No comments about Beaufort: The Duke and His Duchess, 1657-1715 (Yale Historical Publications Series).

1 comments about Prince Eddy: The King Britain Never Had.

1. This biography of Prince Albert Victor (Eddy) attempts to rehabilitate his image. There are three issues : (1) Was Prince Eddy Jack the Ripper? (2) Was he intellectually slow? (3) Was he involved in the Cleveland Street Scandal of 1889 and thus gay/bi?
   
   Prince Eddy makes a bad candidate for Jack the Ripper and that is easily disposed of - it might make for interesting reading, but not very possible.
   
   Having read a few books concerning this person, I would definately say that he was on the dumb side. Too many contemporaries paint him as being lazy and unconcentrated and not knowing the meaning of the word "to read." The author simply chooses not to believe this and to think that his seeming lack of intelligence came from having bad, uninspiring teachers and being immature (and some have also suggested it was because he was hard of hearing like his mother).
   
   As to the last issue, I also do not agree with the author. All other sources I've read do involve the Prince in the Cleveland Street scandal and state that there was a royal cover up. I won't go into the details except to state that this author discounts Lord Arthur Sommerset by stating that he and Prince Eddy barely knew each other and that Sommerset wound up only repeating the rumours his lawyer started to deflect interest off himself. This is conjecture in my opinion.
   
   One can agree or disagree with these issues - we will never know for sure - but I would suggest further reading on this subject if one is interested. Don't take this biography as your only source. Suggested reading: " The Cleveland Street Scandal " by Colin Simpson,Lewis Chester and David Leitch (there is another book on this subject called "The Cleveland Street Affair" by H. Montgomery Hyde), "Prince Eddy and the Homosexual Underworld" by Theo Aronson, "Clarence: Was He Jack the Ripper" by Michael Harrison, and a newer one "The Prince, His Tutor and the Ripper" by Deborah McDonald. Further background information can be gained from some of the biographies of Prince Eddy's parents, King Edward VII and Queen Alexandra, or of his brother, King George V. As far as the Jack the Ripper rumours about Prince Eddy, there are a number of other books on this subject.
   
   All in all, from reading this book I got the sense that Prince Eddy was probably just a very nice but spoiled, immature, shallow and not-very-intelligent person. And may I add heartless to that list since he was an very avid hunter. Having read "Prince Eddy: the King Britain Never Had" I find him less sympathetic than I previously did.

1 comments about William Wilberforce: Exceptional Lay Leaders (Heroes of the Faith).

1. No book that mentions the dawning of Darwin's theory of evolution is complete without a story of the debate between Thomas Huxley and William Wilberforce. Thomas Huxley used a devastating one liner to Wilberforce's detriment and so it seems Darwin's theory of evolution was unleashed to become a commonly accepted fact or so these books seem to suggest. When I saw this book I just had to read it. I discovered that William Wilberforce had a long political career as a MP in England. Mr. Wilberforce devoted most of his political career, over 40 years to abolishing slavery. Wilberforce was almost single-handedly responsible for England's repudiation of slavery within its empire and forbidding British ships to engage in the slave trade. He is also credited with creating a religious revival in British society as a result of his policies based upon a high moral code. Wilberforce's life ends with a Hollywood flair, receiving news of his political success within hours before his death. But what about the debate? Darwinism, evolutionism, and the Thomas Huxley debate? It was not mentioned at all. I was a little disapppointd that the debate was not mentioned, but on second thought in the perspective of Wilberforce's life it probably does not rate mentioning. This book is well written, compact; it is this reader's type of book, short and to the point. The author explained Wilberforce's accomplishments and his guiding principals. More importanltly the Author in outline form sums up Wilberforce's life achievements in the last chapter, a very good technique that more authors should use to help instill the major points of a text. The appendix consists of the a chapter of a book that Wilberforce's wrote. This book had a great effect upon the British upper class and gives the reader a chance to sample the personal style of Wilberforce himself, in case the reader wants to read some of his original works. Very well done.

5 comments about Elizabeth Woodville: Mother of the Princes in the Tower.

1. Readers with an interest in the Wars of the Roses will find this book about Elizabeth Woodville, Edward IV's Queen, and the mother of the "Princes in the Tower", perfectly readable, but not extremely compelling. This may be due to the relative scarcity of reliable, original source information about her. (I think much of the contemporary information about her is speculation about how she, a widow from the gentry class with two children, managed to attract and win the King, suggesting that witchcraft was involved.) My sense is the book may go a little far in "white-washing" her historical reputation as grasping, selfish, proud and haughty. I just don't think the sketchy information the author was able to marshall was convincing enough to really establish what kind of person Elizabeth actually was, one way or other.

   Also, regarding the earlier reviewer's suggestion that Elizabeth's negative reputation owes to the Tudors "looking back in anger", it might pay to remember that Henry VIII's grandmother was, in fact, Elizabeth Woodville (his mother's mother), so I'm not certain how much her historical reputation is a result of this. I think it actually owes a lot more to her contemporary Yorkist rivals, who were threatened by her very unexpected emergence onto the scene and potential power she could wield as the King's wife, than to the later Tudors, a dynasty Elizabeth's own daughter founded when she married Henry Tudor.




2. My primary interest in history--or at least that period in which I did my MA--has always been in the ancient near east. Over the past four or five years, however, I have been branching out more. Of late in particular I have been filling in what I learned of English history in a survey course I took years ago. I've read some on Richard III, on Edward I, II, III, and IV and on Edward the Black Prince. I've followed up on King Harold and his "difference of opinion" with William of Normandy, etc.

   In reading some of these works, I find that I've learned only tangentially anything about the women of these episodes. When I came upon a reference to David Baldwin's book on Elizabeth Woodville Mother of the Princes in the Tower, my curiosity was immediately aroused, and I decided to find out something more about one of these women in the background, to see what part they actually played in the drama of their times.

   Like most people interested in English history, I know the Shakespeare Richard III and the story of the little princes in the tower. Having read some of the history of the period, I realized too that the queen was not well liked by many of the more influential and established nobility of her husband's realm. These individuals tended to depict her as a small town upstart who capitalized on her personal beauty to better all of the members of her family at the expense of the "legitimate" nobility. This set the stage for a very shaky government; one tested more than once by the disaffected, and created the drama of the Tower and of Richard III. Baldwin gets at the character of Elizabeth by looking at the extant documents of the time and by analyzing how the woman fit into the on going politics of her husband's reign rather than by following the contemporary accounts circulated by the woman's detractors.

   I was particularly fascinated by the degree to which each phase of English history links naturally with its predecessor and its successor--not that this is particularly surprising perhaps. Some of the histories of other countries have far more discrete hiatuses between phases. This flow is particularly noticeable when it is viewed from the perspective of Elizabeth Woodville and her family. The royal genetics of the period was definitely convoluted. It was amazing how interrelated were not only the branches of the royal family with one another but with some of the nobility as well. (Looking at other genealogies reveals the degree to which the nobility of most of Europe were interrelated.) That "six degrees of separation" thing was definitely in operation here and pushed to the limit. It left the possibility of Elizabeth's either mending the rift between the houses of Lancaster and York, which is what the author theorizes was the intention of Edward IV, or exacerbating it. It also left a lot of people with a potential claim on the throne and with incentive to cause trouble--which is how the rift began in the first place. The chain continues into the future through the connection of the Tudors with the ultimate patriarch, Edward III. Elizabeth, her daughter--mother of Henry VIII--and her two sons help complete that link. Fascinating.

   FOR THOSE WRITING PAPERS IN HISTORY, HISTRIOGRAPHY, SOCIOLOGY, POLITICAL SCIENCES, WOMENS' STUDIES: One might look at how documents like accounts can be used to clarify lifestyles (clothing, expenses for servants, etc), status, power structures, etc or to write a biography such as this one. One might write a paper on the use of power by women in history, on how women acquire power within a society or at what the study of women and other "background" figures reveal about events during a particular episode in time. One might compare less favorable studies of Elizabeth Woodville with this one to determine to what extent the author's assessment of her reign is accurate. One might look at the story of the princes in the tower as it is told in Shakespeare--or Josephine Tey's novel Daughter of Time--and as it is presented in Baldwin's biography of Elizabeth to determine who might actually have committed the murders.

   A fun biography of an interesting woman




3. I've always been looking for a book on Elizabeth Woodville. History hasn't been too kind to her yet she was the mother of the princes in the tower. She went from being a widow with two children among the English class to being Queen of England. Its so rare for that to happen. You can understand the secrecy surrounding the marriage in the beginning because the other nobles weren't thrilled to say the least and most likely tried to find ways to keep the marriage from happening unfortunately that would later be used to declare her marriage invalid. How horrible it must have been to lose her husband, have her marriage invalid and lose her two sons. At least she got to live long enough to see her daughter become queen.



4. A complex book about a complex woman in complex times. I knew little about Elizabeth Woodville until I discovered this book but after digesting the detailed material within, you are completely briefed on the person, the extended family, the politics and the times. The tragedy of her children, the ruthlessness of power around her etc, can only mean you conclude the book with great sympathy for Woodville. I commend this book despite the rather dull prose (at times)



5. While I applaud the author for taking on a seldom written about subject, he took a complex and compelling woman and made her dull, which is the worst crime of all! His book is a tad sexist in places and, to me at least, seems to be biased in a "women can't be bad" type of way. This bias slants his interpretations.
   
   Also, at least as far as I could see the sourcing in this book seemed weak and the conclusions in this book were far too much based on the author's own value system.
   
   I think the assumption that nobles in this period had the same values and motives as we have today is likely false. Assuming that no mother would sacrifice her sons for her ambition (or knowingly associate with anyone that did kill them), leads this author to make conclusions that seem to me to based on his assumptions about motivations more than his analysis of data. From what I've read, it seems inconclusive what her motivations were. Allison Weir certainly thinks this one is a "bady" as they say - not that her analysis is definitive, but it is a counter-argument.
   
   However, the author should be applauded for researching a difficult and little researched subject with likely limited primary and secondary source material to use.

4 comments about Flying Blind: A Memoir of Biplane Flying over Waziristan in the Last Days of British Rule in India.

1. I could not put this book down. What I found remarkable about FLYING BLIND is that Geoffrey Morley-Mower has already written one of the most engaging and insightful memoirs of any veteran of the Second World War, MESSERSCHMITT ROULETTE. Yet FLYING BLIND is, in many ways, an even more satisfying book. Here, in the second volume of his memoirs, we meet the man and the pilot on the cusp of living his dream: flying for the RAF on the distant edge of the British Raj. Morley-Mower's self-deprecatory wit, his elegant and understated prose, and his gift for narrative sustain FLYING BLIND with a verve rarely found in fiction, much less in military biographies. The men who fought the good fight in the Second World War are fading from us, but this book reminds us of their honor, valor, and above all, their humanity, in ways that few other books have. Geoffrey Morley-Mower's second volume of his memoirs, like the first, is reminiscent of William Manchester's outstanding remembrance of serving in the U.S. Marine infantry in the Second World War, GOODBYE DARKNESS. Like Manchester, Morley-Mower has no room for bombast and plenty of room for reflective, highly-charged prose. FLYING BLIND is a must-read for anyone interested in great writing. For military scholars, it is a jewel, as so few of the iron-backboned RAF heroes are still alive. Thank God Geoffrey Morley-Mower wrote this book, bless him. And, as Hemingway once said, good books never suffer in the re-reading. FLYING BLIND is richer in the re-reading. Enjoy.



2. This account of army and air operations over the Afghan border in the last days of British rule in India will intrigue a wide audience, from those interested in books on early plane and biplane flight to readers of military accounts. The author joined the Royal Air Force as a pilot in 1937, two years before World War II: his experiences in an antique plane provides a fine account of his adventures and close encounters.



3. Great heroic story! Fascinating records of army and air operations over the treacherous terrain of the Afghan border. Shortly after the war, a pilot fights to keep his flying carrer with his appeals to King George VI! Does he win his? I'll save that for you!



4. As a pilot, I could identify/sympathize with Mr. Morley-Mower's flight training. A down to earth book that tells it like it was. This is a tale of an unasuming hero. A must follow on is his first book, Messerschmitt Roulette. Thank you Geoffrey.

No comments about The Art of Acting in The Drama.

1 comments about JOCK LEWES: Co-Founder of the SAS.

1. A major contribution to the early history of the SAS, this outstanding biography of Jock Lewes persuasively argues that he was the real founder of the elite British commando corps in World War II not David Stirling. Lewes had not only developed the concept of the corps but had begun training his men before he was joined by David Stirling. Lewes was a brilliant innovator, experimenting with early parachute techniques and creating the Lewes bomb, who was initially sceptical of enlisting Stirling.

   Written by his nephew, with access to family friends and unused private papers, the biography successfully argues its case without doing an injustice to Stirling. On the contrary, it shows that the ultimate success of the unit was due to a successful partnership in which the two men played distinct but essential roles. Stirling was crucial in promoting support for the formal adoption of the SAS among doubtful commanders at HQ.

   The biography reads like a good thriller maintaining suspense throughout. Well over half the book is devoted to the years before the war, beginning with his boyhood in Australia. There are memorable vignettes of Oxford in the 1930s, where Jock led the Oxford University Boat Club in its first victory against Cambridge in many years, and the Berlin Olympics. Jock emerges in these early chapters as a charismatic and visionary leader long before his founding of the SAS.

   "Jock Lewes" is a work of revision which will change the text book accounts of the origins of the SAS.

No comments about Kings & Queens: The Concise Guide.

1 comments about School in South Uist.

1. This is the story of the first Catholic Schoolmaster in South Uist since the Reformation. Frederick Rea was an English Roman Catholic and his experiences with the Gaelic Speaking Islanders of South Uist and the famous folklorist and poet Father Allan MacDonald make for a wonderful, sometimes funny and sometimes tragic story. This is a charming an important book for anyone interesting in multicultural studies, Gaelic heritage or Scottish history. It is really one of a kind.

No comments about Michael Collins - A Life in Pictures.