No comments about Travels With Queen Victoria.

1 comments about Lady Franklin's Revenge: A True Story of Ambition, Obsession, and the Remaking of Arctic History.

1. I found this book fascinating. Jane Franklin is an amazing, almost mythical woman. How refreshing to read about a commanding historical female! Her story is like a decadent cheesecake - best savoured in small slices. I found myself reading the short chapters one and two at a time to let them fully digest and swim around in my mind. I especially enjoyed the book spine. I would glance up at the bookshelf and see Lady Franklin gazing at me, daring me to read more. Delicious!

3 comments about Cage Eleven.

1. If you want a reason why to support the Irish Republican cause, then pick up this excellent fast paced read. Gerry Adams is a hero to the men, women and children of NI. He knows what the people want, and that is freedom from the rude, ignorant, and selfish English.



2. A warning to all interested readers: take this book with a HUGE grain of salt. Gerry Adams helped organise a widespread campaign of bombings, kneecapping, and mass murders as leader of a group of terrorists, before he was justifiably sent to prison. Here, he uses the hardship of prison life in an attempt to arouse sympathy. Are we really supposed to feel sorry for someone responsible for such horrific crimes? The stories of prison torture are rediculous. I don't believe a terrorist, with a hatred of all things British will give a honest account of the UK justice system.



3. This is a great book written from prison...anyone who comments on anything but the book neither has the judgement nor credibility to review this book....ignore the liberals who comment!!!!

No comments about Erno Goldfinger: The Life of an Architect.

1 comments about Oliver Cromwell and the English Revolution.

1. This book presumes that you are an Oxford history professor. It presumes facts not in the book. Meaning it presumes you come to the subject with a vast array of knowledge and therefore spends all of its time on the grand academic questions rather than the chronology of Cromwell. If you are looking for a book to answer the question - who is Cromwell and why was he important - look elsewhere. If you want to know what are the most esoteric academic questions posed by Cromwell, this book is for you.

   It is more commentary on history rather than history. It is disjointed and disorganized.

No comments about Six Faces of Courage.

1 comments about Fanny Burney: A Biography.

1. I confess that Burney's never been my favorite novelist, but I do like biographies so I picked this one up. I found it extremely readable and engaging, and I grew more sympathetic toward Burney and her writing upon learning more about her life--her learning disability and subsequent insecurity, her father's interference with her career, her miserable years at court, her rushing to publish novels so that she could pay the bills, and, of course, her horrifying mastectomy (about which I read with my fingers across my eyes, as one might hide one's face during the scary part of a movie).

   I wish there had been more room for "Harman's careful disentangling of fact from wishful thinking and manipulation," but I can see why this would be more appropriate for a book of criticism than a biography.

   If you're at all interested in Burney or the times in which she lived--even (or especially?) if you don't like her writing--I believe you'll find this book worthwhile.

2 comments about Chaucer: His Life, His Works, His World.

1. Extensively detailed biography of this medieval great poet, of interest to anyone interested in the intricacies of medieval history and literature. Definitely not for the dilettante, though much of it is quite readable.
   The book is approximately evenly divided between history and literary analysis. We learn of Chaucer's role as a soldier in the wars with France; of his role as appointed court poet and custom's officer; of the black death; of his travels to Italy; we are given a great deal of detail about his literary influences on the Continent and his major literary works, not limited to the Canterbury Tales. Really more for the literary medieval scholar, though anyone interested in history might like it. We learn that Chaucer was probably in London at the time of the Peasants' Revolt.



2. This is an important introduction to, as the title says, the life, times, and works of Geoffrey Chaucer. For those who are thoroughly versed in the 15th century, or who are intimately familiar with Chaucer scholarship, this work will probably be a rehashing of familiar ground. However, as a work to introduce a budding scholar or amateur enthusiast in history or literature, this work is second to none. This work is highly readable, even for those with a casual interest in the subject.
   
   I took a class on Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales", and I read this book as a prelude to beginning the course. I feel that this work provided me with crucial context for Chaucer and his world, and enabled me to appreciate reading the "Tales" in their original Middle English at a much greater level. Thank you Dr. Howard!

4 comments about Uncrowned King.

1. This book is a balanced account of Prince Albert's life - both in his public role as prince consort and as a husband and father. Albert often had to be content to work "behind the scenes" in order to accomplish his goals, and the author provides the details of both his success and his failures.

   It is a very enjoyable book. If you liked the author's earlier biography of Queen Victoria, you will like this book too.




2. At a time when marriages of royals were political matches, and not romantic ones, this is a story of an insignificant German prince who is married to the very young, Queen of England. Victoria and Albert actually fall in love with each other. Unfortunately, physicians at the time did not know when human females ovulated, which resulted in the many children of Victoria and Albert. However, her numerous pregnancies allowed Albert to become a more integral part in the monarchy. He became King in all but name as Victoria retired to the "sidelines." His diligent, untiring work set the stage for the great Victorian Era and the Pax Britannia.



3. I questioned myself before i picked up this book in the library; brought up as a good Englishman, i already knew all i wanted or needed about the Prince Consort, and was unimpressed with it, nor did i care to learn any more. Now i see i was quite correct in my questioning, and i'm afraid i may have to change my long-held, and therefore cherished, beliefs about him. Darn intellectual honesty, anyway! Weintraub's Albert was a responsible, educated, thinking man, thrust into a situation both wonderful and intolerable (his marriage and lack of acceptance in England, respectively). Weintraub shows him as having enjoyed the one side and, through hard work and dedication, partially overcome the other. One is left to wonder, as Weintraub indeed does, what would the monarchy be today had Albert lived as long as Victoria. Surely there would be some differences. On the basis of this book, it is not fair to say (as a previous reviewer did) that Albert laid the foundation for the pax Britannica; he did, however, through his fecundity, insight into both politics and industry, and though a great deal of hard work, aid the shaping of Europe through the First World War. As i look back now, it is hard for me exactly to define just why i have disliked His Royal Highness; i suspect it has to do with his rather poor treatment of his eldest son, the Prince of Wales, which Weintraub does not gloss over, but implies was deserved; also the wreck Victoria made of her life after he died, which really can't be laid at his door; also, though i am probably of the last generation to instinctively feel nothng good can come from Germany, the man was a German (though not a Prussion, at least). Two hundred plus years of racial dislike are hard to overcome. I would not say that i have yet overcome them; Weintraub has helped me see with a clearer vision, though.



4. After seeing the A&E production of "Victoria and Albert," I was curious to know more about the lives of the said characters (I'm also a history major so that helps, too). I was browsing through my university's library to find this book on Prince Albert and I read it. I just finished reading it today and wow, this is a stellar book. It's so comprehensive that my mind almost exploded while reading it. There were some minor details that could've been left out, hence the four star rating. I plan to read more about Victoria and Albert in the future. So take my advice. Treat yourself to this wonderful book and put it in your personal library. I'll be sure to buy this book when I have the chance.

No comments about Richard III and His Rivals: Magnates and their Motives in the Wars of the Roses.