2 comments about Oliver Cromwell (Historical Association Studies).

1. Very heavy chronological review with no assessment, opinion or background. Assumes you know everything about the English Revolution but need a chronological reference book.



2. It appears the book was written by a Cromwell apologist, in the worst sense. I'd recommend finding a more critically written analysis of Cromwell's life.

2 comments about John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant.

1. The release of the well-regarded film _Mrs. Brown_, about Queen Victoria and her gillie John Brown, indicated there was still interest in the story of the Queen and her devoted servant. The full story of their relationship will never be known, but in _John Brown: Queen Victoria's Highland Servant_ (Sutton Publishing), Raymond Lamont-Brown sifts through what can be known to give as good a picture as we are likely to get of the servant beloved by the Queen and detested by so many others. It is a small but successful study of the Queen as honest and loyal, with a love of the outdoors, and with a sense of humor (when will the opposite legend go away?) which Brown must have frequently tickled. They were a good match. He impressed both Albert and the Queen with his knowledge of game and hunting, and a strong friendship grew between the gillie and his Queen. He liked jokes and gossip, and the Queen liked to hear his stories. There are many illustrations here of their familiarity. When the royal family went out on jaunts, John Brown usually brewed the Queen's pot of tea. Early in his service, she remarked that this was "the best cup of tea I ever tasted." "Well, it should be, Ma'am," came Brown's reply. "I put a grand nip o' whisky in it."

   There is little doubt that the Queen idealized Brown in a way no one else did, but especially after Albert's death, no one tended her as he did. A courtier wrote, "Others had tended her as their Queen and mistress. John Brown protected her as she was, a poor, broken-hearted bairn who wanted looking after and taking out of herself." Many around the Queen disapproved. Brown took his duties so seriously he would deny even her family access to her. His gruffness with others made few friends. Sent to convey the Queen's invitation to dinner to the Lords-in-Waiting, Brown pushed open the door of the billiard room, eyed the aristocrats, and bawled, "All what's here dines with the Queen." The Prince of Wales particularly disliked him, always referring to "that brute" rather than using his name. He obliterated all the busts and mementoes of Brown after the Queen's death, but he was never able to wipe out the rumors that Brown and the Queen were lovers, or that they had a morganatic marriage, or that Brown was her guide in spiritualism. Such evidence as there is shows that they were nothing but devoted friends as well and mistress and servant. This readable book well illustrates the relationship, with ample quotations from the Queen's diary and from remarks of those who knew both parties well.




2. This book is about Queen Victoria's unusual relationship with her highland servant, John Brown. Most are familiar with the story because of the well-received movie, "Mrs. Brown". While the story made a very interesting movie, for most recreational readers the topic doesn't merit a full book. Raymond Lamont-Brown has certainly done excellent research, and I do not doubt that his account of Mr. Brown and his relationship with the queen is as accurate as possible. Unfortunately, oneof Queen Victoria's daughters drastically edited the Queen's personal papers when it came to the topic of Mr. Brown, so much of the historical record is irretrievably lost. Nevertheless, it seems clear that it is unlikely that there was a scandalous relationship and that the Queen simply considered Mr. Brown to be a completely devoted servant . She consequently kept him in constant attendance and was tolerant of his brusque manner. No matter how hard Mr. Lamont-Brown tries to find some actual drama, most of the relationship (and therefore most of the book) revoloved around the mundane routine of the royal household - daily ponyrides, picnics in the Scottish countryside, below-stairs jealousies, etc. Any excitement in the book is the result of speculation, not historical fact. If you have a serious interest in Queen Victoria, you will find this book worthwhile. Otherwise, see the movie.

5 comments about The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief.

1. This book provides a fascinating portrait of one of the last of the gentleman criminals. In fact, Adam Worth wanted to be known solely as a gentleman rather than as a notorious criminal. The crimes were simply his way of gaining power and prestige in a Victorian world where he could never gain this position without buying it. And buy it he did by perpetrating almost every crime imaginable. An honorable thief who was fiercly loyal to his henchmen, Worth was devilishly clever, many times carrying out operations right out in the open without being caught. No wonder Doyle tapped him for Sherlock Holmes' arch-rival and Elliot immortalized him as Macavity, the Mystery Cat. Not bad for a guy who officially "died" in the Civil War at the 2nd Battle of Bull Run (reports of his death were greatly exaggerated--and he used his deceased status for financial gain, thus beginning his very lucrative criminal career).
   Much of the book is taken up with his most famous crime, the stealing the "Duchess of Devonshire" by Gainsborough mere weeks after it was sold at the highest price ever paid for a painting up to that time. For a crime that was almost done on a whim, it is the one for which he is most well known and for which he was never caught (he returned the painting 25 years later anonymously).
   Two very nice sub-themes run throughout the book. First was his undying love for his best friend's wife, Kitty Flynn. Flynn went on from humble beginnings (and after dropping he thieving hubby) to become a true Victorian lady of note, but Worth never dropped the torch he held for her (he was probably the father of two of her children).
   The second was his friendship with William Pinkerton later in life. Born of mutual respect for each other throughout their careers as antagonists, Pinkerton not only did not volunteer evidence that could have condemned Worth to life in prison after he was caught and exposed, but also brokered the return of the Duchess while keeping Worth anonymous. Pinkerton mourned Worth when he died and kept a promise to watch out for his children by bringing his son into the detective agency, an ironic legacy for the Napoleon of Crime.
   Fascinating stuff. Truly stranger than fiction.



2. I agree with the reviewers saying this book missed its target. It seems like MacIntyre couldn't find sufficient material for a book about Adam Worth, but went ahead and wrote it anyway. My guess is that there's plenty of information about "The Duchess of Devonshire," and so MacIntyre used that to pad out his manuscript. Worth pulled off plenty of other capers, and I'd like to read about those. What I don't want to read is the author's unsubstantiated speculation about Worth's psyche.
   
   If you're interested in the provenance of the "Duchess," this book might be an interesting read. Otherwise, I'd recommend Asbury's "Gangs of New York." Two of Worth's contemporaries and sometime associates also wrote books which might be worth tracking down. These were Sophie Lyons and William Pinkerton.



3. If you meander through all these reviews, checking the lower-rated ones, you will get a fairly accurate view of this book. I have read hundreds of true crime books, and this ranks near the bottom. It is a fascinating topic. Or should be. But in the hands of this author, it is a tedious, irritating, blather. Let me explain.
   
   Two of my favorite reads in the past few years make interesting comparisons. Big Trouble by J. Anthony Lukas was one of the most fascinating books I've ever read. Lukas wandered far and wide, reeling in everything and everyone, and in doing so, built a portrait of a time and place that was riveting. Every detail was useful, every speculation added value. Some of the reviewers found the rambles bothersome; I have rarely finished such a big book wishing it were even longer, but Big Trouble left me wanting more.
   
   A similar book was Dark Horse by Kenneth Ackerman. Extraneous details were seamlessly woven into the tale, making the world come alive and the characters multi-dimensional. I could almost hear the creak of boots and smell the cigar smoke. Skilled writing and skilled choosing.
   
   But this book ambles pointlessly, dragging in details that are neither of interest in themselves nor add to the tale being told. Long excursions into the lives of everyone who wanders into the main tale, endless condescending sermonizing about Victorian moralizing and double-standards, repetitive and irritating discursions into the "double" which the author seems to think the Victorians invented, and the most silly and irritating speculation sink this tale. Which is amazing, for the story of Adam Worth in the hands of the most plodding storyteller should be gripping. The man was a doer of great evil (which Macintyre blows off rather casually; Adam Worth left a wake of broken businesses, crushed dreams, falsely accused victims, and bankrupted people, but because he shot no one, and was "elegant" it seems OK.) He committed some astonishingly brave and brazen crimes. But there just isn't enough there that we can know, so invented details that grow wearying are heaped on.
   
   At one point, Macintyre compares Worth to Captain Nemo. Now, this is a weak comparison on its own grounds, but then we get something about "no one knows if Worth read the book, but if he did, he would certainly see himself there." Now there's a pointless speculation. One of the common tactics of authors trying to puff up a lesser talent is to compare their achievements in some irrelevant way. "As Shakespeare did, So-and-so lived in Stratford," thereby gratuitously tying a grade z author and an acknowledged master. At gerat length the author "compares and contrasts" Worth and J.P. Morgan, in a stupendously overblown manner. Over and over we are told how Worth would have enjoyed this quip by Wilde. Give us a break, pal. The guy was a crook, a scuzz, a humbug, and a thug who hurt many, many people, much like Melmotte in Trollope's novel, The Way We Live Now (another book we don't know if Worth read.)



4. I picked this book up because it is heavily promoted by Amazon with Confessions of a Jewel Thief, Bill Mason's larger than life book about being a burglar. These books have nearly nothing in common other than fitting into the true crime genre. Macintyre misses the mark by getting bogged down in details and random facts (his research is impressive, yes) and forgetting to spin a compelling tale. There is too much material here with no cohesive narrative. Many other readers have hit it in the head by identifying the failings of Mason to focus solely on the topic of Worth and his exploits.



5. Adam Worth was perhaps the greatest criminal mind of the Victorian Era. William Pinkerton of the Pinkerton National Detective Agency, hunter and eventually friend to Worth, called him "the most remarkable, most successful and most dangerous professional criminal known to modern times", and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle used him as a model for Sherlock Holmes' arch-rival Professor Moriarty. "The Napoleon of Crime: The Life and Times of Adam Worth, Master Thief" presents the life, crimes, and associates of this talented crook, who began life in poverty and fashioned himself into a wealthy English gentleman, stealing more than $4 million dollars in 30 years, personally and through vast networks of underlings who would never have guessed who pulled the strings.
   
   Author Ben Macintyre makes use of Pinkerton's research and the memoirs of Worth's criminal contemporaries to flesh out his early life as the eldest child of poor German immigrants and a bounty jumper during the Civil War as a young man, before Worth was off to New York and a life of crime. A haul of nearly $1 million dollars with partner Charley Bullard from the 1869 robbery of Boylston Bank in Boston set him on his way to a distinguished criminal career. Worth adopted the alias Henry Judson Raymond, which he would use for the rest of his life, and found success at forgery, bank robbery, diamond heists, and, notably, art theft. In1876, Worth stole Gainsborough's painting of the notorious Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire from a London art gallery.
   
   Macintyre places much emphasis on Worth's attachment to the painting of the Duchess. This is one of many clumsy attempts to analyze Worth's character, which annoyed me after a while. There is no doubt that Worth was uncommonly sober, disciplined, loyal, generous, and non-violent for a crook -or, for that matter, for anyone. At the same time, he stole on a grand scale. Macintyre finds more contradiction in this than Worth did and looks unconvincingly for explanations in his early life and in Victorian hypocrisy. There is too much speculation and commenting on people's morals for my taste. Numerous digressions which are tangential to the subject serve as padding. I would have preferred less of that and more detail about Worth's pyramid-style networks. Unfortunately, "The Napoleon of Crime" is more a padded popular biography than a scholarly social history, but it does succeed in making Adam Worth a fascinating figure.

1 comments about The Royal Governor.....and The Duchess: The Duke and Duchess of Windsor in The Bahamas 1940-1945.

1. Anyone really interested in the Windsor's should skip this book. It is a total re-hashing of known events previously published. The events of his governorship were covered, but not in much detail. A great deal of the book was devoted to the history of the circumstances surrounding their births, courtship and abdication. The only new portion of the book was a small up-date on the island as it is now,to include new building projects, demolitions, and current usage of houses etc. No photos were included.

No comments about The Cambridge Companion to Ben Jonson (Cambridge Companions to Literature).

3 comments about Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History.

1. Strachey is deeply sympathetic of both Elizabeth and Essex, recognizing their strengths and their tragic shortcomings. Most modern biographies of Elizabeth rake her over the coals for her famously dithering and constipated decision-making process, but Strachey makes a good case for indecision as a political weapon, and cites this quality as part of Elizabeth's genius. The relationship between this hugely complex 70-year old queen and the magnificent but deeply flawed earl is dissected factually and emotionally. An amazing achievement. Jill Masters has a beautiful, silky voice and brings real poignancy to this subtle work.



2. once upon a time it seems there was this fella who thought you could actually write creative and lively non-fiction. his name was lytton strachey and he carried his thought out onto paper. all of his books are wonderfully written non-fiction. why oh why do so few non-fiction writers swing for the fence with their writing? is it editors? i know nothing about the inner-workings of the book business. it just puzzles me why almost all non-fiction writing is so uncreative, so unimaginative. lytton strachey, God bless you man! wherever your soul may be.



3. this is a lovely book. The author's mastery of the English language is a pleasure to savor. I will keep this book to re-read and I'm sure I will enjoy his way with words and his way with a story again and again. He makes his characters come to life. If you love Elizabethan history, if you love the English language, read this book, you won't be disappointed. I wish I were articulate enough to do justice to his art.

5 comments about Curzon: Imperial Statesman.

1. Lord Curzon was a major figure in British politics at the turn of the century. Immensely accomplished as well as ambitious, he served in several of the highest postions in government, including as Foreign Secretary and Viceroy of India. It is Gilmour's achievement that he manages to convey the complexities of the man, his overweening ambition, his insecurities and also, his tremendous drive to succeed. This a greatly detailed biography, but it is at the same time also very readable. It does not bog down in the minutiae of detail, and keeps a very articulately expressed story-line going. A book of immense interest to those keen on the politics and social and cultural history of that era.



2. George Curzon was born in the Victorian era with an extremely privileged family background. This excellent biography relates the multiple rises / falls in his career - I enjoyed the book because of the insightful account of the timeless contradictions of Curzon's character; he was born to an aristocratic family, yet worked incredibly hard all his life; he inspired great loyalty amongst those who worked with him, but thoughtless offense to other senior political figures contributed to missed opportunities; hopelessly out-dated on issues such as women's rights and empire, his views on foreign policy issues were well ahead of his time. David Gilmour gives a great overview of a life which started at the time of the Great Exhibition and ended just before Britain's humiliations of the Gold Standard in the 1930s. People who enjoyed Titan (Rockefeller) may well enjoy this account of a flawed but dynamically positive man.



3. David Gilmour has written an excellent biography of George Curzon, who, although little known to most Americans, was an important figure in English politics and government from the 1890s until the 1920s. The virtues of Gilmour's biography far outweigh its minor faults: the book is well-written and takes a balanced and comprehensive look at its subject.

   That balance is important: Curzon was by all accounts a brilliant but highly difficult man who was often haughty with subordinates and quarrelsome with his peers. Gilmour makes no excuses for Curzon's often indefensible behavior, nor does he gloss over Curzon's regrettable tendencies in this regard.

   Gilmour does a very good job overall reviewing Curzon's long life in English public affairs, starting with his career in the House of Commons, moving on to his years as Viceroy in India, then to his years in the House of Lords and then in Cabinet. Nor is Curzon's private life neglected. My sole criticism is that at times Gilmour assumes a relatively high level of background knowledge of English history and politics of the era. For example, many of the references to the passage or defeat of individual bills before Parliament were simply beyond my knowledge. For my part, that level of detail could have been omitted without interrupting the narrative flow. But although those sections were inherently less interesting to me, I still give high marks overall to this work.




4. Even though I read (on Dec 26, 1976) Superior Person: A Portrait of Curzon and his Circle in late Victorian England, by Kenneth Rose, I figured that was a while ago and I could enjoy another biography of George Curzon (born 11 Jan 1859, Viceroy in India from 1899 to 1905, in Lloyd George's War Cabinet from 1916 to 1919, Foreign Secretary from 1919 to 1924, died 20 March 1925)and I am glad I decided to read it. He was a fantastic and brilliant if difficult person. The book is solidly researched, with ample footnoting, and an interesting bibliography.



5. David Gilmour renders a balanced portrait of George Curzon, a complex imperial statesman. Curzon was born and raised as an aristocrat at a time that the British Empire was at its apex in the decades before WWI. Unlike the rest of his family, Curzon was very ambitious and determined to leave his mark in history. Gilmour makes a judicious use of Curson's writings to show us how extraordinarily well-traveled Curzon was for a man of his time. Curzon had a first-hand knowledge of many foreign issues, his undeniable specialty, unlike such luminaries as Lloyd George, A. J. Balfour, to name a few. Curzon was a work alcoholic, self-centered person who sounded condescending at times and was unable to delegate much because of his very exacting standards. Furthermore, Curzon often did not display much emotional intelligence in his relationship with others, including his own family. Unsurprisingly, Curzon's peers and superiors in politics found him regularly unbearable in Parliament, during his viceroyalty in India and as a member of different cabinets in the last decade of his life. Chirol summarized it very well when he told Hardinge that Curzon had the knack of saying the wrong thing, or even, when he says the right thing, of saying it in the wrong way, is quite extraordinary. I can recall no instance of a man whose personal unpopularity has to the same extent neutralized his immense abilities and his power of rendering great services. Gilmour shows very clearly how Curzon could be well ahead of his time in fields such as foreign policy and protection of old monuments and at the same time be so backward in such areas as women's rights and his attitude to nationalism. Overworked for most of his life, Curzon died prematurely at the age of 66. However, Curzon left some built-to-last monuments to posterity: think for instance about the impressive restoration of at one time decrepit Taj Mahal in India, the negotiation of the Lausanne Treaty that formalized the existence of Modern Turkey or Remembrance Day, a fitting tribute to the Fallen Heroes.

3 comments about Agatha Christie: The Woman and Her Mysteries.

1. The author of this works shows how Agatha Christie's private life and the traumas she endured pushed her to go beyond the usual norms of mystery writing, surprising and enchanting her readers. Recommended for fans of Agatha Christie's writing, as it lends insight into her life and her work.



2. This dull, plodding book is unsure if it wants to be a biography of Agatha Christie or engage in a long-winded, academic deconstruction of her prose.
   
   Skip this pretentious read and opt for an actual Agatha Christie novel instead.



3. This book does a very nice job of rounding out the character of Our Agatha. Almost everyone living and breathing has heard of this famous mystery writer, but a fraction of those people know the events in Christie's life that created a basis for her most loved tales.
   
   Gill's obvious respect for Christie allows her readers to enjoy reading this biography almost as much as Gill must have had in writing it.
   
   One criticism would be that this book does tend to linger in the area of deconstruction of the style of mystery writing that Agatha Christie used in her many-decade career. The general idea of how a mystery is constructed is interesting, but a bit less of this would tighten up Gill's otherwise delightful biography.

2 comments about Strange Adventures of the Dangerous Sports Club.

1. I have never read a better explanation into what drives people to extremes of sensation. I have rarely laughed so loud. Martin's low key style well serves a high key content. In their own words, those who were involved in the wonderful adventures of the dangerous sports club describe events that made extreme sports an artform. Martin provides the background, memories and the ongoing story as the club and its members ultimately lurch into obscurity. If you have the least imagination, you will laugh and be inspired.



2. Were these good-natured loons on a death wish or life wish? You decide. A must read for any armchair traveler (or anyone who has strapped balloons on an armchair and traveled). Mr Lyster writes a mean cool prose.

No comments about Jennie Churchill: Winston's American Mother.