2 comments about The Wild Geese of the Antrim Macdonnells.

1. This book examines the problems confronting the Irish immigrants to Europe by concentrating on the lives of a series of emigrants from one Irish family, the MacDonnells of Antrim. A continuous succession of MacDonnells served in the armies of Spain, France and Austria between 1600 and 1820. One of them kept a diary of his experiences with Bonnie Prince Charlie in the '45 rebellion, another was a Spanish admiral at Trafalgar. Other Irish families covered by the book include the O'Neills, Magennises, O'Briens, Maguires, Butlers, Wogans and Sarsfields.



2. I discovered this book's existence from a bibliography in a similar book about Hugh O'Neill, the Earl of Tyrone (that of the Flight of the Earls), by Sean O'Faolain. This is a related story about the similar exile and diaspora of the Ulster clan McDonnell around Europe, following the Protestant usurption of Catholic James II in the Glorious Rovolution. It details the different cadet branches of the of McDonnell family from different generations who left Ireland and formed Irish Regiments, fought for foreign kings, aswell as supported the Jacobite cause from abroad.
   
   It is a truly astonishing tale of Irish family history aswell as personal narrative European history of the conflicts and wars fought within Europe throughout the 17th and 18th centuries.
   
   However, because of the former it did seem to be a book that can only be fully appreciated by fellow McDonnells and not necessarily by the general reader, who could, through certain tracts react by exclaiming, "so what?" to it all. Because of this I have to say I also struggled to remember the different McDonnells and their kinsmen despite three genealogical charts contained in the book.
   
   The research is excellent, however, using the Stuart Papers at Windsor and several other archives around Europe. The writing is clear and concise and despite the complicated narrative which travels from one family and time period in each chapter I felt I came to understand a small part of Irish history in Europe.

2 comments about The Life of John Milton: A Critical Biography (Blackwell Critical Biographies).

1. This is, indeed, the most exhaustive modern biography of John Milton. The renowned critic Barbara Lewalski, as usual, offers the students and scholars of Milton an enchanting biographical masterpiece that both narrates and captures Milton's story and history from his early childhood "The childhood Strews the Man" to his last breath "Teach the every Soul". Mocking Samuel Johnson's theory on writing a biography, Lewalski, without eating, drinking, or living in social intercourse with Milton, has succeed in writing an impressive biography of Milton through, as she mockingly asserts, living in intellectual and artistic intercourse with Milton. Reading this book, to the surprise of Johnson, one will find him/herself eating, drinking, and living social intercourse with john Milton thanks to the scholarly talent of Barbara Lewlaski.



2. Incredibly interesting and really a good, hard look at the life of John Milton and what inspired him and what aroused his wrath. His poems are eternal and deal with things secular and spiritual. His words have come down to us through many centuries and they are still as powerful as the day he wrote them. What a true genius! What a stunningly beautiful biography...I couldn't put it down.

1 comments about Sir John Hawkins: Queen Elizabeth's Slave Trader.

1. Those of us raised on tales of the Armada, and the gallant defense of the English homeland, will immediately recognize Sir John Hawkins as one of the fabulous Four heroes who repelled the Spanish attacks (the other three being Howard, Drake and Frobisher). Less admirably, Hawkins is also notorious for his freebooting in the Carribean, wherein he sought to bust the Spanish monopoly on slave-trading. Like Sir Francis Drake, Hawkins was a master of staging a phony "raid" on local Spanish officials who were all too keen to buy the Englishman's wares - but needed to stage a token resistace to the interlopers in order to satisfy King Philip that the dreaded English had forced them to trade at gunpoint. Kelsey tells Hawkins's life story passably well, but the narrative is, for the most part, an unexciting one; for a character this infamous, one might have expected something more.

No comments about George III: King and Politicians 1760-1770.

4 comments about So Idle a Rogue: The Life and Death of Lord Rochester.

1. This is an excellent biography of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, the character Johnny Depp plays in "The Libertine."
   
   I've read several books about Wilmot in the past two years, and I have enjoyed this more, gotten more out of it, and feel I have finally gotten a handle on the man who was so brilliant and so tragic.
   
   The author, Jeremy Lamb, didn't just sit in some ivory tower, he traveled to where the Earl lived, worked and died. He has quotes from his contemporaries, his letters, his poetry and prose. And this is all very cleverly woven into a fascinating and gripping story of the Earl's life. Unlike the other rather scholarly works I've read, this one gets right into the personality of Wilmot, dissecting it, but not in a dry removed manner, rather it's as if you have an insight into the intriguing and paradoxical Earl.
   
   I suggest you get this book if you want to have a more intimate glimpse into not only the life of John Wilmot, but his period in history and the fascinating people he lived with, loved, and even hated.



2. This is probably one of the most useless biographies of Rochester in print. The bibliography is rather dismal and, while the scholarship is adequate, there is nothing available in it that cannot be better found in Greene's Lord Rochester's Monkey or The Debt to Pleasure.
   
   Most galling is the author's chronic harping on Rochester's alcoholism as a means to understand his verse. Last time I was in any institution of higher learning, fanciful modern analysis did not equate to literary criticism. Yes, we all know Rochester was a prodigious drinker in a time of prodigious drinkers. Lamb goes on for pages as though explaining what portion of the AA banner Rochester falls under can really pinpoint his genius. He forgets that the 17th century was a world of drink. Farmers started their day with a pound of bacon and pints of small beer. When observed in context with his time, Lamb utterly fails to make his case, saying more about himself, perhaps, than Rochester.
   
   While his "findings" may have some small merit, they are not by any means the 'way' to either understand Rochester in the context of his world, or his poetry, which is transcendent of time, drink, or illness, venereal or otherwise.
   
   Worse, there is a smug misogeny throughout the entire volume that set my teeth completely on edge. Lamb refers to "female students" and "women readers" with a condescension that is deplorable. His editor should be catisgated for not expurging such passages. I do not recall that gender had any bearing on scholarly literary analysis.
   
   All in all, as a serious student of Rochester's poetry, I was insulted and felt swindled by a book that purports to be a biography and reads like a 12-step advertisement.
   
   Pass on this and instead, read Lord Rochester's Monkey and The Debt to Pleasure. This is a waste of money.



3. This is an in depth look at the Earl of Rochester's life and death. I have seen the movie twice (at the premiere and then the following short run it had in LA prior to its wide release in January 06) I loved the movie and plan to see it again. I found it extremely helpful to read this book and suggest that anyone planning to see the film read this first! Rochester was a brilliant man and it is a sad but fascinating story. Some of the poems are a little difficult but that doesn't matter. The information you will gain on the man is invaluable to a better understanding of him in the movie. It is too bad that the movie doesn't include more about his children which are barely mentioned. He was a loving father and cared very deeply for them and his wife despite his debauched lifestyle. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is that there are numerous typos. I imagine that whomever proofed the final galleys was not interested in the text and merely glossed over it.



4. If I could possibly rate this book any lower, I would. This is the most insulting, inaccurate piece of literary doggerel I have ever read in my life, made worse by the fact that it actually made it to print. The author has tried to take a modern view of the Earl's life, which is commended, but he has somehow managed to distort even the simplest facts about the poet's life and work. Even some of the poems cited in this book are not by Wilmot at all! If he cannot even get these facts correct, what hope is there for the correct telling of the man's personal life? The answer is none; the author's obsessional views on the "disease of alcoholism" have rendered this book into a blatant attempt to explain away the poet's faults by means of the old excuse "the bottle made him do it". This has been proved to be blatantly false, as anybody who has studied the Earl's life in-depth can see.
   For those of you new or old to the Earl's life and work, wanting to read an accurate up-to-date account of his life, the best book for doing so is the modern and revised A Profane Wit : The Life of John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, which can also be found for purchase on Amazon. I have read almost all of the literary works available on the Earl, so I can tell you from experience how offensive this book is to anybody who knows the real story. Do not waste your money on this trash; save it instead for the magnificently detailed "Profane Wit".
   If there was a justice system for books, this one would get the electric chair.

No comments about For Freedom: The Last Days of William Wallace.

No comments about The Last Lion: Winston Spencer Churchill, Visions of Glory, 1874-1932.

2 comments about Empires of the Plain: Henry Rawlinson and the Lost Languages of Babylon.

1. This book tells the story of Henry Rawlinson -- British soldier, diplomat, and amateur linguist in the 1820s, '30s, and '40s. His stomping ground: Persia and what is now Iraq. His principal claim to fame is the decipherment of cuneiform, giving us the ability to read for the first time texts that were between 2500 and 4000 years old.
   
   In this endeavor he was entirely self-taught, virtually cut off from potential colleagues in Britain and on the continent, and working under the most hostile conditions imaginable. To decipher cuneiform, he had to first acquire samples of ancient text -- which in one especially important instance meant clinging to a cliff-face hundreds of feet off the ground and laboriously copying the strange script into a notebook.
   
   The book itself is well written, well illustrated with drawings and photographs, and filled with stories of Rawlinson's contemporaries -- including real heroes, like Henry Layard, who excavated Nineveh and Babylon, and not a few semi-villains. All in all, an amazing story and a terrific book.



2. At initial glance, any biography of Sir Henry Rawlinson would seem to be a ready made best-seller. Here was a man who found time to decipher three ancient languages over several decades, while still keeping his day job of fighting wars and conducting diplomacy. Thus, if a writer focused just on Rawlinson's life, the resulting biography should be both entertaining and informative. But, Adkins' real interest lies in archeology. Consequently, she can't resist spending extra time detailing the elements of cuneiform creation and decipherment. These details, while mildly interesting, can't compare to the better story of Rawlinson's life. As a result, it's hard for the non-archeologist reader to maintain enthusiasm through the book's non-biography portions.
   
   It seems that Adkins the scientist was fighting with Adkins the would-be popular writer when this book was written, because it sometimes reads like two distinct books. The end result of this dichotomy is a story whose sum isn't greater than its parts. Empires of the Plain isn't bad. But, it would have been a better book had Adkins focused a bit less on the science and a bit more on the biography.

5 comments about Francis Drake: Lives of a Hero.

1. The Key to Sir Francis Drake was that he was in the essence a shallow water boatman.The technique of long distance navigation had been discovered and exploited by the time Drake hit the water. Drakes first edge in his line of work was that he sailed to the West Indies with shallow water boats on board his transatlantic ships, in partially assembled form or complete 'ready for action' towed behind. His second edge was that he had the sponsorship of the Queen of the Realm, E1. With The Royal Patronage, like 007 he could do whatever, no problem. Let Sir Fancis test his new maritime tactics in the shallow lagoons and bays of the Caribbean against the hated Espanish, if he succeeds everybody's rich, if he fails he's dead. In the early years Sr. Francis exploited every advantage; particularly the huge differences in time and distance between the government of Spain and its Western claims. In Francis' time those regions barely qualified as any governmental area, so far from authority and management they were. Happening upon a likely victim, our pirate simply cut a deal with the site governors, the treasure caravan leaders, and the treasure ship captains in transit. Francis took most but left enough to make the employees rich. He cast off with fair regards for all people, and everybody involved looked forward to the "Good Pirates" return next season. Philip of Spain was more circumspect. Over a period of years he established his authority via clear management lines of responsibility and procedures for the transportation of loot and filthy lugar. After the Spanish King consolidated his realm, Sr. Francis days were done. The Spanish had yet another use for our pirate hero. It was Spanish Literature that was first to elevate Sr. Francis to the place of folk hero, epic warrior, and national poltergeist. For a generation whisper of "El Dragon" was sufficient to warn every child to bed and more importantly every shipping manager, captain and dock clerk to do his best for King and kind.



2. Reading about Drake's many seagoing professions, I can't help relating his exploits to those of Silicon Valley entrepreneurs. While your average corporate adventurer doesn't risk life and limb on long maritime voyages, the desire for fame and fortune is the same.

   Francis Drake, as Cummins presents him, was a man of common birth who sought to make a name and a great deal of wealth for himself. Early in his career he was a slave trader along with John Hawkins, but if we are to believe what Cummins says, he found it distasteful.

   He later took to a highly successful career as a corsair and explorer, raiding Spanish shipping for gold and becoming one of the first men to circumnavigate the Earth. Cummins' portrayal of Drake as an egalitarian holds up under scrutiny. He employed men of many backgrounds in his crews including African Cimarrons who had escaped from slavery under the Spanish and fled into the jungles of Latin America.

   Cummins explores Drake's exploits in great detail without apparent bias. He doesn't shy away from showing the man's less appealing traits in his portrait. One of the things that stood out was Drake's behavior during the battle with the Spanish Armada. Drake had a hard time suppressing his piratical urges when he often was needed for more military endeavors. Nevertheless, Drake stands out primarily as a man of honor in a tumultuous time.

   If you enjoy biographies, history or just a good pirate tale (that's real!) I highly recommend this book. It's a fascinating story of a man whose inner passion and desire for glory drove him to great things.




3. I started this book expecting to read of the charismatic sea dog and protestant zealot of school history lessons. Instead a far more complicated picture emerges, a man who to modern eyes is both admirable and despicable - much like the Queen he served.

   Here Drake is a man of paradoxes. He started his career on slave ships but grew to despise the trade and became the first European to interact with the Cimarrons - escaped slaves - as equals. Drake was capable of fiery nationalism, and a passionate hatred of Spanish Catholicism but yet consistently treated his Spanish prisoners with the utmost courtesy. Perhaps the greatest duality of Drake was one that was apparent during his own lifetime - his dual service of personal fortune and national, English protestant, interest. To Drake these were not as distinct as they seem today, but perhaps it is the only fault of this book that they are not better resolved.

   John Cummins' excellent book practically reads itself, a highly recommended look at an amazing and contradictory man.




4. I started this book expecting to read of the charismatic sea dog and protestant zealot of school history lessons. Instead a far more complicated and contradictory picture of a man who to modern eyes is both admirable and despicable - much like the Queen he served.

   Here Drake is a man of paradoxes. He started his career on slave ships but grew to despise the trade and became the first European to interact with the Cimarrons - escaped slaves - as equals. Drake was capable of fiery nationalism, and a passionate hatred of Spanish Catholicism but yet consistently treated his Spanish prisoners with the utmost courtesy. Perhaps the greatest duality of Drake was one that was apparent during his own lifetime - his dual service of personal fortune and national, English protestant, interest. To Drake these were not as distinct as they seem today, but perhaps it is the only fault of this book that they are not better resolved.

   John Cummins' excellent book practically reads itself, a highly recommended look at an amazing and complicated man.




5. This book has been an excellent source for information concerning Drake's life and the violent political era in which he lived. The combination of several authentic and contemporary 16th Century sources give validity to the generous amounts of information contained therein. Sir Francis Drake became a man of destiny, with the flaws and foibles all such heroic men have; the book shows many examples of his brave humanity in a very brutal age, as well as the hard decisions he had to make in the name of fulfilling his pledge to Queen Elizabeth I to complete the grand and dangerous voyage. The details of his actions during the attack on the Spanish Armada showed a clear picture of his part in the battles; likewise the events after his being knighted were noted (often such progressive accomplishments of his life as a man and official of Plymouth have been beglected in other books). As a writer currently working on an illustrated chronicle of Drake's Circumnavigation, I feel most grateful for the excellent period portraits, pictures and maps which have helped me to gain more visual insight into the complexities of Elizabethan Maritime History. The work has been well-researched; it breathes life into a bygone age, the effects of which still reverberates over 400 years later.

1 comments about Silence Will Speak: A Study of the Life of Denys Finch Hatton and His Relationship With Karen Blixen.

1. historical dokument of the life in east africa at the beginning of this century