doubts:
   
   "...I began to ask myself not only whether I personally should continue to be a member of the IRA, but also whether the armed struggle itself was worth continuing. If all we had to offer was bumbling thuggishness, and if we could only attract the naive or the brutal, how could we appeal to the mass of Irish people in the late twentieth century?" (Page 176)
   
   During this time, near the end of 1984, Collins had a brutal confrontation with Gerry Adams, the President of Sinn Fein, the fallout of which would shadow him the remainder of his time in the IRA. Collins saw Sinn Fein as leaving behind the constitutional nationalism that had fueled the Republican movement in favor of coalition-driven parliamentarianism. This was being done by the IRA in Belfast where "...the republican movement's power was becoming concentrated among aspiring politicians who were stealthily moving towards a political compromise and abandonment of the armed struggle." (Page 235) The result was a power struggle within the IRA. The combination of the loss of commitment from the Belfast IRA, the mere 13 per cent vote for Sinn Fein in the Irish elections, and his own disillusionment brought Collins to a penultimate moment of decision.
   
   "It (the IRA) had not lost the war, but nor could it win an outright victory. So, the IRA's struggle had become pointless. We had no right to take offensive action, and the Irish people had told the IRA in the recent elections that they had no mandate to continue the war in their name. In the last quarter of 1984, I was finished as an IRA man. I began to think that the republican movement's shift towards political compromise was based on a more perceptive appraisal of reality..." (Pages 242-243)
   
   It is perhaps part of human nature that, when faced with perceived injustice, the spirit cries out for action. Certainly, this was the case with Eamon Collins. At an early age, he learned at his mother's knee the terrible cruelties inflicted on Catholics by the Protestants and the British government. He recalls, "My mother instilled in me the grievances of the vanquished." (Page 36) Objectively, any observer when faced with the reality of Irish history would be hard-put not to find sympathy with the republican cause. One can even understand that the active failure of the law to define justice will inevitably lead to violence by the oppressed. Culturally, Americans are intimate with this concept. The overriding question, which lies between every paragraph in this book, is how much violence does it take to change things, and at what point does one admit when its usefulness is at an end?
   
   The story of the Provisional IRA, as recounted by Collins, should be an object lesson for revolutionaries. While the initial motives for the war were pure (lifting the oppression of Catholics), over time the IRA seemed to fall in love with the act of violence itself while forgetting the reasons for it. Collins talks at length about this love of violence, even among those he recruited. This is evident in their discussions, which covered tactical matters but very little about their political motivations. In the end, it became violence for violence's sake.
   
   It is also important to note, again, the shift in ideology by the IRA. The Republican movement and the original Irish Republican Army grew out of the efforts of Catholics to protect their own from the violent depredations of Protestants, in short, to protect the Church. In the 1970's the Provisional Wing of the IRA, or Provos, adopted a Marxist ideology. Marxism repudiates religion. Since from this point, the struggle became more about political ideology than about protecting Catholicism it's fair to say that the original purpose for violent resistance became largely irrelevant, although still a source for powerful rhetoric. Marches and protests were more aimed at making martyrs out of IRA men killed by the opposition, than about equal rights for Catholics. Indeed, the confrontation between Collins and Sinn Fein President Gerry Adams occurred during a march honoring the death of a young IRA volunteer. Adams took actions to ensure that the protest remained peaceful. Collins, on the other hand, was convinced that forcing a violent confrontation would bring worldwide attention to their plight (Pages 223-224). The confrontation ended with Collins hurling a brutal, ferocious, and very public insult at Adams. Yet even with his strong passions, he was still able to look at the situation with a fair degree of pragmatism:
   
   "Why was Adams trying to defuse situations which offered such potential? His behavior only made sense if the war was over. I think that it was at this funeral that I realized, with depressing clarity that the war was over. Adams was behaving in this way because he knew that this was true; he could see that there was no point in inflicting too much more unnecessary suffering on the people. Life, any life, was better than this, and yet we were continuing to embrace death recklessly. The war was over; the only problem was that no one could call it off." (Page 225) )
   
   For anyone who lives and dies by the sword, the hardest act is to finally lay down that sword. I believe this was the struggle the Provos faced. To such people, compromise comes hard and the admission that the time for compromise (a revolutionary's admission of defeat) is at hand must be extraordinarily difficult. For the defeat of a populist revolution is not only a military defeat, but also calls into question the entire ideological foundation for the movement itself. Some may have seen the recent peace of Northern Ireland as a victory for the IRA. From the perspective of Eamon Collins it was a stunning defeat for the Provos. The peace, as he viewed it, was reached as a result of Gerry Adams moving Sinn Fein away from violent nationalism to peaceful parliamentarianism. It was helped along by the apparent repudiation of the IRA's violence by the voting public. And it was made real by the recognition the war was, in fact, over, and the Provos had lost.
   
   Ironically, it was shortly after his conscious breaking with the IRA that Collins was arrested for his suspected involvement in the bombing of a Newry police station, which killed 9 police officers. His subsequent interrogation and confession (later retracted), imprisonment, trial, acquittal, and abandonment by the IRA left Eamon Collins adrift in the never-never land between two violent antagonists, trusted by none, hated by all.
   
   After his release from prison, Collins barely survived the explosion of a bomb planted in his car. Although the IRA never claimed responsibility for the attack, the man who planted the explosive was known to Collins. He had recruited the man.
   
   The IRA forced him into exile in July 1987, taking him away from his wife and children. Nevertheless, Collins turned to more peaceful pursuits, working through the Church with troubled youths in several cities in Northern Ireland while pursuing his education. As part of a research project, he sought out one of Republicanism's most hated enemies, Gusty Spence of the Ulster Volunteer Force.
   
   "I felt an overpowering sense of nausea. For an instant I could only see before me a deadly enemy of my people. Suddenly, I was filled with a killing rage, all the old anger coming back. I felt I ought to have been moving towards him holding a revolver, firing bullet after bullet into his body, instead of standing there waiting to be ushered into his presence. But the feeling passed and my rage subsided. I knew that murder was the logical outcome of that rage, and murder would not solve anything. In that moment, I realized how far I had traveled in my life. At times, he spoke with violence and aggression; and I could detect that same rage that had just overtaken me. I realized that he had not moved that far forward in his thinking since 1966, but he had moved, and I had moved, and that was important." (Pages 368-369)
   
   Herein lies the essential ingredient for the end of a civil conflict: Two influential people willing to move away from anger and violence. The future of Northern Ireland hangs on the willingness of such people to put the past permanently behind and concentrate on the future. The last sentence of the book expresses the wish of Eamon Collins:
   
   "The anger and hatred this place has seen may in time be forgotten, if not forgiven. I do not want much else more." (Page 371)
   
   Tragically, this shift in the direction of his life did not protect the former IRA Man. Eamon Collins was found murdered near his home on the early morning of January 28, 1999. Although it is widely understood that this was the act of the IRA, the murder remains officially unsolved to this day. Only time will tell if his sacrifice was made in vain.
   
   Killing Rage
   By Eamon Collins
   1999 by Granta Books, New York, NY
   ISBN 1-86207-047-4



4. This is a very good and thought provoking book, which shows to some degree, the inner workings of what is arguably the most ruthless, violent, and skilled Paramilitary/Terrorist organization's in the world.
   
   The book is written by a former member of the IRA's elite "Internal Securities Division", which was responsible for the assassination of 70% of British Army, MI6/MI5 and Police informers, within the IRA's ranks, over the past 30 years.
   
   The book shows hoe IRA operations were planned with military precision, and executed with utter ruthlessness. It shows the shadow war between British intelligence and the IRA's "counter-intelligence' units, and how both were evenly matched. It shows the ruthless assassination program which the IRA used to devastate UDA and UVF units throughout the 80's and 90's, and it shows hoe the IRA was able to employ both extreme violence, and political savy, to force the British government to negotiate with a hated enemy. But what the book is really about, is the enormous mental and physical toll this life of violence and dnager had on the author. In fact, shrotly after writing this book, the author Eamon Collins was abducted, tortured and murdered by vengeful IRA colleagues, who believed this book exposed to many IRA secrets. It is a sad ending for a man who was trying to atone for his past, by helping others undertand how pointless violence can be.



5. This is a well written and dispassionate account of Collins' growing up in a moderate Irish Nationalist family and his reaction to the injustices he saw all around. He portrays the hypocrisy of the IRA and well as UK/NI forces and outlines his regret at his actions.

No comments about HISTORY OF THE GINGER MAN.

No comments about Talking Across the World: The Love Letters of Olaf Stapledon and Agnes Miller, 1913-1919.

2 comments about The Mays of Ventadorn (National Geographic Directions).

1. This is a delightful look at a wonderful place and a marvellous cast of characters by one of our most talented living poets. I don't usually find myself yearning to move to France, but after reading The MAYS I couldn't help myself! Merwin's language is uniformally beautiful & he makes both his people and his places come alive. I also enjoyed both the fragments of songs that Merwin translates for us and his discussion of the difficulties of translation -both across language and across time. My one critique (and the loss of a star) is that I wanted more. Each time I felt that the "story" was REALLY going to start we would shift gears & go somewhere else or talk about someone else, and after a while I gave up hoping for any conclusion or resolution. This may be the product of some arbirary editorial length (I note that the book is part of a travel series) but in any case it is a pity, as I could easily have read twice as much on half as many troubadors!



2. If you ever wondered if medieval poetry and the lives of the people who wrote it was in some way intimidating or academic, `The Mays of Ventadorn` provides a truely unique way of experiencing it. W.S. Merwin, in his charateristic style, brings to life Ventadorn (places and personalities) the center of the troubadour universe by weaving his own personal relationship with the region, the era and its poets. This book is a wonderful journey through Merwin's experience and how he has found value and meaning in the troubadours -- It will leave you wanting more poetry and a plane ticket to Southwest France.

1 comments about Elizabeth: England's Slandered Queen (England's Forgotten Queens).

1. What a studied and fascinating work this book is! We've heard many versions of the presumed accounts of the 2 missing princes who dissapeared from London Tower...but what of their mother, the first Queen Elizabeth? Although we've heard much smattering of slander about her in the past, now we have a new story to consider in this lavishly researched, footnoted and indexed work reviewing the Queen's life. Although you will feel the good weight of research that the author poured into the book, you will be able to read the Queen's fascinating story without needing to be a Rhodes Scholar to delve into it.
   
   We even get to sigh a romantic sigh as we imagine the meeting of (24 year old) Elizabeth when she met with the King (age 19) at the time he likely fell madly in love with her: "At Grafton, Elizabeth was on home territory. The Wydeville manor lay within a mile of Whittlewood Forest where the King was hunting. Having grown up here, Elizabeth knew the course that the hunters would take, the fields where the deer would be chased for the kill, the grassy spots ideal for picnics. Choosing a large oak tree, she stationed herself and her two small sons beneath it and waited. Hard in pursuit of prey, Edward saw the beautiful young mother with her children, pulled his horse up short, and marvelled at the bucolic tableau." See what I mean? We really get a feel for the romance, the hardship, and the tragedy to follow.
   
   The ancestor of Mary, Queen of Scots and of Lady Jane Grey, this slandered queen's grandson will be Henry VIII, her great-grandaughter will be Queen Elizabeth I. In her time, she will become a widowed mother of two children but then secretly marry the King of England (the younger Edward IV), thus being crowned Queen of England in 1465, her father will be beheaded, her husband the King will become exhiled leaving her alone while pregnant with many young children in tow, she will give birth to the future King of England (Edward V), her brother will be executed, her son (Sir Richard Grey) will be murdered upon order of Richard III, her two sons (King Edward V and Prince Richard of York) will dissapear from the Tower of London with tragically uncertain fate, her 19-year-long marriage will be declared adulterous and their 10 children will be declared illegitimate, and she will be accused of witchcraft and sorcery.
   
   An amazing life, worth of the re-defining richly presented by this author.

1 comments about Architects of Empire: The Duke of Wellington and His Brothers.

1. As John Severn notes in his introduction, the First Duke of Wellington is such a towering figure in British history as to have completely overshadowed his four brothers, at least two of whom were consequential figures in their time. 2007's "Architects of Empire" attempts to place Arthur Wellesley in the context of his Anglo-Irish family and document his often mutually benefial interaction with his brothers.
   
   Arthur Wellesley was the third of five brothers. The oldest, Richard, who succeeded to his father's title in the Anglo-Irish aristocracy, was supposed to be the annointed one. Brillant, articulate, and ambitious, Richard had a dazzling school career and entered British politics with a promising network of prominent friends. Richard unfortunately was an indifferent politician, his own worst enemy in pursuit of his ambition. He did look out for his brothers, arranging the Army commissions that eventually sent Arthur to India as a lieutenant colonel. Richard followed Arthur to India as the Governor General for the East India Company, superbly suited by temperment and ambition to create Britain's destiny on the Indian subcontinent. By dint of war and negotiation, Richard vastly expanded British power and influence in India. Arthur, Richard's trusted agent but also a highly compentent young officer, found repeated succuess on the battlefield and as an administrator of new territories. The Wellesley's youngest brother Henry came out as Richard's secretary, beginning a long career in diplomacy.
   
   The next great stage for the Wellesleys was in the Iberian Peninsula as it became a cockpit of the Napoleonic Wars. Richard went to Spain as the British Ambassador, there to spend three years trying to keep the Spanish in the fight with France. Richard was succeeded by his brother Henry as ambassador. For Arthur, the Peninsular War was the making of his reputation as a commander. In a five year campaign, Arthur, with astonishing patience and military skill, outgeneraled vastly superior French forces and liberated Portugal and Spain. In 1815, he led one of the two allied armies that combined to defeat Napoleon at Waterloo, winning a permanent place in history.
   
   Richard left Spain in 1812, having laid the groundwork for success and returning for a larger role in government. In the event, Richard seriously misjudged the step to prime minister. He would over the years occupy a number of government posts, but his career had clearly peaked. Ironically, his brother Arthur would become prime minister in 1829 as a result of leadership shuffles. Arthur would last only three years, but would continue to hold various offices and to act as senior statesman for the rest of his long life. Henry would enjoy a long and reasonably successful career in the diplomatic corps.
   
   The two remaining brothers lived quieter and only relatively less successful lives. Second brother William dabbled around the edge of politics for years, but his primary role in the Wellesley saga seems to have been as manager of his brothers' affairs while they were overseas. Fourth brother Gerald was a hardworking and respected cleric in the Church of England, who never played any role in politics.
   
   Severn's book represents a prodigious amount of research. The five brothers Wellesley were by turns competitive and cooperative. Severn establishes how much Arthur's early rapid rise relied upon assistance from Richard, and how Richard, Arthur, and Henry collaborated on the eventual British successes in India and in Iberia. "Architects of Empire" documents the very human side of the Wellesleys: their ambition, jeolousy, and endlessly squabbling.
   
   This is a long book at over 500 pages, with some redundancy of coverage and commentary. It isn't clear that two of the brothers played any prominent role in either empire or family building. Nevertheless, this is a very worthwhile read as a family take on the Duke of Wellington and his remarkable career.

4 comments about Queen Emma and Queen Edith: Queenship and Women's Power in Eleventh-Century England.

1. Even though women as rulers weren't part of either the Anglo-Saxon or Norman traditions, two English women in particular changed things. Neither was a sovereign ruler but both had personalities of strength and authority. Emma (Ælfgifu after her marriage), sister of Duke Richard II of Normandy (though she carried a Frankish birth-name), was the queen first of Æthelred "the Redeless," Saxon King of England, and then of Canute, the Danish conqueror of the island. Edith, daughter of Godwine, Earl of Wessex, furthered her family's dynastic ambitions by becoming the queen of King Edward the Confessor, and thereby Emma's daughter-in-law. But this volume is considerably more than a dual biography, and more even than the "gender study" it intends to be. It delves deeply into the dynastic power structures of 11th century ruling families and the nature of royal patronage which helped keep rulers in power. The prosopographical appendix and the extensive bibliography also are excellent.



2. Hats off to Pauline Stafford for even attempting such a book as this one! Both Queen Emma and Queen Edith lived in a world so long past, so shadowy to us now, that it is indeed an undertaking to explore their lives! I would love to see more of the same type of work. For those of you intrigued by these women, there are some works of fiction out there that you may enjoy: Gildenford & The Norman Pretender by Valerie Anand; A Hollow Crown by Hellen Hollick; and Lord of Sunset by Godwin Parke.



3. Like the other reviewer implied, don't buy this book if you just want a quick peek into the lives of 2 English queens. This book is more appropriate for people well-acquainted with the subject matter. The book is really well-written and will be a great source for history students for years to come.



4. This is a wonderful study but a bit disjointed in the prose style and in the categories of analysis Stafford chose. It's less biographical and narrative than would be appropriate for those simply curious about the two women in question and presumes a lot of bacground knowledge about the period.