No comments about Elizabeth I: A Life.

5 comments about The Twilight Years : Paris in the 1930s.

1. This book gives a brief review of life in Paris before World War 2. It covers James Joyce, Reynaud, Bricktop, Joesphine Baker and other. It should have covered more about foreign policy, and incidents such as the assassination of the Nazi diplomat in Paris and Munich. These incidents contributed to World War 2 and The Fall of France to the Germans in 1940.



2. The main characters are here: Stavisky, Daladier, Reynaud in politics, Sartre (very briefly), Picasso, Dali in the arts, Chanel, Coty, etc. Several rather minor artists, such as the photographer Brassaï, are also presented in an interesting, anecdotal fashion. So much space is devoted to James Joyce, Henry Miller and others, however, that it should really be titled "Expatriates in 1930s Paris." Numerous American preconceptions about the French are repeated. The book is also seriously compromised by the many mistakes in French ("C'est moi qui EST l'artiste," "pas DES histoires" -- The words "et" and "est" are not, as Wiser implies, pronounced the same) and by factual mistakes (The French Academy does not edit the Larousse Dictionary; The obelisk in the Place de la Concorde is incorrectly identified as 'Cleopatra's Needle'; Chaplin's the Great Dictator was not made in the early 1930s, etc.). There is such sloppy chronology, one wonders how much of the other details the author has simply invented, or embroidered.



3. I had such great hopes for this book and really looked forward to reading it. I could barely make it half the way through when I finally gave up. The prose is turgid with faulty syntax. I often had to reread sentences to make sure I understood what the author was trying to say. I was given the impression that he wrote with authority but found some of his statements and facts to be questionable. The 1930s in Paris deserve a better expose than this.



4. I had such great hopes for this book and really looked forward to reading it. I could barely make it half the way through when I finally gave up. The prose is turgid with faulty syntax. I often had to reread sentences to make sure I understood what the author was trying to say. I was given the impression that he wrote with authority but found some of his statements and facts to be questionable. The 1930s in Paris deserve a better expose than this.



5. Mr. Wiser's Book on Paris is a fascinating desultory hop through the City of Light in the thirties. It's filled with little known, and all too brief, insights into personalities from James Joyce to Hemingway to Dali and Picasso. An excellent read. Well worth the time.

   (Although Mr. Wiser's facts might need some checking as regards the death of Louis XIV. (Page 129))

No comments about Catherine McAuley and the Tradition of Mercy.

1 comments about John Dee: The Politics of Reading and Writing in the English Renaissance (Massachusetts Studies in Early Modern Culture).

1. Sherman reevaluates Dee on the basis of his non-occult writings, especially his marginalia (adervsaria) to various texts and his political writings on navigation and the British Empire (a term he coined). The analysis itself is valuable and important, contributing to an understanding of Dee as a man deeply involved with his political and social environment, as well as clarifying the ways in which Dee read his sources.
   
   Unfortunately, Sherman goes overboard in attacking all previous scholarship on Dee, particularly what he calls the "Yatesian" approaches (in reference to Frances Yates). He never wastes an opportunity to attack, implying at times that his predecessors did not really read Dee but rather constructed a myth (of the magus) about him.
   
   While it is certainly true that Yates overstated her thesis, she saw a good deal in Dee that was accurate. And without a thorough reevaluation of the _Monas hieroglyphica_, the angelic conversations or _Libri mysteriorum_, and such varied works as _Propaedeumata aphoristica_, it is not possible to assess Dee's work as a whole. Sherman seems to think that all the occult works are incidental, irrelevant to who Dee really was. But he never argues this directly, preferring instead to pick out the flaws in Graham Yewbrey and Peter French. In the endnotes, he does note that Nicholas Clulee and Deborah Harkness have done excellent work on understanding Dee the occultist, but he gives them little credit despite his own total incomprehension of those works.
   
   Sherman's account is important and should be read by anyone seriously interested in Dee. But the total project cannot be understood absent Clulee and Harkness. More recently, Szonyi and Hakansson have added important rereadings, not of course available to Sherman. If one takes Sherman alone, one has a wrong impression of Dee -- which is precisely what he accuses his predecessors of. Taken with a grain of salt for all its remarks about other scholarship, including especially the totally wrong-headed misunderstandings of hermeneutics and poststructuralism, and in fact taken strictly as the work of a very narrow historian interpreting a few texts, Sherman is essential. But if you think this book covers the range of Dee, you (like Sherman) are sadly mistaken. Read Clulee and Harkness, then come back to Sherman.

4 comments about Journey to America #1 (DIGEST): Fiona McGilray's Story: Voyage from Ireland in 1849 (Journey to America).

1. "Fiona McGilray's Story: A Voyage from Ireland in 1849" is an interesting historical fiction for younger readers who enjoy this genre of fiction. If you're interested in immigration, Ireland, and how The Great Hunger affected all of this, then this book is a good introduction. The writing is very simple, but rather than showing a lot of events, author Clara Pastore told it in description, and in reality, we don't say people's name when we talk to them, and Pastore wrote the dialogue as such. While interesting, this story may be misleading for beginner learners of this subject, as not every family who came to America from Ireland were as luck as the McGilray's, and Pastore should have said that. Lastly, the epilogue read more as a chapter, instead of summing up the character lives fully. Nonetheless, I recommend.



2. This is a wonderful story of spirit and adventure. It's a delightful read for a curious child, especially one of Irish heritage, since Fiona's story is a story like so many who left Ireland. We enjoyed it tremendously.



3. I loved this first book in the Journey to America series. I learned a lot about the potato famine too. I highly recommend this book and will tell all my friends in middle school about it. I can't wait to read the next book, Amelia Kaminski's Story, a Voyage from Poland during World War II. I love to read books having to do with WWII. A+++++++++++



4. The year is 1848, and the place is Ireland, devastated by the potato blight that has swept the countryside and left the poor farmers without their main source of food. Twelve-year-old Fiona McGilray and her family are among the lucky ones - her father has a job working on the landlord's flax farm. But when the landlord decides the farm is not making a profit, all the workers, including Fiona's father, lose their jobs. After Fiona's older sister dies, her parents decide the only way to protect their children is to send them to their relatives in America. When Fiona's father is arrested, Fiona's mother decides to just send Fiona and her older brother Patrick immediately. They flee in the middle of the night and board a ship for Boston. The voyage takes many weeks, and many do not survive. Fiona and Patrick arrive in America strangers in a strange land. Unable to find their relatives, they live in a tiny basement room, taking whatever work they can find to survive. Fiona fights to overcome hunger and prejudice, and to work toward the day when she will see her parents and younger siblings again. This was an inspiring story of a young immigrant girl who, in spite of a difficult life, never gives up her hope for a better life.

No comments about Lend Me Your Ears.

No comments about Churchill and the Great Republic.

2 comments about John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant.

1. This book is about Queen Victoria's unusual relationship with her highland servant, John Brown. Most are familiar with the story because of the well-received movie, "Mrs. Brown". While the story made a very interesting movie, for most recreational readers the topic doesn't merit a full book. Raymond Lamont-Brown has certainly done excellent research, and I do not doubt that his account of Mr. Brown and his relationship with the queen is as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, oneof Queen Victoria's daughters drastically edited the Queen's personal papers when it came to the topic of Mr. Brown, so much of the historical record is irretrievably lost. Nevertheless, it seems clear that it is unlikely that there was a scandalous relationship and that the Queen simply considered Mr. Brown to be a completely devoted servant . She consequently kept him in constant attendance and was tolerant of his brusque manner. No matter how hard Mr. Lamont-Brown tries to find some actual drama, most of the relationship (and therefore most of the book) revoloved around the mundane routine of the royal household - daily ponyrides, picnics in the Scottish countryside, below-stairs jealousies, etc. Any excitement in the book is the result of speculation, not historical fact. If you have a serious interest in Queen Victoria, you will find this book worthwhile. Otherwise, see the movie.



2. The release of the well-regarded film _Mrs. Brown_, about Queen Victoria and her gillie John Brown, indicated there was still interest in the story of the Queen and her devoted servant. The full story of their relationship will never be known, but in _John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant_ (Sutton Publishing), Raymond Lamont-Brown sifts through what can be known to give as good a picture as we are likely to get of the servant beloved by the Queen and detested by so many others. It is a small but successful study of the Queen as honest and loyal, with a love of the outdoors, and with a sense of humor (when will the opposite legend go away?) which Brown must have frequently tickled. They were a good match. He impressed both Albert and the Queen with his knowledge of game and hunting, and a strong friendship grew between the gillie and his Queen. He liked jokes and gossip, and the Queen liked to hear his stories. There are many illustrations here of their familiarity. When the royal family went out on jaunts, John Brown usually brewed the Queen's pot of tea. Early in his service, she remarked that this was "the best cup of tea I ever tasted." "Well, it should be, Ma'am," came Brown's reply. "I put a grand nip o' whisky in it."

   There is little doubt that the Queen idealized Brown in a way no one else did, but especially after Albert's death, no one tended her as he did. A courtier wrote, "Others had tended her as their Queen and mistress. John Brown protected her as she was, a poor, broken-hearted bairn who wanted looking after and taking out of herself." Many around the Queen disapproved. Brown took his duties so seriously he would deny even her family access to her. His gruffness with others made few friends. Sent to convey the Queen's invitation to dinner to the Lords-in-Waiting, Brown pushed open the door of the billiard room, eyed the aristocrats, and bawled, "All what's here dines with the Queen." The Prince of Wales particularly disliked him, always referring to "that brute" rather than using his name. He obliterated all the busts and mementoes of Brown after the Queen's death, but he was never able to wipe out the rumors that Brown and the Queen were lovers, or that they had a morganatic marriage, or that Brown was her guide in spiritualism. Such evidence as there is shows that they were nothing but devoted friends as well and mistress and servant. This readable book well illustrates the relationship, with ample quotations from the Queen's diary and from remarks of those who knew both parties well.

No comments about A Drinking Life.

No comments about Women's Albums and Photography in Victorian England.