4 comments about Scott of the Antarctic: A Life of Courage and Tragedy.

1. The history of Arctic exploration is not a subject I've ever had a particular interest in. I picked this book up more or less by chance, was intrigued enough to buy it ... and haven't been able to put it down. The story itself is absolutely gripping from beginning to end, but it's the intelligence and skill of the writing that makes this such a memorable and remarkable book. Wonderful. Six stars.



2. I particularily like the subtitle to this book, 'a life of courage and tragedy.'
   
   Scott was undoubtedly courageous. He could not have been otherwise. On the other hand, his courage and drive to get to the South Pole was not exactly balanced by experience or perhaps by common sense. There's an old saying that if you wanted to get somewhere like the South Pole, Scott would have been a good leader to follow, but if you wanted to get back, then other expedition leaders like Shackleton would be your first choice. Shackleton's quotation: 'Better a live donkey than a dead lion.' Consistent with this, Scott got to the South Pole, Shackleton didn't. Scott didn't get back.
   
   In this book, the author is clearly a deep admirer of Scott. And indeed he did great things. Coming from a humble beginning he appeared driven to accomplish things, and he did. He was a complicated man, and Mr. Crane's access to the family papers and Scott's letters give a view that is perhaps more balanced than what we have seen before.
   
   If nothing else, Mr. Crane is an excellent writer and the story becomes one of those can't put down books.



3. The book is dreadful. It continually refers to other expeditions that the average reader will not know about. The writing is random and its impossible to follow the thread. There are also many deliberate and irrelevant literary references just inserted to be clever. A great subject that I w\as looking forward to, treated very badly by a pseudo intellectual. Try as I might I could not finish it.



4. David Crane shows how the death of the explorer Captain Scott galvanized the UK on the edge of World War I, but he qualifies British response to the tragedy by pointing up that, despite the weight of popular opinion, the pre-war Edwardian years were not exactly the Golden Age of empire the way they are nowadays painted. Crane's life of Scott is in every way a re-revisionist biography, kicking against what he feels has been the unfair denigration of Scott's life and deeds over the past thirty years.
   
   Sometimes this approach works, sometimes it doesn't. Through meticulous handling of evidence, he tells the story without a hint of strain, and yet sometimes whole paragraphs stop the action to argue that history has shafted Scott once again. A prototypical Englishman in the days when "God was an Englishman," Scott has suffered from unthinking backlhas, or so says Crane, and indeed he says it about four hundred times so that, frankly, I began to sympathize with Scott's attackers a bit, for no one's that perfect.
   
   Indeed Crane admits as much, citing his rivalry with Shackleton and then finally with Amundsen as proof, but in each case, the other man is deeply at fault and Scott was just trying to muddle through on Naval smarts and years of experience leading men. It was a time for heroics, and something in the air (together with a thriving media culture) made heroes out of the most unlikely souls. England expected every man to do his duty, and alas so did Norway and Amundsen came home with the gold, so to speak, whereas the Englishmen after the same glittering prize were all dead by the time Amundsen returned home. "The Englishmen, the goal accompished," bleated the press, "lay quiet in the snows. Through the months since . . . while wives and friends set forth for meetings and counted time, they lay oblivious. All was over for them long ago."
   
   Beyond the heroics of the era, Crane attributes the legend of Captain Scott to his indispitable skill as a prose writer. There is something macabre about the veneration given to his last journal, found by the relief party, but it's a bizarre twist totally understandable in the context, the words that live on after the hand that wrote them has grown cold and still. Without that last journal, its reinscription of subaltern heroics, its narrative of deprivation and memory and love, how else would Scott be remembered? In this regard Crane has an interesting passage about the way in which Westminster Abbey had its own little competition going on with St. Paul's Cathedral about which site had the most pomp and had the most heroes of empire commemmorated there.

3 comments about Beloved Emma: The Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton.

1. I discovered Emma, Lady Hamilton, whose great beauty and drive helped her rise to the highest ranks of Napoleonic England, thanks to Susan Sontag's The Volcano Lover. Since then, I have seen her pictures in the Tate, and read about the period, Nelson and Josiah Wedgewood to learn more about her. This is, however, the book that gave me the context for understanding who she was and how she got there, and how she ended up penniless and alone. As only makes sense, given Ms Fraser's distinguished family of strong women, Beloved Emma is a fabulous portrait of an incredibly strong woman who overcame phenomenal odds, and succeeded so completely against her era's odds that even she could not sustain her success. Worth reading and, now that there is a paperback edition, rereading!



2. The author takes a fastinating life and makes it into tedious reading. If you like dull endless detail, this is the book for you. I couldn't even finish and I am an avid reader!



3. Flora is NOT Antonia Fraser. She can't write her way out of a hole in the ground. This book was one of the most boring accounts of Emma that I have ever heard! There was nothing fascinating, exciting, or even eventful in this book. I could barely finish this, and some important aspects of her life are glossed over in such a boring fashion that one who didn't know any better would wonder how important they were. Boring, worse-than-textbook reading, if you must read this, buy it used.

5 comments about The Beatles: The True Beginnings.

1. Will any true Beatles fan ever admit that there is no need for any further information regarding the Fab Four? Absolutely not --- the strong popularity of THE BEATLES ANTHOLOGY is evidence enough that a voracious audience still exists for Beatles lore in all shapes and sizes.

   THE BEATLES: THE TRUE BEGINNINGS really encompasses two book ideas: the Merseybeat music scene in Liverpool from which the Beatles developed, and Pete Best's experiences as an early Beatle. Either of these ideas, developed fully, would make interesting reading. As they are, however, two slender ideas are crammed into one unfocused book with big pictures and sparse text. Even so, I get the impression that this book was a stretch --- does any fan, no matter how obsessive, really require a picture of the case in which Pete Best carried his drums? How about a shot of the spare guitar strings he found inside?

   A prominent outpost of the Merseybeat scene was Mrs. Best's Casbah Coffee Club, owned and operated by Pete Best's mother, Mona Best. This book is in large part a tribute to the remarkable Mona Best from her sons --- Roag, Pete, and Rory. Mrs. Best pawned her jewelry, placed a bet on a horse, and won the money to buy Number Eight Haymans Green, a giant house whose cellars were transformed into the Casbah when the Best boys discovered rock-and-roll and needed a place to perform and listen to music. The Beatles first performed at the Casbah as the Quarrymen. They played to a crowd of 1,500 and received three pounds as payment.

   You probably know how the story goes. The Beatles were a huge success and got a gig playing in Hamburg, Germany where they endured a horrible, grueling performance schedule and living conditions like something from a Dickens novel (assuming Dickens might ever have written about a German red-light district). In short, the Hamburg experience was destined to make or break the Beatles. It made the Beatles, but Pete Best was not invited to continue their success.

   Is the Best family bitter? Maybe a little; it is their theory that Pete Best was simply so much better looking that he was a liability to the other band members. Also, the title THE TRUE BEGINNINGS seems to imply that they are setting the record straight, but there isn't very much new information here and it's unlikely to change anyone's mind about the Beatles as individuals or as a cultural phenomenon.

   --- Reviewed by Colleen Quinn




2. The story behind this book is one of the secrets in the Beatles tale. Neil Aspinall, who still works for the Beatles as director of Apple Corps, looking after their legacy and business interests, classmate of Paul McCartney's at the Liverpool Institute, was Pete Best's good friend. When the band needed someone to help them move their equipment from gig to gig, Neil was hired because he had a car. Throughout the band's story, Neil was the road manager.

   Neil lived with Pete's family for a while in the early years. He had an affair with Pete and brother Rory's hip, relatively young, Indian mother, Mona. They had a child together, Roag.

   When Pete was tossed out of the Beatles, he told Neil to choose between the job with the band and his living with the Best family. Neil chose the Beatles. He was not allowed to see his son grow up.

   This is that son's book.




3. I love this book! Makes me want to fly to Liverpool now and visit. Pete Best, who was drummer for the Beatles before they kicked him out with no explanation, gives us a fabulous treat. His mother ran the Casbah Club in Liverpool in the family home's basement. After Pete was booted out, the club sort of died down and was closed. It remained sealed up for many, many years, until it was opened. Original murals done by the Beatles still on the walls, microphones, and other items were found, and the club reopened to people who wish to come and see the only remaining original club, with even the original walls! Let the Cavern try to claim that! Color photos, inside stories, more make this a sensational book. Beatle fans, Merseybeat fans, music historians, Scousers, etc...BUY IT!



4. 
   
   A fascinating book about the inception of the Beatles, or "pre-Beatle" era, if you will. The beautiful archival photographs will certainly delight all readers as well as the memorabilia. Readers will certainly get a feel for early-1960s Liverpool (1960-62) and the environment in which the Beatles flourished.
   
   Thanks to this book, fans can actually see the club where the Beatles' fame was soon launched. The world's number one band cut their musical teeth in the Casbah, owned and run by drummer Pete Best's mother, Mona Best. The club opened in 1959 when the Quarrymen-Silver Beatles were coming into their own. This underground rock club was the precursor to its American counterparts such as the Hard Rock Cafe and the Fillmore East and Fillmore West, to name three.
   
   This fresh perspective of Beatle history includes Mona Best's story as well as other members of the Best family. Pete Best, the Beatles' first drummer was unceremoniously ousted from the band in August of 1962. Ringo Starr replaced him and the rest is, well, history. Fans will undoubtedly feel as if they are watching the Beatles evolve from relative local obscurity into the musical juggernaut they became and remain to this day.



5. This book is heavy with pictures on every page,including rooms The Beatles painted and played in,clothes they wore before the leather look,a diagram of The Casbah. Many stories about people and events that took place there."As was written,It was hot and sweaty.No booze,just coffee and coke and fantastic live music."If you are wondering who Roag Best is,he is the son of Mona and Neil Aspinall.

4 comments about Michael Collins: A Life.

1. This was the first biography of Collins I read and it is a good one, though not as exhaustively detailed and annotated as Tim Pat Coogan's. The author is clearly an admirer of Collins but it does not seem to slant his portrayal of the man and he covers all the biographical bases in Collins' life--the quintessentially Irish childhood and indoctrinization with nationalist ideals from family and teachers; the years between 15 and 25 working in London; the participation in the Easter Rebellion and imprisonment in Wales; the return to Ireland and his destiny as leader of the Anglo-Irish War of Independence; and the transformation into statesman in the Treaty negotiations. What Mackay particularly brings to the portrait of Collins is a warmth that allows the reader to see the real man beneath the legend--the interactions with the men and women who shared his struggle or who opposed it, and the reaction of his countrymen to his leadership. Overall, an engrossing read.



2. This biography was my introduction to the life and times of Michael Collins and it was a good one, though not as detailed and extensively annotated as Tim Pat Coogan's. The author is clearly an admirer of Collins but the portrayal appears to be objective and covers all the biographical bases in Collins' life--the Irish childhood and indoctrination with nationalist ideals from family and teachers; the years between 15-25 working in London; the participation in the Easter Rebellion and imprisonment in Wales; the return to Ireland and rise to leadership in the War of Independence; and the transformation to statesman in the Treaty negotiations. What Mackay particularly brings to the portrait of Collins is a warmth that allows the reader to see the real man behind the legend--the interactions with the men and women who shared his struggle or who opposed him, and the reaction of his countrymen to his leadership and to his untimely death during the bitter Civil War at the hands of former comrades who in many cases still revered him. Overall, an engrossing read.



3. For anyone wishing to know more about the bombastic, bullish side of Michael Collins, look no further. James MacKay captures Collins' thoughts-- even the most flamboyant-- with style and verbal panache. It is clear that his work has been very heavily influenced by the biographies from Frank O'Connor and Tim Pat Coogan, but MacKay distinguishes himself by emphasizing Collins' personality and his military accomplishments. He describes Michael's physical stature (5'11" with a bulky build), Michael's nature (quick to laugh, quick to cry, quick to anger, and quick to make an apology), Michael's health (his bouts with pleurisy, Spanish flu, stomach and kidney problems), Michael's orderly manner (he hated pencil writing and signatures from rubber stamps), and Michael's many other contradictions. MacKay includes several b/w photos along with explorations of Michael's military brilliance, e.g. his ability to run an entire guerrilla war from the back of a bicycle. MacKay begins with Collins' boyhood and concludes with an epilogue regarding the aftermath of Collins' assassination. If you are curious about Michael Collins the man, I can strongly recommend MacKay's biography.



4. I must have ready a dozen or so bios of Michael Collins in the past few years and this is one of my favorites. Some of them seem to spend so much time on Michael Collins, the administrator, that they don't pay enough attention to Michael Collins, the human being. If you have to read one, I recommend this one. If you want a more exhaustive bio, then read Tim Pat Coogan. My other favorite is by Frank O'Connor.

5 comments about Disraeli: The Victorian Dandy Who Became Prime Minister.

1. A miserably rendered biography of one of the most complex men in British history. Hibbert writes from within his comfortable, unexamined cell of "Britishness." He superficially dismisses Disraeli's Jewish upbringing with a wave of the hand, showing not a whit of insight or interest into how it may have affected Disraeli's adult behavior--his choices of dandyism, novel writing, and even his peculiarly powerful oratory. Hibbert just neatly fits Disraeli into categories he, Hibbert, pulls out of his own experience from within what's normal and usual in British life. Moreover, the book quotes huge, unedited swaths not only of Disraeli's letters and journals (somewhat defensible) but also from other recent biographers. So it reads like the work of an undergraduate. Ultimately, Hibbert is not at all inquisitive about what led this man of many and great parts to find such a singular way to live, and to succeed in what, in the book's only success, we see was a terribly hostile social environment for a Jew(populated by powerful anti-Semites like Carlyle and Dickens, Trollope, etc.). This is poorly done work.



2. An embarrasing and lazy pastiche of quotes from Disraeli's correspondence woven with an old fashioned snobbish viewpoint. There is no historical context and no discussion of what made Disraeli the importasnt figure he was. Disraeli comes off as a self-serving, superficial and useless fop, lusting after high-class recognition. This bojk should have been rejected in manuscript. Whatever reputation Mr. Hibbert may have had, it is vitiated by this piece of sophomoric drivel.



3. This is not so much a biography as an itinerary. Benjamin Disraeli went to a country house in High Bascombe-on-Boring, the seat of Lord Irrelevant Nobody, and his wife, the daughter of Viscount Who Cares? and the cousin of the mistress of the architect of another country house Disraeli visited ten years later. Oh, and he was vain and self-promoting, but gave great speeches. Or so he says, in his letters, which (as noted in the other reviews) appear to be the author's exclusive sources. We don't know what they were about, but, boy, did he ever think they were great! I don't know what the author thought, either, about Disraeli, or why he wrote such a book. What puzzles me, and what I have yet to figure out, is, who is the intended audience? Who would ever want an utterly non-political book about Benjamin Disraeli? His only interest to posterity -- which is substantial yet ignored here -- is as a politician and statesman. Everything else -- and especially his travelogue and endless fetes with foreign dignitaries --is unworthy of our attention. This is an astonishingly lazy book by a writer who apparently only wanted to add another impressive title to his bibliography. Fine. But leave us out of it.



4. As those before me have said, DONT BOTHER. It's sad that so great an author as Christopher Hibbert was allowed by his publisher to put out this book which is just a rehash of a book he wrote about Disraeli 30 years ago. Except that mostly it's with a lot of additional material that is only excerpt from letters he wrote and those written to him.
   
   Soooo much of the book is wasted on discussions of people who meant nothing to him in his later life and seem like nothing but fill. If this was a student paper it would fail.
   
   There is a very good short bio by Edgar Feuchtwanger, and two monstrous volumes (over 700 pages) by Robert Lord Blake, and Stanley Weintraub.



5. Christopher Hibbert is one of the greatest and best-beloved contemporary historians. His biography of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli is an excellent, informative, entertaining work that lives up to Hibbert's outstanding reputation. Disraeli is not easy to like. Though brilliant and highly talented, he is sarcastic, critical, and at times a bit of an arrogant snob. But Hibbert's prose is so fluid, and his skills so very well honed, that the book is a joy to read. I recommend it highly.

2 comments about An Only Child (Irish Studies).

1. O'Connor is rightly famous mostly for his short stories, but his criticism - both The Lonely Voice and A Mirror In the Roadway - along with this volume of his memoirs, well, they're all just really good. I found this book in a library many years ago and there are a hundred scenes that still spring instantly to life, and sentences that are always going to be part of how I look at the world. He betrays his greatest talent in the fact that the book reads like a collection of wonderful chapters rather than a coherent whole, but each is filled with the spirit of a generous, funny, humane man, one of those rare authors that you wish you could hang out with. The people that assure that books keep getting read seem to be forgetting about O'Connor a little, but the pages they keep alive rarely seem to stay in the blood and brain like his do.



2. Like Frank, I grew up Catholic, so I greatly enjoyed his account of his childhood and the deftness at which he relayed the characters and situations of his life in early 20th century Northern Ireland. The account of his father's alcoholism and mother's strength in her modesty evokes powerful sentiments that O'Connor is amazingly skilled at.
   
   He overly criticizes the adolescent ideations and development out of his youth (bildungsroman), but it gives insight to his development as a writer (kunstlerroman), of which he is a candid and lucid artist.
   
   I felt the novel creeping a bit in the middle (otherwise I would give it 4 or 5 stars), and the transition is a bit murky to his engaging recount of actions against the British occupation of Northern Ireland and surrounding religious strife. The ridiculous skirmishes and characters are painted with his masterful brush, however, and truly bring the era to life.
   
   It is a story worth the read to the end on many levels.

No comments about Saint Patrick.

2 comments about Disraeli: A Biography.

1. Dr. Stanley Weintraub's biography of Ben Disraeli is excellent. The scholarship is at the top. The only other biography that I would consider but I have some reservations is the one by Lord Blake the problem with his as compared to Dr. Weintraub's is it is too thick. This one spends plenty of time on his political and publishing career. I thoughly enjoy the biography, and for all those who harken back to a time when are politicans had some flare and style will enjoy this book.



2. I found this book to be a solid, scholarly biography of Benjamin Disraeli. The subject is thoroughly researched and presented in great detail. One will certainly come away with great insight into the Prime Minister who Queen Victoria so adored.
   But Weintraub's book is so detailed and his prose can be so very dry in places, that one finds oneself sometimes plodding along.
   I found Christopher Hibbert's biography (Disraeli: The Victorian Dandy Who Became Prime Minister) to be superior. Hibbert's prose is more lively, and one comes away feeling that they have gotten to know "Dizzy" far more intimately.
   Having said that, however, Weintraub's Disraeli is certainly well worth the effort.

No comments about Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens.

No comments about Casement (Life & Times) (Life&Times).