No comments about Jews at a Glance.

5 comments about The Rise and Fall of Anne Boleyn: Family Politics at the Court of Henry VIII.

1. I read this book several years ago but returned to it to refresh my memory after being referred to it as a source for Philippa Gregory's The Last Boleyn Girl. While some of Wernicke's assertions are speculative and her writing is a bit dry (especially if you're used to some of the more novelistic writing in popular history these days), she makes a lot of good points, corrects some incorrect assumptions that have been repeated ad nauseam, and generally emphasizes how much we DON'T know.
   
   While there is no definitive evidence for her theory that Anne miscarried a deformed fetus in 1536, it certainly has plausibility and explains a lot of the mystery surrounding Henry's rejection of her and her precipitous downfall. On the other hand, Wernicke makes a good argument that there is virtually NO evidence that George Boleyn's wife was a principal witness against him in the accusations that he had committed incest with his sister, yet as far as I can remember this has been repeated as undoubted fact in just about every book on Anne I have ever read, fiction or nonfiction.
   
   As other reviewers have said, while this book is definitely worth reading, it should NOT be the first biography of Anne that someone newly interested in her or her period picks up.



2. This book is full of errors and unsubstantiated presumptions. To start with, although it has now been conclusively proven by many historians that Anne Boleyn was the younger Boleyn girl(Eric Ives,Alison Weir, Antonia Fraser, David Starkey to mention a few)Warnicke insists she was the elder daughter.
   She also insists that Anne was born in 1507 when we now know for certain that Anne was born in 1501. The narrative is slow and laborious. I always try to be objective with any book I read but simply could not take this one seriously when it is so full of errors. The historical fiction author Philippa Gregory based her story 'The Other Boleyn Girl' on this book but it really is hard to decide which work is the bigger piece of fiction!



3. I'm still reading this book, but so far it's an excellent review of how family politics came in to play with the Boleyn family putting up Anne as a possible match for Henry VIII. The book just doesn't do a very good job of explaining who's who in the courts of that time, but if you've read any other books about the court of Henry VIII, it's not too bad



4. Retha Warnicke is an expert on family relations in early modern society. This brings a unique perspective to the already interesting life of Anne Boleyn. By understanding not only court politics but the gender roles of time, she effectively introduces new and exciting ideas in the history of the Tudor period.
   
   It seems Warnicke would be the first to admit that she does not have a "smoking gun", no deformed fetus was ever recovered, no secret diary detailing the events ever found. However, she bases her conclusions off logical reasoning and a knowledge of the superstitions of the time. Though this book was not written as a popular history, it is readable and very informative, though you might want to do a little bit of research on the Tudors before you pick it up.
   
   I happened to like this book very much, but if you are old school and do not like to be challenged in set beliefs then do not pick this book up. Her ideas are thought provoking, scholarly and make the reader re-evaluate what they might have learned growing up. She presents a different perspective on Anne Boleyn than any other historian before and that is what makes this book scintillating and readable, even if you do not agree with everything (or anything) she writes.



5. I enjoyed this book very much, lovely to read a biography of Anne by someone that's as biased toward her as I am. The speculation that her downfall was caused by miscarrying a deformed child is interesting, & believable, but is not backed up by the sources. The chapters on Anne's childhood & family are fascinating, & the author has a deep understanding of the period which she convincingly portrays. She also points out that some of what we've always been told is fact comes largely from the the very unreliable Spanish Ambassador, & isn't stated elsewhere. It's refreshing to have an author tell us that there's a lot about the people & the times we don't know.it's a reminder that history is what's written down, opinions rather than facts. Buy this book, it'll make you think as well as informing you.

No comments about Winston Churchill and His Inner Circle.

5 comments about The Nemesis File: The True Story of an Sas Execution Squad.

1. Bruce was arrested by N. Ireland police and charged with "obstructing police" after they investigated his claims and found
   absolutly no evidence to support them. But give him credit, he wrote a great yarn. Shame on all you left wing, anti gov. types that fell for it.



2. For those of you loyalists to the british crown, I say remember the "Guildford Four" and the fraudulent quack investigation that widgery used to force troopers to lie about the Bloody Sunday terrorist attack by british soldiers on unarmed Catholic protestors. These soldiers now say they never came under gunfire on January 30, 1972. If you keep those blatant miscarriages of justice in mind you will enjoy this book and believe it is quite possibly true.



3. I have just arrived halfway into this book and decided to check it out on the net, and found out its a load of fiction its a pity i was starting to enjoy it. I was a bit suspicious when on page 96 he states he was issued with a SMG which is the STERLING L2A3 9MM so taking 2 magazines of 7.62mm rounds would be pointless.I now have read that Paul Bruce has since been arrested by the RUC and charged with wasting police time and they cant find any truth in his story.I also believe that if the British Gov intended to assasinate terrorists they would use the sercurity services and not the high profile SAS.I will continue to read on and just enjoy it as a piece of fiction.



4. 
   http://www.nics.gov.uk/press/ruc/nemesis.htm
   
   QUOTE: "THE NEMESIS FILE: A TRUE STORY OF AN EXECUTION SQUAD
   The Royal Ulster Constabulary has for some time been making enquiries into alleged serious criminal offences, primarily as a result of allegations made in the book "The Nemisis File: the true story of an Execution Squad" which is published by Blake Publishing.
   
   As part of our continuing enquiries, and having regard to the seriousness of the allegations made in the book, the book's author was arrested by RUC officers under the Prevention of Terrorism Act and was interviewed at Castlereagh Police Station, Belfast.
   
   Enquiries into the matter have now been completed and we are satisfied that the allegations contained in the book are not true in fact or substance and this includes an assertion that the author was at some time a member of the Special Air Services Regiment. The RUC is satisfied that the author has not been concerned, either directly or indirectly, in the commission of any serious criminal offence whilst serving in the Province during the period February _ June 1972 when he served as a vehicle mechanic with the Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers. The RUC considers the book "The Nemesis File: the true story of an Execution Squad" as a work of fiction and accordingly the investigation is now closed". UNQUOTE



5. Of course I have read his book. Also, knew some of his fellow S.A.S. friends. DO NOT listen to the RUBBISH of some reviewers who only knew half the story. Like anyone else who is controversial, there are many who have an investment in putting his true story down. I speak unbiasedly about Paul, as we are divorced and I'm married again.
   
   But this man has not lied. He was out the army and passed the time of the silence word keeping. The Government heard of him exposing them and so they tried to quiet him. Paul was not treated very well and accidently found himself lying on floors and grounds, He does not take to threats and so the story came out. He was arrested, for them to obtain his written apology which came out in a newspaper, his family would have suffered otherwise.
   
   Luckily some other S.A.S. from British Execution Squads, had been speaking to a Colonel, who wrote his review on the back cover of the second publication. Paul Bruce was vindicated and acclaimed one of the bravest men ever. Which of course he was, the deal he did with the publisher was criminal as the percentage of such a best selling book, has been extremely low. I even hawked it around booksellers and helped for extra sales.
   
   Because of the way Paul had been treated by the British Army and the Government, he began to drink very heavily again. Paul was angry that he had written a book which could have cost him his life, and still no help with the trauma he suffered for doing the nasty jobs. No thank you, housing, pension, or mental help.Rehab he got for himself eventually, but he was already ruined.
   
   Paul is killing himself with drink and he does not care. He's been through hell and can not handle life. His children, boy and a girl, suffer from seeing their father like this. I think Paul Bruce deserved something for trying to stop the lies and killings in Ireland. He may not have developed his self-destruct button.
   
   The book was not well written, mistakes and sentences running to long. But it was the typist at the publisher who wrote it whilst Paul was talking the story to him. This man is mentioned on the book and got good remuneration for it too. As much as Paul got. What do you think of that. And Paul can not take the book and have that movie made, as John Blake has kept all the rights for ever. Paul found even at the end his trust was misplaced. Story of his life.

5 comments about Sovereign Ladies: Sex, Sacrifice, and Power--The Six Reigning Queens of England.

1. AN EXCELLENT BOOK THAT IS INFORMATIVE AND EXTREMELY INTERESTING. ALTHOUGH I AM FAMILIAR WITH EACH SOVEREIGN I LEARNED MUCH MORE THAN I EXPECTED TO. THE INSIGHT INTO THE TIMES MADE EACH SEGMENT RELEVANT. A VERY WORTHWHILE READ.



2. If you are not at all familiar with the six reigning Queens of England, than this is the book for you. It was informative, concise, not too biased in one direction or the other, and showed a bit of each ladies personality. It is the type of book to spark a persons interest in doing additional research on each monarch, on an individual basis.
   
   My reason for four stars, instead of five, is that I am VERY familiar with the British monarchy. This book did not disappoint, but there was little that was new and which hadn't been read in other volumes.



3. Seven personalities, not six, are on display here, the reigning queens' and Ms. Waller's.
   
   She doesn't condescend to the reader or get too lofty either; she assumes you're pretty educated, anyway, if you're reading this work, but not an expert on this subject. I loved her "voice;" it was friendly, highly personal--yet her research was impressive. I can't imagine trying to make sense of the huge amounts of often conflicting information.
   
   Like Antonia Fraser, Waller assumes the reader has a good command of foreign languages, so if, like me, you last opened a Latin book sometime in the 80's be prepared to miss a point here and there.
   
   In some places, I noticed sparks of startling misogyny. For example, Edward, son of Henry VIII was dying and his caretakers dismissed his physicians and brought in "a female quack." Well, maybe she was a quack and maybe she wasn't, but Edward was dying anyway and Ms. Waller didn't criticize the males who failed to save him. (Frankly, I wouldn't want to be treated by a medieval or Ren doctor of either sex.) In another section, she praises Elizabeth II for thinking "like a man." Hardly words I'd expect from a woman writing about comparatively powerful women!
   
   Waller succeeds in finding the personalities of all the queens, and since I never found anything interesting about either Anne or Mary II it was fascinating to feel them in particular come alive.
   
   
   All in all, I greatly enjoyed this book that gave wonderfully readable stories of the queens that were more than regents.



4. History is one of those subjects that endlessly fascinates me. And one of my favourite times and places is England. So it was pretty much a given that I would pick up Maureen Waller's latest study on the six women who have ruled as monarchs in their own right.
   
   The six women here enjoy a unique position in history, ruling alone (with one exception) and helping to shape what we now know as England. Each one had a very different personality and would help to provide plenty of legend and mythology to what we think of as a Queen. One of them is still living, and several have become icons in the modern mind.
   
   Mary I, Elizabeth I, Mary II, Anne, Victoria and Elizabeth II, are probably better known than their male counterparts. They have been the subjects of innumerable books and films, and have inspired the arts, social custom and were often the catalysts for change in the time that they ruled.
   
   I have to say, I was not that impressed by this book. Each queen is covered in a series of vignettes, most of them rather scanty and feeling rushed, despite the attempt of the author to provide some historical and personal details. If that wasn't enough, Waller also tries to include some psychological insights, and also some medical theories as to why each woman behaved the way she did. The result is a thin narrative that doesn't really satisfy.
   
   Technically, the stories are written in a bland, matter-of-fact way that left me feeling rather bored by the stories, despite quite a bit of drama that occurs in each life. What I was hoping for was something new -- after all, how many more biographies of Elizabeth I and Queen Victoria can the market handle? And Waller has already written an outstanding book about Mary II and Anne titled Ungrateful Daughters, about James II and the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
   
   Along with the narrative, there are two inserts of colour and black and white photographs, as well as genealogical tables. The bibliography is about the best thing here, giving plenty of ideas for further research.
   
   Summing up, I would recommend this one for someone who doesn't know very much about the subject, but if you've already read biographies about these women, and are looking for something new, it's going to be a pretty dull read. Throughout the book, my attention kept wandering and I found myself bored silly. That's not a good sign, especially with history. Waller has already proved that she can do much better than this, and it's a real disappointment overall.
   
   Three stars overall. Somewhat recommended.



5. Sovereign Ladies is the story of the six women who have ruled Great Britian. You might call it a tale of the good, bad, ugly and beautiful!
   Historian Maureen Waller writes in an accessible style which adds to our knowledge of these important historical women. Waller's book discusses in scintillating chapters the following queens:
   1. Mary I (reign-1553-1558). Bloody Mary so called because of the over
   300 Protestants burned at the stake during her reign. Mary followed Edward IV her Protestant half brother to the throne. Mary was the daughter of Katherine of Aragon the first wife of Henry VIII. Henry had divorced Katherine in order to wed Anne Boleyn. Katherine had failed to produce a male heir to the throne. Mary wed Phillip II of Spain but failed to have a child. She was a devout Roman Catholic not liked by the British people. Her relationship with her half sister Elizabeth was convoluted. At one time she imprisoned Elizabeth in the Tower of London.
   Her attempt to align England with the papacy failed and she died after a short and inglorious reign.
   2. Elizabeth I (1558-1603). The greatest queen and possibly the greatest ruler in English history she was good Queen Bess beloved by her people.
   During her long reign the Spanish Armada was defeated; England lived under a policy of religious toleration; Shakespeare and his fellow playwrights produced great plays; North America was explored and Virginia named after the Virgin Queen. Elizabeth never married though she was often courted. Elizabeth was a brilliant intellect speaking several modern and ancient languages. She surrounded herself with savvy advisors. In 1587 she ordered the execution of her cousin Mary Queen of Scots due to the latter's involvement in conspiracies designed to dethrone Elizabeth and restore England to the Roman Catholic faith. The cult of Elizabeth was wide and she was considered a modern incarnation of the Virgin Mary. She was the daughter of the beheaded Anne Boleyn and the formidable and evil Henry VIII. Countless novels, movies and biographies of this complex ruler pour off the presses.
   3, Mary II. (1688-1694) Mary was the daughter of James II (he reigned from 1685-1688). James II was a Roman Catholic who was forced into exile in 1688 to be replaced by William of Orange the Protestant from the Netherlands. William and Mary reigned as co-monarchs. Mary was a bright woman and a good queen. She loved her husband, England and learning. She was childless and died young. Mary was a strong Protestant unlike her father James II. In 1690 James II lost the battle of the Boyne in his attempt to unseat William and Mary.
   4. Anne (1702-1714). Anne was the younger sister of Mary II and the daughter of Catholic James II. She was duller than her sister Mary and plotted against her father. Anne became Queen of England following the death of King William. She was constantly pregnant by her mediocre husband George of Denmark. None of her 16 pregnancies resulted in the birth of a healthy child. Her children died in childbirth or expired prior to adulthood. Her best friend was Sarah Churchill the wife of the famed soldier John Churchill but the two later had a bitter quarrel never reconciling. England grew in power during Anne's reign. She was an ordinary woman who was thrust into power.
   5. Victoria (reigned from 1837-1901). There is the Elizabethan age and the Victorian Age. Elizabeth and Victoria are not only the two greatest of the queens chronicled by Waller but the two greatest monarchs of Great Britain. Victoria was the daughter of the Duke of Kent one of the many dissolute sons of George III. She ascended the throne following the death of her uncle William IV. Victoria was not beautiful and had a willful and imperious nature. She became queen as a young girl being tutored by her beloved father-figure Prime Minister Palmerston. She would later come to rely on Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli a Tory. Victoria detested the Liberal Prime Minister Gladstone.
   Victoria's great love was for her German husband Albert. She and Albert had nine children; she became known as the grandmother of Europe. Kaiser Wilhelm II was her granchild as was Tsar Nicholas of Russia. When Albert died in 1861 Queen Victoria went into seclusion for many years. She worshipped Albert sleeping with a picture of him in his coffin each night.
   Under the prodding of Disraeli she emerged in the 1870s as a visible presence on the political scene. She favored the emergence of the middle classes and had a keen mind. Victoria was very fat with a 48 inch waistline in middle age. She did not get along well with the playboy Prince of Wales Edward who became King Edward VII when she died in 1901.
   During her reigin Britain ruled over a quarter of the globe. She became Empress of India and her image was seen on everything from the penny postage stamp to vases. Her storng sense of morality and service is commendable. Victoria loved England and the English loved her. A great queen!
   6. Elizabeth II (1953-present). Elizabeth "Lillibet" was the oldest daughter of King George VI and his wife Mary of Teck. W@hen the old king died Elizabeth and her dashing Greek husband Phillip were on tour in Kenya. Elizabeth was raised in a cocoon along with her spoiled sister Margaret. During her long reign Britain has declined in power. She has been a better queen than a mother. Three of her four children have divorced. She lost popularity when Charles divorced Diana and wed his love Camilla Parker Bowles. Elizabeth lacks imagination but has been a good ruler of what is sometimes called "The Firm" of Royals. Elizabeth has endured and is much admired throughout the world.
   Waller's book contains no new historical revelations and is written as popular history for a general audience. As a longtime fan of the British Royalty I did enjoy this book. It will both entertain and enlighten the reader. I look forward to future books by this young historian.

5 comments about William Shakespeare: The Man Behind the Genius.

1. This is the essential preface to any first reading of the collected works of Shakespeare. It's the perfect introduction for the student -- and a rich summing up for an experienced reader or theater person. Despite Holden's previous oeuvre of front-table bookstore products about Prince Charles, Princess Di, Olivier, the Oscars, etc., this is a serious (though very readible) biography, which makes full use of a vast resource of scholarship. Tossing -- or, rather, kicking -- aside any nonsense about the plays and poems being the work of some mystery author, Holden presents Shakespeare's chronology with clarity, rich color and carefully examined detail. He relates the plays to what is known or can be reasonable inferred about the succeeding periods of Shakespeare's life and the developing stages of his thought. He does not idealize or fantasize. And he places the works in the context of the theatrical history of the period. The reader comes away enriched with a profound feeling for the qualities that Shakespeare's admirers so value. The plays become more accessible in the process, as does Shakespeare scholarship. A very valuable book.



2. Some of the other reviews incite me to add yet a few more words. Holden does NOT blur fact and fiction. He consistently lables speculation and inference, identifies sources, outlines opposing views, gives reasons for his choices, and qualifies his conclusions. His reading of the plays, while brief, reaches deeply into the heart of Shakespeare's works. This is a responsible and valuable book.



3. I found the book to be extremely hard to get through, wordy and boring. The entire book focuses on direct quotations from all of Shakespeare's works with little focus as to why the quotations were included in the text. The book gives the reader little of his personal life, personality, or political views, but focuses only on hundreds of people that he knew and met throughout the years giving detailed explanations of names, and their backgrounds. I found the book to be very boring, with little content on Shakespeare as a person; the book featured only comments on his hundreds of works. If you are EXTREMELY well versed with Shakespeare's works, this is a good pick for you. If you have some to little knowledge, pick something else. For the student who needs interesting information on him as a person, choose another book. I found it to be dry, repetative and only in depth on quotations from thousands of plays.



4. Somewhat to my surprise, this is a first-rate popular biography of a genius about whom we know practically nothing. Not that this has stopped any number of amateur sleuths from the Baconians to Eric Sams from trying to find clues in the poems and plays. Holden's is by far the liveliest and most readable. He doesn't make the mistake Anthony Burgess did of spraying his own personality over Shakespeare in the usual tom-cat fashion; nor is he bonkers, excessively academic or portentous. If you want to discover as much as can be known or surmised about the Bard, especially the early years, then Holden's book is fascinating. His thesis that the SHakespeares all closet Catholics, and that the young WS was sent as a teenager to recusant Lancashire to teach at Sir Thomas Hesketh's house as good an explanation as any of how the "rude groom" acquired polish and knowledge of how aristocratic families lived. His gloss on his marriage, the untimely death of his son Hamnett and his growing interest in his daughters all substantiated by apt quotations.

   A wonderful piece of detective-work. Alongside Joanthan Bates's The Genius of Shakespeare it's a great new addition to the modern enthusiast's library.




5. Anthony Holden's biography of William Shakespeare is comprehensive and full of new and interesting information. Holden provides the best explaination, based on evidence, I have ever seen about what Shakespeare was doing during the "Lost Years" and how he came to be in London. I learned many new things from this book, and I am already well versed in Shakespeare.

5 comments about Dared & Done: Marriage Of Elizabeth Barrett & Robert Browning.

1. I picked up this book out of a desire to learn more about the lives and love of the Brownings. I had merely intended to skan through the pages, expecting yet another boring biography, but I was surprised.

   Ms. Markus had done a wonderful job in making the characters come to life for me, and she had achieved this without adding a trace of fiction. Her extensive research blended in so well with her writing that I had no trouble following along. In fact, I found it so interesting that I ended up reading the entire book, from beginning to end.

   I can only hope that the romance of Robert and Elizabeth will forever live through this brilliant biography!




2. The Brownings hold a special place in my world, especially EBB. "Sonnets From The Portuguese" speaks with the eloquence, dignity and passion of the human ideal behind the flaws and veils of life and lovers (both RB and EBB's poetry are available on disc). Especially the last ten sonnets. EBB wrote not only about love and lovers, but about the human condition. She lived an insulated life yet was by nature a worldly and sophisticated soul. RB struggled with his inability to support his family, living off of EBB's inheritance annuity. Through this biography I was better able to appreciate his humaness and struggle, though I am still inclined toward EBB and her poetry. They were the sum of many contradictions, the big one being that they were so English (formal and proper) yet Bohemian in their liberal thinking. Both lovers and artists in the same household, in the same relationship, in the same struggle to survive and create (they do remind me of John Lennon and Yoko Ono's struggle and life together). While the book probably told the whole story, at least as much as a biographer can research and reveal, I still felt something lacking. I wanted the story to go on a little longer, a little deeper. I knew quite a bit about EBB before I began the book, I learned much more about her heritage and conflicts by reading this biography. My appreciation is much greater. It's a shame that we Moderns let so much of our heritage lay dormat (literaturewise) in the vaults of the "old days". To sip and savour the lives and poetry of the past is something we should cherish and celebrate. This book points in that direction. I strongly recommend this to all lovers of RB & EBB and poetry.



3. The romantic story of 2 poets who fell in love at mid-life, married, escaped to Italy, and lived happily for 15 years until Elizabeth's death. The author discusses the lives of the poets amongst their friends, acquaintances, other writers, & artists in Italy where living was less expensive and the climate more favorable. There are many cute stories about their son Pen and how the couple disagreed over various aspects of his unbringing. Also touched upon are the previous generations of both the Barretts and the Brownings and their history in Jamaica. Besides learning about the the Brownings, this book gives you a good feel of what life was like in the middle 19th century. Lots of B&W illustrations throughout the book.



4. A wonderful biography of a marriage between two genius poets, Dared and Done drew me in with such force and speed that I was almost glad of being ill myself so as to have an excuse to stay in bed and finish it. Markus has managed to convey her own excitement at relating such an intriguing story and did what a good author should do - made me want to delve into these poets' lives and their poetry even more.

   Some of the speculation I did not agree with such as EBB's father not wanting his children to marry because of possible African blood. The birth of Pen Browning should have eradicated that concern. We may never understand the strange, cruel elder Barrett and fortunately, Dared and Done doesn't hinge on the theory. I did want to know more about the conniving Sophia Eckley - her cause of death for example, since she played such a huge role in the Browning marriage. I was also curious about EBB's illness - oddly, we never do get a diagnosis - only her maintenance cure of morphine and ether.

   Remarkably, EBB had the greater reputation as a poet during the Barrett-Browning marriage with Robert Browning for many years being considered the lesser poet. That can make for trouble in the most loving of marriages and re-witnessing the devotion these two gifted poets demonstrated repeatedly is both exceptional and inspiring.




5. Those who recall the Barretts of Wimpole Street may remember a pairing of upper echelon Victorian poets, Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning, who lived a life together as strange as anything in their poetry. So strange, in fact, as to have rather fallen out of history, as their fashion faded, as if too big or awkward for the flow of it. Today the fame of the Brownings, in life and in verse, is no longer common currency in the popular fancy or other than among specialists, but in their day they were the talk of the town, in London and Florence, at least, and deservedly so.
   
   In brief, their story ran like this: She was the London home-bound invalid daughter of a father who, from a Jamaican slave-owning planter family, eccentrically refused to let any of his many offspring marry and bear children, on threat of disinheritance, apparently, it is suggested, because of a suspicion of dark slave-blood in his family tree and a fear of perpetuating it. Her sequestered illness, whatever it may have been, never adequately diagnosed, apparently, left her with nothing worthwhile in her fallow young life but an urge to express her spirit through a marvellous poetic gift, which, magnified by the mystery swirling around her personal life, made her famous enough to attract the infatuated attention of another poet, Robert Browning, who thus fell in love with her at second hand, sought out and courted her in secrecy, won her heart and eloped with her to Italy, where they lived out their marriage safe from her wealthy and powerful father's wrath. In Italy both their love and their poetry flourished, bringing fame, the fellowship of the Euro-American cultural cogniscenti of the age and, eventually, a living, to the pair of them, and in due time a beautiful healthy son to dote upon. Theirs was, in short, a love story for the ages, with perils, pathos and passion enough and to spare. In other words, even in Victorian times, you couldn't have scripted such stuff as this, at least not credibly.
   
   Not that life was all lollipops and roses for the Brownings, of course. They lived through all the painful European political disruptions of the Revolution of 1848, and she, as lady poets seem so prodigally inclined to do, died young, in her mid-fifties in 1861, of her mysterious lifelong illness. Widower Robert Browning went back to England after that, trying, unsuccessfully to make a proper Englishman out of their "Italian" son, who expatriated himself back to Italy as soon as his father died.
   
   The story is a fascinating one, which this book handles admirably, for all that I am ill qualified to comment much upon either the Brownings or their poetry, he famous mainly for his DRAMATIS PERSONAE and she for her SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGESE and her AURORA LEIGH, a Victorian romance written entirely in iambic pentameter, making it the longest poem in the English language. It was in fact AURORA LEIGH which drew me into a curiosity about the Brownings, merely in the course of doing some research on Emily Dickinson, who owned that book as one of her particular favorites. It was a sidetrack, but an interesting and rewarding one, and I can highly recommend the book.

4 comments about Thomas Andrews, Shipbuilder.

1. This book was originally written in 1912, right after the Titanic sank, so it is invaluable when you consider that this is the way people thought of Thomas Andrews in the year of his death. I only wish it was longer!



2. I was disappointed with this book since it is written in a style that is extremely difficult to read. There are too many commas and semi-colons to provide any kind of continuity. I own over 20 Titanic books, most purchased before the movie, and this is one of the worst.



3. Alittle hard to follow. For anyone interested in a book about Thomas Andrews or the Titanic I recommend the book "I Built The Titanic".



4. This is a short read...too short for the kind of man Thomas Andrews was. I won't elaborate on the facts of the book but one of the things that came up a couple of times is, "If he had lived...if he would have saved himself". As you read about this wonderful human being, you will probably come up with the same conclusion - under the circumstances, he could not have lived. He would have been miserable had he been knocked out & saved. He could not have stood knowing that one woman or child had died because he was on a lifeboat & they were not. He went to the end trying to ensure that as many lives were saved as possible. Thomas Andrews was a remarkable man and I highly recommend this book to all Titanic enthusiasts.

No comments about The Book of Margery Kempe: Annotated Edition (Library of Medieval Women).

No comments about The Rise and Fall of Thomas Cromwell: Henry VIII's Most Faithful Servant.