3 comments about Winston Churchill: Statesman of the Century (Great Leaders).

1. Beautifully simply profoundly written book .A must reading for all laymen all good people interested in a champion of freedom.



2. I purchased this book because I needed to do a research paper which included a short biography on Churchill. This book is very concise and proved to be an asset to my paper. The biographies by Gilbert or Jenkins are very lengthy and it is difficult to sum them up and take out the main points. I am glad I found this book by Robin H Neillands.



3. Go read David Irving's biography instead, meticulously researched and you can read it online free.

1 comments about Winston Churchill - The Photobiography.

1. Plenty of biographies have been written about Churchill's life: so why the need for yet another? Just take a look at Michael Pateson's unique Winston Churchill: Personal Accounts Of The Great Leader At War to see the difference. For one thing, comments Churchill made about himself have been paired with previously unpublished, firsthand accounts of those who knew him to provide plenty of detail on Churchill's military background and how it changed his life and perceptions. Paterson adds the recollections of Churchill's superiors, fellow officers, and more to provide fresh material which is not covered in other books. Secondly, Winston Churchill follows a chronological order focusing on his military campaigns, which provides the ability to appreciate the changes in Churchill's strategic thinking over the decades. Finally, Winston Churchill provides plenty of technical references for further study, making it one of the most detailed biographies about Churchill in print. Very highly recommended.

No comments about Gaucho Laird - The Life of R. B. "Don Roberto" Cunninghame Graham.

5 comments about Lewis Carroll: A Biography.

1. Cohen's book was seriously challenged by the publication of Karoline Leach's 'In the Shadow of the Dreamchild'. We Carrollians have been waiting for five years now for Cohen to update his book in response. He needs to do so.

   Is he going to rebut Leach's claims that the whole in-love-with-Alice-story is a myth? What is his response to the amazing discovery of the 'cut pages in diary' document? What does he say to Leach's claims that Dodgson befriended numerous adult women and was probably sexually normal?

   I for one and many like me are very keen to know where this debate is going. Mr Cohen has promised a reply 'soon'. But when is 'soon?'

   We need an updated version of this book. Until then I have to give the book just two stars, though I'd like to give more.




2. The only real negative about this beautiful and compassionate portrait is the fact that there is some newer information that conflicts with some of what is present in this book. Another edition of the book to address these issues would be welcome, but that doesn't mean this book is obsolete! It is still a very interesting and well-written account of the life of C. L. Dodgson, the man who would become better known as Lewis Carroll, and this book shouldn't go overlooked. If you are only mildly interested (or perhaps not very much at all) in the subject, you will likely find that this book is capable of holding your attention until the end. An excellent starting point for budding Carrollians, but less an excellent *ending*.



3. This book seems dated now and we need a new edition as another reviewer has said. The commentary on Alice Liddell needs to be updated following Leach's work. Some of the claims he makes have been shown to be based on dubious data or to be mistaken, and he needs to modify his text to take account of that. But in many other ways this book is indispensible.



4. Lewis Carroll: A biography
   
   Morton Cohen's biography of Charles Dodson ("Lewis Carroll") is an insightful examination of a complex and flawed man. Dodson (1832-1898) was an English clergyman, mathematician, writer and photographer. He is better known to us as the author of "Alice and Wonderland." A prolific correspondent, Dodson wrote thousands of letters and kept extensive diaries, many of which are included in Cohen's book. But there are several gaps in the narrative: his diaries from 1858-1862 are missing, and many pages have been excised with a razor from the remaining ones.
   Dodson apparently was a man whose conscience bothered him; his diaries contain countless references to "impure thoughts" and temptations, which might be traced to his inordinate fondness for pre-pubescent girls.
   Dodson made no secret of his affection for children, spending hours in their company, buying them gifts, and photographing them "au naturel." Cohen writes: "ever in the company of children as he grew, he became accustomed not only to their presence but also to their childish ways. In time, perhaps through a combination of biological, spiritual, and psychological forces, this interest developed into a need, an essential component of his own happiness." But this affection, which in today's world would be ascribed to nascent pedophilia, was apparently chaste and innocent. Whatever its origin, it made for memorable literature. "Alice" stands as a monument to the Victorian idealization of the child and to the imagination of one man.



5. I am not going to review Morton's biography as it has been acclaimed for many years since it's publication.
   What caused me to comment here is the statements by some readers that Cohen's book should be updated due to "new evidence" by Karoline Leach that Carroll was not in love with Alice, but her governess. She further states that the Carroll was not as attracted to children as one is led to believe and the whole "little girl" thing is a myth!
   
   I will not comment in great length about this since I am not reviewing HER book, but I feel I must make a few points.
   
   Nothing in the diary page that Ms. Leach quotes from proves anything, and is greatly taken out of context. She totally ignores more obvious evidence to the contrary.
   
   While many people in Oxford thought Carroll's attentions to be for the governess, this was understandable because to think of a grown Oxford don in love with the Dean's daughter was more far fetched.
   
   However, Mrs. Liddell and Carroll himself didn't think so....
   Not only did Carroll in his later diaries admit to a long talk with Alice's' mother after her marriage, where he admits to his "foolish" ways (toward Alice) in the past, his estrangement from the Deanery. During that talk, Mrs. Liddell forgives him. (note: that with Alice's marriage, she didn't view Carroll as the "threat" he once was)
   
   Ina, Alice's sister in letters to Alice before her death , mentions that she always thought Dodgson was in love with her sister, and when Alice denies this, Ina points out the many times she had been sitting inappropriately on Dodgson's lap and alludes to other incidents.
   
   Then, there is the letter to Carroll's uncle, where he is upset at the news that his brother wants to marry 14 year old Alice Jane Donkin.
   Carroll alludes to the similar problems he himself had gone through with "AL"..now..who could THAT be??
   
   And why DID Alice's mother burn all of Carroll's letter to her daughter?
   
   Because of his love for the governess?
   
   I think not.
   
   While it is certain that Dodgson was not the shy recluse, and had many adult friends including women, and did remain loyal to his girl friends even after they grew up.... a man who spent his time, money, and most of his life devoted to his child-friends is clearly not using it as a smoke screen to meet adult women.
   
   If anyone still has doubts about Carroll's love and devotion to Alice, one just has to re-read the framing poems of the two Alice books again.
   
   In Through the Looking Glass, published a few years after his falling out with the Liddell family, he wrote:
   "Still she haunts me phantom wise, Alice moving under skys..never seen by waking eyes...
   
   Yeah, he was in love with the governess all right!!!!
   
   Read Morton Cohen's book if you seek the truth, as much as we can know, about Lewis Carroll.

2 comments about The Diary of John Evelyn (First Person Singular) (First Person Singular).

1. John Evelyn's diary is a wonderful source-book for 17th Century England. It covers far more of the period than Peyps' diary (but is a little drier!)and gives a comprehensive picture of life in those turbulent times. Guy de la Bedoyere has done a fine job of editing this diary.



2. Evelyn is very different from Pepys, whom he knew. Unlike Pepys, Evelyn was a strait-laced fellow, so we get no juicy stories of his amours. He hardly speaks of his wife and consequently never mentions any arguments they might have had. He tells few personal anecdotes. He also has little to say about the great plague year or the great fire of London. Pepys gives a lot more detail on these subjects.

   What he does deal with rather extensively are the meetings of the Royal Society, of which he was a member. It was hard for me to get excited about these. Nevertheless, it is good to have this book available.

5 comments about Lord Cochrane, Seaman, Radical, Liberator: A Life of Thomas, Lord Cochrane, 10th Earl of Dundonald (Heart of Oak Sea Classics Series).

1. Lord Cochrane was, by all accounts, a superior naval officer. He was inventive, bold, imaginative, extremely meticulous in his preparations for action, and capable of great theatrics in the service of victory in battle, in capturing prizes, and in befuddling the enemy. He treated his men honorably at a time when abusing them was the norm and he rewarded them handsomely from the prize revenues he engendered. As a result he was adored by his subordinates and never had trouble recruiting personnel to serve under him.

   He was a model which inspired aspects of Jack Aubrey and Hornblower and other fictional characters of the Anglo-French wars. His true life was even more tumultuous than the fiction it spawned, for he became a naval hero in Chile and in Peru, in Brazil, and in Greece as he participated in each of those countries' wars of independence.

   When on land, Lord Cochrane was an inept, impetuous, cantankerous politician (he was a member of parliament for 10 years), who had no notion of the art of politics, and therefore was repeatedly demolished by his enemies, which were many. It is amazing that the brilliant and disciplined naval officer and tactician would become a bumbling, disorganized politician, but that is precisely what happened. He was involved in financial scandals, his honors and medals were removed, and his purse squandered and lost. It is likely that this honorable man was never guilty of the charges for which he was convicted (stock fraud), but the truth shall never be known for sure.

   He lived a long life (1775 - 1860) and by the time he died at 85 he had managed to (mostly) repair his honor, his finances, and his reputation, more as a result of the political changes around him than as a result of having learned political lessons.

   This book by Christopher Lloyd, a professional naval historian, has the scholar's convincing tone and language throughout. It has a fair index and bibliography. The book is highly recommended to the Aubrey-Maturin fans who are forever expanding their collections with ancillary historical volumes that allow for additional enjoyment of the series.




2. A thoroughly researched and beautifully written treatment of the life of one of Great Britain's most important heroes from the Age of Fighting Sail. I've devoured everything I can find on the Royal Navy for years -- this is among the most memorable volumes available! Lord Cochrane was a naval commander in war (and peace) whose talents almost rivalled the great Nelson's, and unlike Nelson he lived to a ripe old age. In a surprisingly "modern" twist to Cochrane's biography, he was duped into a financial scandal that led to bad headlines, ugly partisan politics, and a nasty court case. His subsequent efforts on the part of Latin American nations to help them win independence from Spain make him a veritable nautical Simon Bolivar. Author Lloyd brings this amazing man to life with compelling prose.



3. Lord Cochrane won an astonishingly brilliant series of victories in three different British ships against the French and Spanish during the Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. The first 80 pages of this biography cover his astounding career in single-ship actions, and the inability of the Admiralty to understand his innovations. The next 55 pages deal with his ignominious Radical parliamentary career and financial fiascos. Another 46 pages cover his attempts to free a series of colonies from their Iberian or Ottoman masters, and how the rebels repeatedly frustrated victory and, of course, didn't pay up. The final 21 pages cover his attempts to restore his honor and his contributions to the deveopment of a recognizably modern navy. The editors say this 1947 book was selected for its congenial style and vignettes of Cochrane, not because it is the last word on the irascible man. This biography is superseded in accuracy by those employing additional family and governmental papers made public since the 1960's and listed in the brief bibliography.

   Fans of naval fiction should note that Forester's Hornblower frequently adopts Lord Cochrane's audacious naval exploits, as do many other series' heroes. Forester having appropriated Lord Cochrane's real adventures, Dudley Pope's Lord Ramage series seems to depend more on invented exploits to fill out the same general historical progression. O'Brian's Jack Aubrey also partakes of Cochrane's political ineptness and suffers his finanacial scandal (see especially the early Aubrey novels). While occasionally you see inspiration from Cochrane's later attempts to aid South Americans win their freedom from Spain (Forester, O'Brian, Cornwell), no novelist has taken up Cochrane's inventions (like ship lanterns, tar derivatives, chemical warfare!, and steam warships). This book might slightly disappoint some fiction fans because it lacks details or even a brief description of ALL of Cochrane's remarkable exploits in his Biscay or Mediterranean theaters of operation. But for any fans of Fighting Sail, Lord Cochrane is the inspiring source, and Lloyd's book a well-written introduction.




4. Thomas Cochrane, Tenth Earl of Dundonald, was a larger than life Scottish nobleman, adventurer, and ardent libertarian. Christopher Lloyd wrote this biography of Lord Cochrane in 1947, and it is one of six "Heart of Oak Sea Classics." Lloyd depicts Cochrane as a masterful naval tactician whose uncompromising political idealism provides the hubris for classic tragedy. The stark irony of Cochrane's two careers is that his genius in battle derived from his innovation, reconnaissance, and preparation, whereas his consistent failures in politics derived from his headstrong impetuousness. Cockrane's naval victories during the Napoleonic Wars were remarkably heroic, and won him fame and fortune while he was still quite young. His abrasiveness, however, undid all the good, and much, much more. His depth of despair at the hands of his political adversaries is absolutely unimaginable. His arduous rehabilitation involved his enlistment in the revolutionary struggles of Chile, Peru, Brazil, and Greece. He returned to Britain hesitantly, unsure if he would be arrested and executed. The outcome warms the heart, and vindicates his life struggle. Lloyd's representation of Cochrane is remarkably objective, and nothing is more fascinating than genius and imbecility combined in the same person. It's history; it's a psychological thriller, and a biography you couldn't conceivably make up.



5. 
   Lord Cochrane started his legendary naval career in the British navy as a fourteen-year-old midshipman. He possessed a natural talent for seamanship and rose to the rank of Captain. In war he was particularly successful displaying daring tactics and brazen courage. His career progressed in spite of his brashness that offended the higher ranks of
   the British navy. He took on a life long crusade against the old boy cronyism that harmed that country's naval effectiveness. Lord Cochran carried the idea of reforming the Navy in middle age when he became a Member of Parliament. In later life Britain finally recognized this man of naval genius who at an advanced age was openly encouraging a steam-powered navy. A man that was vastly more at home with sea battler than as a Member of Parliament, Lord Cochran became a Captain for hire to the newly emerging nations Peru, Chile, Brazil, and Greece where he did quite well in all his battles almost always against the odds.
   He had a storybook action packed life, a very rewarding book that has been brought back into print.

1 comments about Mapping The Wilderness: The Story of David Thompson (Stories of Canada).

1. The latest in the "Stories of Canada" series, Mapping the Wilderness: The Story of David Thompson presents the amazing life story of one of Canada's greatest explorers, surveyors, and geographers. David Thompson (1770-1857) died penniless, but during his life he confronted natural hazards, harsh weather, hostile Indian tribes, and even negotiated peace with the Kootenay. He set up trading posts to compete with Americans, and single-handedly surveyed a continental area unparalleled in human history. Mapping the wilderness depicts Thompson's life in page-by-page chunks; each page features a main passage about part of Thompson's adventures, a black-and-white illustration (most of which are sketches by illustrator Chrissie Wysotski - there are no surviving portraits or photographs of Thompson himself), and a sidebar. A wonderful trailblazer's biography and glimpse of Canadian frontier history for young readers, especially recommended for elementary, middle school, and public library collections.

3 comments about Rudyard Kipling: A Life.

1. Mr. Ricketts begins well. Kipling's ancestors are well drawn. His first years in India are well done. The years back in England when he was 7-17(roughly) are very well written. The first years as a journalist back in India, when Kipling had great success with poems and stories, is well doen too. So, the first 140 pages are useful. Then the book gets really boring. Kipling leaves India, circles the world and lives in Englamnd then the US. It's really boring. Mr Ricketts seemed to run out of energy. So read the first part and skip the last.



2. Clearly the best Kipling biography in many years. Mr. Ricketts has a fine touch, especially for Kipling's early years. If his later life wasn't as exotic and interesting, that's Kipling's affair. I think the mainstream reviewers had it right ('Splendid,' said The Atlantic Monthly, 'irresistibly readable,' said The New Yorker). Insightful and engaging.



3. This was difficult to read because the author skips around in Kiplings life so It was difficult to follow the sequence of events. Kipling was such an interesting person, I am looking for his official biography written by Carrington.

5 comments about Balancing Act: The Authorized Biography Of Angela Lansbury: The Authorized Biography of Angela Lansbury.

1. This is one of the finest celebrity biographies that I have ever read. Actress Angela Lansbury is profiled with candor and wit in Martin Gottfried's "Balancing Act". Gottfried conducted countless interviews with the star herself of whom he says, "No biographical subject could have been more cooperative.", and many, many of those who knew her and worked with her. The book details her early life in London, her arrival in America during WWII, and her first film, at MGM, where they promptly decided to change her name to "Angela Marlow". The book writes with candor about her first failed marriage and her Hollywood years into the late forties, when she married Peter Shaw (and the marriage is still going strong). In the early fifties, she gave birth to her son Anthony and daughter Deidre Shaw, and in the late sixties, with her Hollywood career in a slump, she bounced back on Broadway in her Tony-Award winning title role in the musical "Mame". The book is at its most exciting when detailing her Broadway career, and not just with "Mame", but with her three other Tony-Award winning roles in "Dear World", "Gypsy", and "Sweeney Todd". And after Broadway, Lansbury conquered television with her ever-popular "Murder, She Wrote" series. Since then, Lansbury has enjoyed steady acting and puttering in her rose garden. Many humorous anecdotes and behind-the-scenes stories told by Lansbury concern stars like Ingrid Bergman, Spencer Tracy, Katharine Hepburn, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Bea Arthur among them. She is a rueful raconteur and thrilled with her extraordinary professional and personal life. With the color and gusto of "Balancing Act", Angela Lansbury is profiled up close and personal and, as always, absolutely great!



2. With angela Lansbury's cooperation, the author was able to construct the life of the star and her dreams without being intrusive into episodes of her life. He truly respected the subject and the star rewarded him with candor. it is too often that authors choose biographies to sensationalize a life. In this case, the author told it straight but with humanity and dignity and affection for a woman of icnredible talent and character.



3. This authorized biography of Angela Lansbury is interesting and well-written...but she was a part of the project, had final say over what was and wasn't included, and left SO MUCH out! Her personal life is covered much better in the other two unauthorized biographies of Angela Lansbury. But what really floored me in this one was her descriptions of "fan psychology" and the way she talks about teenagers who looked up to the character she portrayed in shows like "Mame." She describes the kids' adulation of her in terms of being "a tragedy." While one fan clearly became out of control in terms of following her around and pestering her, the rest of us - legions of us - didn't. Hello! What's so tragic about children looking up to, and being inspired by, a responsible celebrity?



4. If you are an Angela Lansbury fan like I am, you will love this book. It tells of her family, her marriage, children, her days at MGM, her talks and encounters with movie stars, her movie career, Murder She Wrote and after. It is a well-written book not trashy like the Kitty Kelly biographies or sugar coated. I enjoyed reading this book. A GREAT READ.



5. Hello Ms. Lansbury:
   
   I just wanted to tell you how much enjoyment your performances have given my wife and I, over the years. Oh, and your decision to move to Ireland after your house in Malibu burned down: Brilliant! I grew up in Santa Monica, where there was too much money and too many drugs... So many kids my age (I was born in 1954, and graduated from Santa Monica High in 1972) had their lives destroyed by drugs. Los Angeles and Hollywood are terrible places to raise kids! You are so very lucky, to have raised a beautiful son and daughter, and to have had a husband who loved you, for so many decades. I only hope that my wife and I can enjoy over 50 years of marriage, as you and your spouse successfully did! Best wishes to you and your family. [...]

4 comments about John the Painter: Terrorist of the American Revolution.

1. I picked this book up because I am very interested in revolutionary America. I found the subject to be interesting, as I had never heard of John the Painter.
   
   This book is written as history books should be written: Like it involves people and not dates. I was given a great sense of how John the Painter's life must have been and what his motivations were.
   
   I also enjoyed the parallels of John Aitken's life with that of many modern day terrorists. The author does not throw these parallels in your face, instead she lays the facts out and you must draw your own conclusions.
   
   Highly recommended for anyone interested in history or current politics.



2. Any Americans who pay attention to history take pride in the Revolution that brought the nation its freedom, and all Americans have been shocked by recent attacks by terrorists. What if during the Revolution, there had been a terrorist operating in England on behalf of American freedom? It seems an impossible anachronism, but the strange truth is that there was such a man. He is a historical footnote now, but at the end of his brief life he was one of the most notorious men in England because of his crimes of arson performed against naval targets in furtherance of the American cause against England. This bizarre story is told in _John the Painter: Terrorist of the American Revolution_ (Thunder's Mouth Press) by Jessica Warner, which fetches its subject back from obscurity. The saying "One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter" does not really apply to John the Painter, whose real name was James Aitken. Shifting through the often obscure vestiges of fact, Warner is not able to document that Aitken was inspired by any patriotic fervor or love of liberty. His motivations remain mysterious, and his crimes ineffectual, at least as far as affecting the American Revolution, so his obscurity is deserved; but this is a lively and welcome examination of a tiny and surprising patch of history.
   
   Aitken was born in 1752, in an impoverished section of Edinburgh. He became a painter, and got an introduction into some basic chemistry and had easy access to flammables, but had small success in his trade. He opted to try his luck in the New World. He arrived in Jamestown in 1773 as an indentured servant. He ran away from his master, and was in different areas of the eastern seaboard for two years. He did not get imbued with the love of liberty while he was there; in fact, he was part of an exodus of Scots back to England in 1775. He heard a conversation in a pub in Oxford to the effect that if the naval dockyards were lost, the navy would be lost, and thus the war would be lost. He then formed the plan of torching Britain's docks. He may have thought that in doing so he could have returned to America as a hero, and become (his great goal) a military officer, but any clear explanation of what he was thinking is impossible. He met with the American representative in Paris, got a small amount of money, and thought he was doing American duty as he torched a few warehouses and docks, with the aim of crippling Britain's navy. He had houses as well as naval buildings as targets, and although no one died, he did (as terrorists do) inflict psychological damage. He was not particularly careful about his work and keeping from suspicion, but policing at the time was primitive. Eventually, someone recognized him, others realized that a housepainter always seemed to be around town before a blaze, and a hunt was begun. It quickly succeeded when a large reward was offered for his capture.
   
   Aitken's efforts terrified Britons, but had none of the effects he had planned. Americans had been suspected of setting the fires (Aitken's incendiary devices had convinced authorities that there was more than one arsonist about) and those who had sympathy for the American cause had reason to be less enthusiastic. He was put on trial for the offence of arson in a naval dockyard, one of the many crimes punishable by death. Warner explains how limited justice was for those accused at the time, and how an informer was hired to befriend the unsuspecting Aitken in jail, in order to get details of his activities. He was found guilty, and sentenced to be hung. There was a customary, but unseemly, race to get his life into print, with different authors vying to be the one responsible for his true final confession. None of them turned out to be very reliable. The prison chaplain refused to give Aitken final communion until he gave a final confession that might be published on its own (with profits to the chaplain). Aitken was hung on high, specifically from a ship's 60-foot mast especially erected in Portsmouth for the occasion. His body was tarred and gibbeted, hanging for years in an iron cage to serve as a warning to others, and pieces of him were taken away for souvenirs. A finger was turned into a tobacco stopper, and was destroyed, as luck would have it, in an incendiary raid on Portsmouth by the Germans in World War II. John the Painter's life was not useful to the Americans, who forgot him entirely, and serves only as a historical anomaly. Warner's telling of a sad tale, however, is full of sympathy for a flawed protagonist and good humor for his peculiar style of making himself famous. He was a failure; his biography is a vigorous, ironic success.



3. This book delivers. It is not an exhaustive treatise on the nature of terrorism (which it could have been had the author bowed to the whims of our modern backdrop) but rather a very real and lifelike account of the brief step into the limelight that characterized the life of James Aitken.
   
   The reader truly sees the era through the eyes of not only Aitken, but of the lawmen who chase him and the harried/bumbling port authority that lamented not acting swifter in his pursuit. We feel inside the story, both saddened at a life led astray as well as excited at the narrow escapes and missed opportunities.
   
   John the Painter is a great story that is told with panache and style.



4. This is an excellent, captivating, and well written book. I picked it up the other day on sale and read it in under a day. Warner gives a well documented and investigated account of John the Painter's life and deeds. I read it directly after reading Dan Berg's book on the Weather Underground, and one could, if creative enough, perhaps see some connection between their sabotage oriented propaganda and a sort of lineage coming from John the Painter. Also quite nice about the book is the way that Warner draws out some interesting comparisons between then and now, particularly the way that the Portsmouth and Bristol fires were used to justify the suspension and habeas corpus and other legal rights (in other words, it's not the US who has the first to suspend such in times of danger, real or imagined, and the UK did so before, even if it prides itself on not doing so today, or at least not to the same degree as the US). It is also nice to see someone doing social history / history from below who is interested in their subject, but not totally taken in by it, keeping somewhat of a distance from it at points (which one would one to do with at least certain aspects of John the Painters life even if not others).