1 comments about Elizabeth I: The Competition for Representation.

1. Frye's study of Elizabeth's struggle to control her iconography and representation is very powerful. She discusses three major events in the course of Elizabeth's reign, and how merchants, courtiers and poets represented Elizabeth through them: praising her glory and virtue, yet simultaneously taking the critical liberties of a patriarchal society over a woman.

   Frye's third chapter on "Engendered Violence" is especially revealing, whether or not we can fully accept the extremity of such criticism in the character of Britomart in Spenser's Faerie Queene.

   This book is wonderful, a necessary read for anyone interested in the force of gender in the Renaissance.

No comments about Gladstone (British History in Perspective).

1 comments about Life and Times of Victoria (Kings & Queens of England).

1. Marshall puts together a comprehensive view of the life of Queen Victoria. She illustrates the book with many photos, newspaper clippings, and other publications of the time. Queen Victoria's life is covered completely, from her humble beginings and then throughout her long reign. Through reading this book you will see what made Queen Victoria so special in the lives of her countrymen.
   
   One of the qualities of this book in addition to good solid writing is the amount of pictures, paintings, and publications that are in this book. She includes not only formal well known publications, but also satire of the day. I believe that with this comprehensive view of Victoria you get a well rounded picture of her reign and how her subjects felt about her.
   
   The book is comprehensive as it covers her whole life. Her very humble beginings, being ruled by her mother until she took the throne. Influential people are discussed thoroughly. Marshell writes with an even hand discussing both the good qualities and the negative qualities of Victoria, and all of those who touched her life.
   
   Throughout the book you get the sense that Victor worked very hard for her country, and did the best that she could. She loved fully, her love for her husband, her children, and her country was boundless. She showed her love of her family and friends openly, even if at times there may have been reason not to demonstrate this love so fully.
   
   This is an excellent book to read, and gather a sense of the life and times of Queen Victoria. The book is packed with paintings, pictures, and timely newspaper articles. Marshall discusses her life, and the lives of the people around her very openly. I feel that reading this book you with gather a definate sense of who Queen Victoria was and what made her so special.

No comments about Learned Lady: Letters from Robert Browning to Mrs. Thomas Fitzgerald, 1876-1889 (Pforzheimer Library).

1 comments about BILLY DRAKE, FIGHTER LEADER: The Autobiography of Group Captain B. Drake DSO, DFC and Bar, US DFC.

1. I am a WWII aviation junkie, and the books I enjoy most are the ones that give the reader a feeling of actually "being there" in the day-to-day operations of a combat unit. This, unfortunately, is NOT one of those books. I'm sure Grp Captain Billy Drake had a fascinating career in the RAF, but one would never know it from this bare-bones collection (104 pages) of reminiscences. No details are given of his 24+ aerial victories beyond the aircraft type. Whereas he spends paragraphs talking about what unit was affiliated with which group, etc. I have to say that I was very disappointed by everything except the dust jacket illustration by Nicolas Trudgian. My advice would be: re-read "Thunderbolt," "An Ace of the Eighth," or "The Big Show" instead.

No comments about Jellied Eels and Zeppelins: Witness to a Vanished Age.

No comments about Obituary / Notice Necrologique.(Dr. Lloyd George Reeds)(Obituary): An article from: The Canadian Geographer.

No comments about Country Living.

No comments about Storia documentata di Venezia: Tomo 1.

No comments about Memoirs of the Reign of King George III: The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole`s Memoirs (4 Volumes) (The Yale Edition of Horace Walpole`s Cor).