No comments about Brian Boru King of Ireland.

5 comments about Anne Boleyn: A New Life of England's Tragic Queen.

1. Ms Dennys unfortunately, through what can only be a very biased view, makes all her seemingly excellent research go to waste. She distorts it all to fit her point of view. I have few doubts she uncovered new evidence to prove that not all was "black and white", but with her determination to make Anne and her father true saints it just does not read true.
   And agreeing with an excellent review I read here, to argue that Catherine of Aragon was a shrew (aactually treacherous!) for not accepting her marriage as not valid and her daughter as bastard, right at the beginning of the book, just makes one want to close the book and go do something more interesting.And somehow I also do not believe the idea that Boleyn also married the king in order to bring forth the new religion sticks, not with all that was known about Henry and his court



2. So many biographies already of this fascinating woman, & I'm always happy to read one more. Perhaps Anne appeals to us as the most modern of Henry's wives, with her wit, intelligence & ability to make a life for herself as best she can. I enjoyed this book, probably because the author presents her views so firmly that it makes you think through all the alternate ways of analysing the information. I agree with her conclusions about Chapuys, the Spanish Ambassador, & I've never been a fan of Thomas Moore. Anne with auburn hair? All the historical descriptions I've seen say she was very dark, with swarthy skin. I thought a very good case was made for Anne truly believing that Henry's marriage to Catherine of Aragon was invalid, for genuine religious reasons. It is of course genuinely tragic that Catherine was also a deeply religious woman, with a diametrically opposed view. This book also happily confirms my personal opinion of Jane seymour - you only have to look at those mean little eyes in her portrait! Do buy this book - its very readable, whether you agree with all the author's opinions or not. It's a great addition to the shelf for those of us who are Anne fangirls.



3. Joanna Denny provides the 'white legend' of Anne Boleyn. Anne had deep religous scruples, therefore, God used her influence on King Henry to bring England out of the clutch of Rome -- and therefore, Anne could do no wrong and all who opposed her influence opposed God. That seems to be the premise of the book. Katharine of Aragon was a liar and perverter of truth. Thomas More was a persecuting pervert. Henry was a tyrant before he married Anne; but he was coming closer to grace until he was duped by the Seymours and Cromwell into falling for Jane. Anne had to be labelled an adultress to soothe Henry's ego, and a witch because she was a Protestant, and she had to be killed because 1) she was a threat to the Catholic party; 2) she knew that Henry wasn't so virile; 3) Cromwell saw political advantages in mending fences with the Holy Roman Emperor and the supplanter of the Emperor's aunt was a liability.
   Now, Anne did a lot for the 'new religion' by encouraging reformist preachers, promoting their writings to the King and protecting them from Chancellor More at home and the Inquisition abroad. I don't see that she was as radical a Protestant as Denny writes. She sponsored them mainly because they were pro-King and anti-Pope as religious shepherd, and thus supported her over Katharine. That Anne saw her queenship as a divine mission makes some sense to her conduct toward her former mistress and the Princess Mary. But Anne was not 'Saint Anne' with the Sword of the Spirit in her hand. Denny plays down that she bedded the King before she wedded him. She plays down her invective against Katherine and Mary by accusing the one of living a lie about her chastity (and this living in sin) and accusing the other of being disobedient and rebellious because she refused to brand her mother a whore and her faith idolatry. Denny is hostile to all the Catholics in this story. For example, I grant that Thomas More was a zealous persecutor of 'heretics'. He was proud of it. Of all people, I would have expected him to see another person's point of view; but he did not. He was so concerned that these heretics would not corrupt other, more ignorant souls, and damning them to hell that he would not see their sincerity or the good in their different beliefs. I warn Ms Denny she is much like him by despising other views of the faith than that of the radical Protestant. [I'm from the Anabaptist sector of Christianity. Sir Thomas would have burnt me alive, so I have no brief for his brand of Catholicism; but I appreciate his concern.]



4. Anne Boleyn (1501-1536) was the second of the notorious Henry VIII's wives. She was the first of his wives to be beheaded (Katherine Howard was the second and final wife to die in this manner). Anne was the first crowned Queen of England to die by the executioner's sharp blade as a public spectacle, Her often told story is retold by the late Joanna Denny. Denny published this book in 2004.
   Henry VIII became infatuated by the seductive, highly intelligent and multilingual Anne as his marriage to the dour Catherine of Aragon turned sour. Anne refused to give in to the old king's sexual desires until she had a wedding ring on her pert finger. Henry divorced Catherine claiming she had engaged in sexual intercourse with his older brother the late Arthur Prince of Wales. Henry believed this sin was based on the statement in Leviticus that it was evil to wed the spouse of a deceased brother. Henry believed this was God's curse on his inability to sire a male heir to the throne. He did not want Mary his female child by Catherine of Aragon to sit on the throne. Mary was a devoted Roman Catholic as was her mother. Henry did not want England to become a part of the Holy Roman Empire. As a result of Henry's marriage to Anne the English national church was established and the tie with Rome broken. Anne was an evangelical Protestant whose downfall was engineered by Henry's Lord Chancellor the evil Thomas Cromwell. Anne was accused of adultery with her own brother and several other young bucks at court. She died in 1536 but not before giving birth to Elizabeth I who would reign following the deaths of her half sister Mary and half brother Edward VI. Elizabeth would become one of the greatest rulers in British history.
   What are the problems with Denny's biography of Anne?
   a. She is an advocate of Anne who in her eyes can do no wrong. This is a viewpoint contrary to the assessment of many other scholars who saw Anne as a schemer seeking power for herself, her family and her faith.
   b. The Roman Catholics are all portrayed as bad. Denny has bad things to see about Thomas More who was executed when he refused to agree to the wedding of Henry and Anne. She did prove to me that More was a bigot who sought the death of as many heretics to Roman Catholicism as possible.
   c. Her style is dry reminding one of a textbook account.
   The book can be read but the biases of the author need to be noted. I did learn things I didn't know about this well documented tragic tale of love and death and betrayal in Tudor England.



5. After reading "The Other Boleyn Girl," I wanted to learn more on Anne. Somehow I had reached twenty-five years old without knowing much on Tudor history. This book happened to be on sale here on Amazon, and I bought it. After reading many fiction and non-fiction stories of Queen Anne, I still go back to this book.
   
   It explores every aspect of her life, from before her birth to after her death. It includes many pictures. It is a little heavy to read all in one sitting, and I usually just take in a couple chunks at a time.
   
   Many of the other reviewers hated it for opposing the "facts" that have been known about Anne. Denny does a wonderful job of stating how Anne was most likely tarnished after her death, leading to the many negative things still being written on her. The truth is, we will never the all the facts about Anne, or anything in history, as we were not there. Something that happened yesterday could be told from a friend, and you would get their point of view, as it is told from a person.
   
   What Denny does is give other possible explanations of Anne's life. This book is not for those that have an opinion of Anne as a whore who destroyed England and who only wish to remember her that way. If you have an open mind about events we will never know the whole truth about anyways, pick up this book.

1 comments about Pitt the Elder (British Lives).

1. Anyone interested in rigorously researched late XVIII century English politics will probably enjoy (and learn) from Mr. Black's book. His work about William Pitt, after just a brief, usual part of a chapter on his parents, grandparents etc., dips immediately into maneuvers, conter maneuvers and consequences of ever shifting moods within the parliament.

   Unfortunately the reader is presumed to know everything about the Seven Year War, the beginnings of America's revolution etc., as well as about England's major political parties and politicians at that time. The reader is supposed to be looking just for how Mr. Pitt and his opponents politicians handled these issues. So quite important historical events pass by as faint backgrounds.

   Although this is somewhat intended to be a biography of William Pitt, and not the history of England in the 1700's, one would look for such a towering individual as a wonderful way to see big world events through England's government eyes. Instead we get a vey narrow perspective of these events. Probably that is the way most politicians see things nowadays ...

2 comments about The Flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie.

1. One of the things I love about traveling is getting a good sense of the history of a place I'm visiting. I bought "Flight of Bonnie Prince Charlie" in anticipation of a trip to Scotland, and it was perfect for that purpose. Although it provides an excellent history, it seems designed for the visitor; it's equal parts travel and history.

   This book gives a day-by-day description of the Prince's 5 months in hiding from the British before he was able to escape to France. He trekked hundreds of miles on foot, in disguise (once, famously, as a ladies' maid!), sometimes passing within earshot of the soldiers hunting him. The book is liberally illustrated with modern photographs of the particular glens and mountains Charlie passed by, as well as reproductions of painted portraits, etc. of the main participants.

   Even better, each part of Charlie's escape is accompanied by a detailed map showing where he was on almost a night-by-night basis. In the appendix there are even driving directions and a list of relevant places for tourists to visit.

   If you don't know the story behind Charlie's daring escape, you could not start at a better place.




2. The authors manage to tell the story of Prince Charles Edward Stuart's flight from the disaster that was the Battle of Culloden in vivid detail without including so much detail as to become tedious. Coupled with the inclusion of wonderful photography and maps, this book leaves the reader with a full grasp of what the pleasant Prince and his various protectors, guides and benefactors went through during his five months as a fugitive in the Scottish countryside.

   The authors also gave great detail, without undue romanticism, of young Flora MacDonald's role in the Prince's escape.

   People interested in the history of Great Britain in general, and Scottish history in particular will greatly enjoy this book.

1 comments about Maud Gonne.

1. Before I read this book, all I knew of Maud Gonne was what Yeats had seen fit to tell us. And that's just not very nice, is it? This well-balanced and evocative portrait is not afraid to honestly depict the great lady's weaknesses, but it also gives us her strengths and the story of the incredibly valuable work she did for Ireland - not just for the abstraction of Eire, but gritty, real work that was to the direct benefit of children and prisioners.

3 comments about The Letters of Samuel Rutherford (Puritan Paperbacks).

1. Samuel Rutherford (1600-61) was one of the great Scottish puritan Presbyterians, most famous today for his Lex Rex. He was an ardent Calvinist, and was awaiting trial for treason when he died. His letters were collected in printed posthumously (1664). This nicely packaged Banner of Truth set are an abridged edition.
   
   "I find it most true, that the greatest temptation out of hell is to live without temptations. If my waters should stand, they would rot. Faith is the better of the free air, and of the sharp winter storm in its face. Grace withereth without adversity. The devil is but God's master fencer, to teach us to handle our weapons."
   -Samuel Rutherford



2. A very fine work indeed! These letters have a lot of insight and wisdom packed into them!! A few of the letters were not very interesting to me, but as a whole I found that reading this was a very profitable exercise for me!



3. Aside from Holy Scripture, there is no other writing I have found so close to my heart as the Letters of Samuel Rutherford. If you do not own it, buy it; that is, if you love the Lord Jesus and desire to love Him more, buy it and read it. There is no effort in reading it whatsoever. On the contrary, there is a deep longing for more and more, as it becomes nearly impossible to put it down. Rutherford's letters epitomize the hearts of the Scottish Covenanters, whom he would have surely joined in death by martyrdom if not for his fatal illness. The sweetness of being a child of God is made undisputably known to him who reads these beautiful words.

5 comments about Discoveries: Lewis Carroll in Wonderland (Discoveries (Abrams)).

1. I mention the 'train book' aspect because this book is just the size to tuck into a handbag. As one who loves Lewis Carroll's works, and has studied Victorian England in depth, I found this work to be a surprisingly rich, delightful treatment of Lewis Carroll's life and work.
   
   It is not an in-depth study of all aspects of his life, and, somehow, I found it most refreshing that, unlike some books which are, there were no diversions into Freudian speculation or treatments of bizarre theories about Dodgson's ways. Instead, the reader is treated to a fairly thorough survey of biographical information and essentials of Lewis Carroll's writings.
   
   The illustrations are exceptionally extensive, including many photographs (of or by Carroll), varied illustrations from editions of "Alice," and, as far as textual illustrations are concerned, excerpts from Dodgson's private correspondence and diaries. One comes to the end of the book with a sense of having covered an amazingly large scope. For example, other authors have mentioned (without showing) the supposedly notorious nude photographs of children which Dodgson prepared. This book not only includes the pictures (which tend to the cherubic, with no flavour of the erotic), but places them into the Victorian cultural perspective with taste and dignity.
   
   The author's style is superb - with a blend of beautiful language, concise but thorough treatment of the material, and impressive dignity. There is none of the excesses common in many books on Lewis Carroll, where rash speculation and prurient "let's pander to the 21st century love for 'dirt'" ruin the essentials of the story. Lewis Carroll is presented in all his brilliance, humour, and eccentricity. The classic works, with all of their fancy, wit, and wonder, are not ruined by excessive analysis or so filled with 'dark' speculation that one forgets what every child can see: they are delightful diversions.
   
   Pair this book with an annotated edition of Lewis Carroll's works, and you will have the perfect gift for anyone who has ever loved "Alice" and her creator. And creator indeed Carroll was, for, as this book shows well, the Alice of fiction was hardly a model of Alice Liddell. The author speaks in some detail of the relationship of the "real" Alice and Charles Dodgson, with no tired attempts to confuse them with the book's contents. As well, the references to other Victorian literature and art places Carroll's work, and the friendship with the Liddell family, in an enlightening perspective for the contomporary reader.
   
   Witty, insightful, and extensively detailed for a pocket book, I would highly recommend this work for anyone who already loves Lewis Carroll or would like a further acquaintance.



2. I hardly ever buy nonfiction but seeing this at Borders I knew I had to have it. Lewis Carrol is one of the greatest writers of the nineteenth century, surpassing even Tolstoy,Dostoevsky,and Dickens. I have a complete collection of all of his works and enjoy them all(except for the math puzzles, math has never been my strongest point.) If you are a fan of Lewis Carroll then this is the book for you. Gorgous illustrations and photographs, an interesting and informative text, this is a wonderful little book to own. It is also informative if you are interested in Victorian England such as Iam (probably due to my Lewis Carroll fixation) There are also examples of Lewis Carrolls photography and pictures of the Liddle children. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves the world of Alice and who is obsessed with Mr. Dodgson's books.



3. A small in size book, being about 5 x 6. It is printed on glossy paper with many photographs. It is an exceptional buy for the amount of money tendered. If you read anything by Mr. Carroll you have to have this book too. Mr. Carroll's work is a must for anyone writing anything. The simple truth is his writing means nothing as far as plot, but his style is brilliant.

   Is there anyone out there that knows what the name of the writing style used by Mr. Carroll. For instance his characters are telling a story to someone small Mr. Carroll aims his text at a small animal. The small animal answers back in small type. When someone is running and talking, there are long drawn out sentences.




4. This book provides a well written description of the conditions and environment that led to the writing of the Alice books. The reader is immersed in Victorian culture both verbally and visually. The profusely illustrated book is a joy to read and informative as well. It fills the niche between biography and textual analysis.

   Joel Birenbaum, president of the Lewis Carroll Society of North America




5. This tidy, colorful book presents an evenly balanced look at the life and times of Lewis Carroll. The reproductions of rare photos are outstanding, and are cause enough to buy the book on it's own. The text aviods the loathesome practice of trying to find deep symbolism and imagery in Carroll's works, but rather focuses on them with a pleasant reverence.

4 comments about The Queen's Slave Trader: John Hawkyns, Elizabeth I, and the Trafficking in Human Souls (P.S.).

1. I absorbed this read with great interest. The subject of slave-trading has been too painful for me to tackle it head-on but here I got into it because I am interested in Elizabethan personalities. The thing that shocks me in the book is how matter-of-fact the trading really was. This fact-based account puts the reader into the then-contemporary perspective of humans as just another commodity to be dealt for profit and a highly lucrative one at that. The rewards for successful trading were enough to turn the Queen, Elizabeth, into a profiteer. In fact, we see an Elizabeth in denial after she has waxed moral in her view of the abduction of Africans. She says they should be asked to volunteer. (Which is ridiculous on the face of it.) Of course, Hawkyns only saw the green light to GO. One cannot view Elizabeth in any ideal sense after this: there is no Gloriana or Astraea in this book. The business of the Queen is business; Queen and country are one.
   
   There isn't much of a biography of Hawkyns in the book. At least, insofar as a biography fleshes out the nuance of the character. What we get is a very competent individual who is able to make both military and financial decisions in quicktime. The depth of the book is focused on the ambivalence of Hawkyns in matters of religion. This is, in my opinion, is what places the story into it's deeper historical context. The English, as other Europeans, who were destined to fight bloody civil wars in the next century, were obsessed with the outer manifestations of Christianity (ritual, plastic images, etc. or not) and had lost any real sense of Christian teachings. In this book, we lose any ability to condemn Hawkyns as an individual; we are overwhelmed by the brutality of the times. I think the author, Nick Hazlewood has done quite a good job here.



2. Attempts to analyze the historical sociology of capitalism and slavery too often deal in abstractions. And the morality of power politics, and economic globalization, as with Marx, tends to be sublimated into the account by value-free laws of history, etc,... All well and good, but. This account of a one vignette of the early gestation of the Atlantic slave trade, in England, speaks more eloquently by its plain account of actual people, at the moment of the crystallization of a dreadful circumstance. Significant is the detail of Queen Elizabeth, quoted early on as denouncing the traffic in human beings, succumbing to royal patronage once the immense profits possible became clear. While one can practically hear the ghost of Marx snorting with contempt, the plain fact of the matter is that there is an ethical history possible, and there was nothing inevitable in the way slavery, almost extinct in Europe, made a comeback in the early modern period. It is not utopian, as this portrait makes clear, to consider that politicians, instead of being untrustworthyfrom the word go, might actually not succumb to terrible temptations and enter in league with poor devils like the Hawkins portrayed here, basically a capitalist thug, soon a courtier. The portrait of John Hawkins gives a fine-grain series of images of one of the great and classic failures of economic globalization, and the terrible legacy and bitterness that it led to.



3. Nick Hazlewood has written an engrossing book that gives us a rare and in-depth look into the opening salvos of the English slave trade through the voyages of Sir John Hawkyns (also spelled John Hawkins), the first English trader. Hazlewood supplies a brief biography of the Elizabethan mariner but focuses on Hawkyns' three major slave-trading voyages starting from 1562, from his departure from England to his actual acquisition of slaves in West Africa, through to his transactions in the New World and return to England.
   
   This book is a must-have for those interested in the early Age of Exploration and the nature of early trans-Atlantic commerce, but it is of far greater significance and value for a general audience since it provides a rare glimpse into the little-known details of the wretched commerce in human beings that took place as the Americas were being settled. Treatments of the African slave trade often leave a reader wondering about the mindset and nature of the participants who were profiting from it, and Hazlewood provides us with a "you are there" feeling. He has clearly done his homework here, consulting primary literature in both English and Spanish archives to reconstruct the means by which Hawkyns acquired his slaves in West Africa, the "currency" exchanges which took place to seal the deal, the wretched and horrendous conditions on the slaving ships, and the nature of Hawkyns' eventual transactions in the Caribbean and Spanish outposts in America. What emerges is that Hawkyns was a remarkably shrewd and ruthless businessman, able to secure such an extraordinary profit margin from his deals that even Queen Elizabeth I-- initially opposed to the human commerce-- became a crucial investor in Hawkyns' slave-trading schemes, providing ships and resources for raising his crews and launching further voyages.
   
   Hazlewood also casts Hawkyns' commerce within the broader context of 16th-century European seafaring, demonstrating how Hawkyns' actions-- viewed as smuggling by Spanish authorities-- in many ways constituted the root of the conflict that would flare between the Spaniards and English (leading to the Spanish Armada attack and a 16-year war between the two countries) later in the century. The reader is treated to an in-depth look at Hawkyns' fateful third voyage in 1567, in which his ships were attacked by a Spanish squadron off Veracruz. Hazlewood provides perhaps the best description in any recent book of the clash at Veracruz and its aftermath, both for Hawkins and his unfortunate crew members who were seized by the Spaniards. The book does drag somewhat in its later chapters but is not at all a chore to read, and Hazlewood's evocative style ensures that readers have a concrete tableau of the events that were transpiring, rather than merely an abstract depiction of them.
   
   For what would become the United States as well as for Britain, the trans-Atlantic slave trade was integral to their history. Indeed, Americans are well aware of the brutal consequences of slavery from the Civil War in the 1860s, yet are often much less aware of the background to that "curious institution." Hazlewood details these often obscure origins with both accuracy and a highly readable presentation. The reader emerges from the book with a sense of the Hobbesian mentality and conditions that dominated seafaring in the 1500s, and a better sense of the psychology that enabled so many to allow themselves to partake in the bloody business of human enslavement and trans-Atlantic trafficking. Hawkyns is shown in all his complexity as a ruthless merchant and as an inspiring leader of his crews, who braved on-ship conditions and hostile oceans that would make most of us cringe barely minutes away from the dock. Hazlewood's book is an excellent complement to Harry Kelsey's book on John Hawkins-- which covers similar territory-- and to Hugh Thomas's general history of the slave trade. It's a must-have for historians, for teachers and school libraries (at many levels), and for those who want to learn about the often-obscure history of slavery and of the fascinating details of 16th-century Atlantic exploration and maritime commerce.



4. First, the good: Nick Hazlewood gives us a thoroughly researched book about an interesting character from English history, the seafarer/pirate John Hawkyns. I was constantly amazed at the in-depth information that Hazlewood was able to provide, even going so far as to relate many of Queen Elizabeth's conversations with or about John Hawkyns to the reader. We also get the words of Philip II, the Spanish king, and his ambassadors in London. We even get the gist of John Hawkyns' conversations with all the dignitaries he dealt with in the new world as he sold his horrific cargo. All in all, we get a fairly complete picture of Hawkyns the brute, the opportunist, and Hawkyns the leader of men. It is an interesting portrait.
   
   And now the bad: John Hawkyn's adventures in New Guinea and the New World aren't really enough to fill a book from cover to cover with enough drama or information to keep the reader enthralled. Hawkyns makes three missions to the New World to sell slaves, and each time he visits the same places, and employs the same tactics. By the third trip, I was reading out of obligation rather than excitement. And of couse, the drama of his defense against the Spanish Armada falls outside the scope of this book, though there is an attempt to tie it to an earlier conflict that occurred at the end of Hawkyns' slaving career. What I missed most was a sense of history throughout the course of the book. Oftentimes events were merely relayed in sequential, if wonderfully thorough, order, but an analysis of these events place or influence on world history were saved for the final chapter of the book.
   
   All in all, an OK read if you enjoy Elizabethan or Age of Sail histories, but not enough to recommend it to the general readership.

2 comments about Field Marshal Earl Haig.

1. This is a pathetic attempt to whitewash Haig's incomptence and character defects. A shoddily written book, with no references and primary researches, that attempts futilely to blame Haig's failures on his staff (Charteris), politicians (Lloyd George), superior (French), allies (the French), bad luck and more.
   Haig as an backstabbing intriguer (writing to Lord Esher behind the back of Sir French, and in leagure with his cronnies Kitchener, Robertson) is glossed over. So is the fact that he never once visited the front, nor that he never had any battelfield successes to his credit.
   
   All in all, a book that's not worth the paper it's printed on



2. Warner offers neither eulogy nor condemnation for a character who has concocted a variety of opinions like no other in British military history. So often remembered for infamous and contraversial battles such as those on the Somme, and at Passchendaele, Sir Douglas Haig has been referred to as "callous", "uncaring", "reactionary" and as a "butcher". Warner offers us a very different portrait. Haig was a man of high moral virtue who prided himself on his social conduct in front of others, be they friends of family. Warner also mentions Haig's substantially inarticulate manner of speech, which ran him into troubles (not too drastic though) with his fellow senior officers in the army.

   Warner lists Haig's services in both the Sudan and South Africa, both times being under the command of Field Marshal Lord Kitchener. Warner even recalls how Haig strived to set up a polo game between Great Britain and South Africa in the aftermath of the Boer War!

   Warner also strives to be as impartial and objective as possible when concerned with the battles of the Somme and Third Ypres. Whilst he does not attempt to cover up or gloss over Haig's strategical errors during these campaigns, he notes that no one in the British Army was able to offer plausible alternatives. The only exception being Plumer at Messines Ridge, and even then, Haig came around to his way of thinking. Warner emphasises the point that Haig's Generalship evolved and progressed throughout the war. He gained from experience, and learned from his previous errors, and in 1918, he was able to deliver the most remarkable series of victories in the long and distinguished history of the British Army. Far from being the donkey that history has portrayed him as, Haig appears as man who grasped as best he could, the technological innovations of the Western Front. He was a keen proponent of tanks in warfare, and as such, the scenes at the British advance in 1918 would have seemed more reminiscent of 1940!

   Overall, a fair and accurate account that offers the reader with a new perspective of a much-maligned and badly judged character.

No comments about By the Waters of Liverpool.