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 In the Belgian Chateau: The Spirit and Culture of a European Society in an Age of Change.

1. Despite some little mistake, this book is quite good book for people who are about to come to Belgium or ever went to Belgium. It describes different socio-professional classes in Belgium , riches and "poor", flemish and wallons, ... (but most are catholics).

   The main default of this book is that is looks to me quite "old-fashioned" because now, society has evoluted a lot and lots of things have changed since the first voyage of Renée C. Fox.

   In conclusion, if you're intersted in Belgium or in life in "traditionnal" european countries, you must read it.

No comments about A Dictionary of Irish Biography.

No comments about On or About December 1910: Early Bloomsbury and Its Intimate World (Studies in Cultural History).

No comments about Maud Gonne: A Life.

No comments about Women in World History: Readings from 1500 to the Present (Sources and Studies in World History).

No comments about The Count-Duke of Olivares: The Statesman in an Age of Decline.

2 comments about Rebel Sons of Erin.

1. Sometimes you just have to learn to live with paradox. It is indeed a paradox getting reviews left on even after it is posted. Someone is afraid of rebels from the South. They would have been hanged like the real boy spy from Smyrna, Tennessee, Sam Davis (no relation to the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis) was hanged on a hill in Pulaski, Tennessee, where his statue still supervises the courthouse square and a corner of the State Capitol grounds in Nashville.
   
   The usual practice of the Union leaders was to get information from the spies and then hang them anyway. Sam was given the option to tattle on his source. He said, "If I had a million lives, I would give them all up before I revealed the name of my friend." The person who had given him the bit of war news was in the jail cell next to him and lived to tell the story -- after the war.
   
   Tennessee was particularly hit hard by the rascals. One girl in Knoxville had to be sent to relatives in another state to keep her from ending up as Sam Davis did. Since then other books have surfaced of female spies. At the fair, I asked a real photographer if he could make me look like a Confederate spy; he did by dressing me as a Southern matron holding that flag. So, you see, I would have been one had I lived here in Union land (now Republican). No man tells a Southern woman that she is inferior in any way. We fight for our rights. Some years ago, I told a local historian had I loved back them, I might have been hanged as a Confederate spy (Knox. was Union) and he agreed. In one of his recent history lessons, he describes the defeated Jeff Davis as a defeated man with receding hair and a wispy goatee who visited this town in 1871 who was on his way via rail to Memphis. Davis described Grant's administration as wicked and the writer had him and one of his generals, Forrest, as leaders of the klan which was started by a group of Pulaski lawyers and judges. It was not a part of the Confederacy at all, formed to protect Southerners from the Northern Carpetbaggers during reconstruction.
   
   Our Southern lads gave up their lives for a cause. One which was disrupted by the corruption of leaders after the war and since. But, we are not called the Volunteer State for nothing.



2. this book deals with a little written about subject,a confederate regiment comprised of mainly Catholic Irishmen.It traces their record from Ft. Donelson to Bentonville.the book is notable because of what it doesn't say as well as what it does. Most of theses soldiers seemed to have little to any political views and joined up in defense of their lands and families,not really yankee-haters or sympathetic to southern slavery. when the war machine goes into gear they are caught in the machinery and sign up without much hesitation as southern patriots. Almost none of them own slaves or would even want to.What keeps them going is their loyalty to their country ,their religion,and each other.The book contains alot of anecdotal stories about the individuals in the book,like the heroism of Father Biemel,who ministered to the physical and spiritual needs of the men and paid the ultimate sacrifice.there is also alot of humor in the book,I particularly enjoyed the story of General John Bell Hood,the rebel General in charge of the defenses of Atlanta. Gleeson says of him that Hood became more agreesive on the attack the more body parts he lost.there are alot of human interest stories as well as a "where are they now",section which tracks down some of the alumi of the 10th Tennessee after the war.A wife of one of the commanders who was killed in battle more or less forgot her husband and later became a notorious nag.the drummer boy made it 1938 and some of these ex-confederates were actually able to get state veterans benefits for their widows.The book also deals with the subject of confederate desertion rates throughout the war and this factor definitely cut into the combat ability of the 10th.I was surprised at how many desertions occurred in the earlier part of the war as well as the later.

No comments about George III (British Library - Historic Lives).

1 comments about Lenin Lives!: The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia, Enlarged Edition.

1. This is a very good book about how Lenin was made into a god to Russia. There is a lot of detail about Lenin's life, but more about what happened to Lenin after he died. It was not to surprising his body was preserved and put on display. In this way he was treated as the Orthodox Church has always revered its saints by keeping relics and body parts. Lenin's wife was angry that Lenin was not properly buried, but Stalin's idea was to make him into a saint. For all the years following Lenin was practically worshipped. This book shows how the cult was created by the Communist Party and forced on Russian citizens. The book treats Russians and Lenin with respect, and it has very good history.