5 comments about Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria.

1. When I first saw that this book was published, I was skeptical that enough information could be gathered about Queen Victoria's death to make for interesting reading. Was I wrong! The Last Days of Glory: The Death of Queen Victoria by Tony Rennell contains not just lots of interesting information, but also all the high drama required of a good Victorian novel. The cast of characters is unbelievable. They include: 1. a robust queen whose rapidly failing health is kept from her public until the last minute 2. a reluctant heir who would rather go fox hunting and spend time with his mistresses than attend his mother's deathbed or assume the throne 3. a passel of children and grandchildren who hover about and argue with each other 4. an obnoxious, arrogant and overbearing grandson (Kaiser William II) trying to make nice with his British cousins (who all loathe him) while trying to muscle his way into the death scene 5. a personal doctor who is second guessed at every opportunity, is never allowed to physically examine the queen and who serves as a spy to the Kaiser 6. a bishop who tries to interject too much "churchiness" into the death scene and is finally asked to leave 7. a head dresser who has promised the queen to sneak a large number of objects and mementos into the queen's coffin (without her family's knowledge) including several from the queen's devoted Scottish servant, John Brown (also rumored to be her secret husband) 8. a large number of heads of state who scheme and plot and politic against each other at the funeral, even though most of them are related to each other 9. an Empire of British subjects who have never known another sovereign and 10. a large group of faithful but bumbling government officials who have no clue how to bury the old monarch or install the new one because they haven't had to worry about such things for over 63 years.

   Add to this story a lost effigy for the burial sarcophagus and over 100 daily newspapers scrapping for every little tidbit of information, and you have a saga most fiction writers could only dream about. To make the story even more interesting, we learn about the changes in the Empire and the world during the course of Victoria's reign. Telegrams have revolutionized communication, telephones are in their infancy, and no one really believes that the new horseless carraiges will become popular because they're too expensive. Queen Victoria's death takes place at the dawn of a new millennium, so the end of the 19th Century and the end of the Victorian Era occur together. Also, the British Empire will never again be as great or as grand as it was during Victoria's reign. It all makes for fascinating reading.

   The only flaw I could find in The Last Dayas of Glory involved a historical fact. The Russian Tsar and Tsarina, Nicholas and Alexandra (Victoria's favorite granddaughter) got married after Nicholas became tsar and not before. But other than this minor error, I find no fault here. Tony Rennell's book is a nice surprise and well worth reading.




2. A surprisingly entertaining book. Surprisingly because Rennell writes quite a dry book, not sensationalising the story of Victoria's death, or attempting to get too personal. Rather, he takes the reader through Victoria's last days, her death and the funeral, relating aspects from the point of view of those close to Victoria and the press. He never directly writes political analysis, but rather hints at it, only occasionally drawing parallels with the modern British monarchy. By taking one small episode - lasting only a year really - Rennell manages to explore various facets of Victorian life and it's legacy.

   The most striking point in this book is the fact that no-one seemed prepared for Queen Victoria's death, which is amazing considering the woman was in her eighties! But it also entertainingly covers the small facts - the internal squabbles within the large and extended royal family; the fact the Queen was a bit of a glutton until her final illness; the boy who flicked a match and set fire to a man's hat while the public watched the funeral procession move through London. Rennell manages to steer a course between the academic and the `dumbing down' sometimes prevalent in modern day `popular history'. Rather, he just sticks to the facts and supposes his readers are intelligent enough to understand and interpret them.




3. Basically this book is just an overview of the last three weeks of Queen Victoria's life, and not very interestingly written either, being rather simplistic and jumping back & forth in style.
   
   For a much more comprehensive and fascinating view of Queen Victoria's last days, I recommend "Ask Sir James" by Michaela Reid, which is a biography of Ms. Reid's grandfather, Sir James Reid, Queen Victoria's doctor. Despite its being a book not strictly about Queen Victoria, "Ask Sir James" is really chock full of interesting information and tidbits of personal history regarding the last 20-odd years of the Queen's life, her personality and her health, and is a much better and more interesting book than "Last Days of Glory". Don't waste your money on Rennell's book; go to the source it's based on!



4. 
   I like a book that is focused and keeps its tone throughout. With content like this I'm sure it took discipline to weed out the many stories of people and events that brought the world to this date. For instance, just enough is devoted to the Kaiser and John Brown is appropriately dealt with in the appendix. The tone stays the same through the final days, to the funeral preparations and then the funeral ritual itself.
   
   It had been so long since a monarch's death, that no one could remember the protocol. There were big issues and smaller decisions. How to inform the populace? How long should a mourning period last? (Various aspects of the economy had to be considered.) Would Edward hire the Queen's personal staff? Hymns had to be chosen, and a favorite had to yield to the politically correct one of the time. So many outpourings from at home and abroad. Special request floral designs. Visiting dignitaries. What to call the Princess of Wales before installation? QV left very detailed instructions, but soon to be installed King Edward now had the veto.
   
   Rennell gives us all the above and more. He sticks with his topic and brings together all the pertinent material. Very good job.



5. Can a book about someone's death be entertaining? You bet, if the subject is Queen Victoria and it deals with the pomp and circumstance of her death. Extraordinary research, well-written. Very human, including royal family conflicts and imperfections. If you like the Victorian period, by all means, read this book.

No comments about John Evelyn: Living for Ingenuity.

No comments about Michael Collins: Screenplay and Film Diary ~ SIGNED!.

1 comments about Improper Pursuits: The Scandalous Life of an Earlier Lady Diana Spencer.

1. This interesting but uneven book is purportedly about Lady Diana Spencer, an 18th Century English aristocrat who suffered through two unhappy marriages (the first ended through the scandal of divorce). She made a minor reputation for herself as an artist at a time when society ladies did not work. As a biography, the book is not a success since we learn very little about the character of Lady Di, her likes and dislikes, her goals and accomplishments. But as a portrait of British nobility, "Improper Pursuits" is often fascinating. Society was filled with venal, brainless and irresponsible young men, obsessed with gambling and exemplified by Lady Di's first husband, Lord Bolingbroke, nicknamed "Bully" on the one hand. On the other hand are the creative and intellectual giants, including Dr. Johnson and the ever-present James Boswell, Garrick and Sheridan, who were friends with Lady Di's second husband, Topham Beauclerk. The highly eccentric Horace Walpole flutters through the book, charming and likeable and maddening in equal parts.

   As the author describes this society, it was clearly male-dominated and little space was left where women could flourish equally. Carola Hicks makes a mighty effort to bring women into the story, describing the household and social skills they were required to learn (and nothing further) but they are so overshadowed by the men that there is a feeling of desperation as the author tries to flesh out the story and throws in everything but the kitchen sink. For example: where did upper class ladies buy their paintbrushes in London? Nonetheless, many of the characters she describes are fascinating and a particular London in the time of George II and George III is nicely delineated. Lady Di remains as two-dimensional as her own drawings of cherubs, though. After reading "Improper Pursuits,"the reader realizes that the subject of the book will be more remembered for her friends than for herself.

5 comments about The Diana Chronicles.

1. I really enjoyed this CD about the life of Diana... It seemed to give me closure about her death and unhappy life. Tina Brown gives little known facts about her life and death in a captivating style. It is a natural follow up to other books written about Diana. My only wish was that the book was longer!



2. This is an even handed, rich portrait of a very complicated young woman. I purchased the audio thinking it was a fluff piece I could listen to while working out, but found the book fascinating and was sorry when it was over. Tina Brown presents each of the major characters in this tragedy as multifaceted individuals, making this not the usual tabloid nonsense, but a sociological study of a very interesting and often self-destructive family.



3. I started THE DIANA CHRONICLES by Tina Brown by reading it in the store in parts. I figured it was ANOTHER Diana book, and I could pass some pleasant hours in the bookstore sitting in a chair going over some familiar ground. But I was surprised: Brown is an insightful, clear and unflinching writer who has the ability, due to her experience in print journalism, to view the famous through a cynical but knowledgeable media lens. This book was so good, that when I got 300 pages in to the 500-plus-page book, I bought it. It was getting hard to find, and I NEEDED to finish it.
   
   The plotline of Diana's life does not need to be repeated here. What this book is good for is the way it examines her life and her responses to the events of her life as influenced by the media and the media coverage of the her every move. It's as if it weren't Diana and the media professionals who were in a relationship, but Diana and the media coverage who influenced each other. This study is a fascinating examination of how media attention can become a character in the narrative of a famous person's life. According to Brown, Diana made decisions not just in response to the other people in her life, but in reaction to press and how her actions might be reported and perceived. She lost the goal, at some points, of how press attention can influence individuals and became focused on the press itself.
   
   This book presents a strong narrative, a plotline of a life that is compelling and cogent. Though we know the story well, Brown's reportage is complete and portrays not only a whole Diana, but a complete Charles and other royals who had to orbit her star while she was alive.
   
   This was a fascinating book to read as an examination of a woman of fame who could not help but respond to the expectations of women in the times in which she lived. Reading THE DIANA CHRONICLES, one cannot help but think of the price some women pay to be the feminine, compassionate women the world wants them to be. When that world is personified by papparazzi and reporters in fragile woman's day-to-day life, her response can be astonishing.



4. Tina Brown's book combines history with pop culture and brings the reader a whole new presentation of Princess Diana. I was wary about purchasing it at first, fearing that it would be too gossipy but instead I found that I was touched by her story. The attention to detail is remarkable and covers the life of Princess Diana with a true journalist's touch. I highly suggest it for anyone who has even a remote interest in Princess Diana or the current British Royal Family in general.



5. I had just returned from a dinner. The media was rife with the coverage: black metal gnarled from the unforgiving concrete pillars in a Parisian tunnel on a humid August night. A princess whose fate was unknown. With bated breath, I kept the news on as the "princess of the people" was laid to rest.
   
   Three years later, I rode through the very tunnel, overwhelmed at the lives ended in this seemingly innocuous location.
   
   The difficulty when reading a biography--or an autobiography, for that matter--is discerning fact from fiction. Tina Brown's The Diana Chronicles, however, whether 100 percent accurate or not, seems to ring true in that she does an excellent job in making Diana three-dimensional.
   
   We see Diana the lover, the mother, the humanitarian. We also see her as the woman--the princess--who knew how to groom the media to further her status. This affair became tragically toxic one night in a Parisian tunnel.
   
   The Diana Chronicles, now available in paperback, enjoyed success on the bestseller lists upon its initial 2007 publication.
   
   Tina Brown, who met Diana 10 months before her untimely death, has become an expert on the royals, candidly uncovering the prevailing attitudes and dalliances of Britain's monarchy--and those in close proximity to its power.
   
   Brown didn't need much help in spinning a tale thick with twists: Diana's life reads more like a soap opera script. We see Diana, the doe-eyed child, abandoned by a mother and raised by English nannies. Diana the teenager, who captivated a young Prince Charles. Then there's the bride who captivated the world with her real-life fairy tale wedding turned sour divorce when the roving-eyed Charles falls back into the arms of Camilla.
   
   Throw in a handsome Egyptian playboy, a handful of paparazzi and extravagance. Lies, betrayal, affairs -it was all a recipe for tragedy--a tragedy that made two rosy-cheeked blond children casualties in the war of the Windsors.
   
   The bottom line is: Even more than a decade after Diana's death, the princess of the people still has the ability to captivate.
   
   Armchair Interviews agrees.

1 comments about A Welsh Childhood.

1. Perhaps not for all tastes this autobiographical series of set pieces is wonderfully reminiscent of life in small country areas not all so long ago. There is a sense of time lost folded into the scattered vignettes. I would suggest that it would be particualarly appealing to those of Welsh ancestry and/or those who have lived in small American towns. The photographs are very much in synthesis with the stories and point up the sense of enjoyable loss.

5 comments about John Major: The Autobiography.

1. As I watched the results from the 1997 General Election from the sidelines of America (remembering that ten years prior I had been in the thick of things, on the floor of a count and being shown on BBC intently staring at the bank teller drafted to count the box in which I had an interest), I was variously amazed, pleased, saddened, and in the end, pleasantly surprised at the good humour of John Major, who said very simply, 'Okay, we lost.'

   I met John Major first when he was a rising parliamentary star recruited to come to the constituency of the backbencher for whom I worked. He came to give a pep talk to the local Conservatives on a local radio programme; this constituency (Basildon) was considered a dead loss, so much so that the PM and various other Cabinet names wouldn't waste their time making a stop--but John Major came, and, we won.

   Major has put together an interesting account of his time in office. Thankfully he concentrates on his political career (not spending hundreds of pages giving us the sort of childhood information that rarely adds value to a political autobiography), starting with his first victory coming to the House of Commons in 1979 (Margaret Thatcher's first victory as leader) and culminating with the 1997 electoral defeat, which he took with relatively good grace and rather few recriminations. And, whereas many political figures spend a large part of their memoirs in a 'If I were still there' mode, Major only devotes a few pages to the follow-up and future (in a five-page chapter entitled Aftermath) preferring not to speculate on irrelevant imponderables, and avoiding the problem of which he was most critical in his predecessor--that being of not wanting to let go.

   It was no secret that one of the things the press and public eagerly sought in this book was Major's opinions on the continued attempts by Thatcher to exert an influence in leadership. His rocky relationship with the former prime minister has many examples through the text, some explicit and some subtle (such as the caption from a photo taken at the 1990 Conservative Party Conference, which reads 'Still on good terms with Margaret following the announcement of our entry into the ERM.').

   In general, this is a well-written book, and John Major's tenure of office is rather more interesting than popular memory or the press would have one believe, perhaps understandable due to following a person of such flash and sparkle as Thatcher--who could compete with that? Major did in many ways, and, as his autobiography shows, he won in many ways, and when he lost, he was a gentleman.




2. John Major's autobiography is a clear and balanced account of his early life and of his time in office leading the United Kingdom. He forcefully defends most of his policies and a few times admits that he got some important things wrong.
   
   The first nine chapters are chronological and recount his childhood, his early life in business and politics, his rise within Thatcher's cabinet, and finally his attaining the Prime Ministership. The remaining nineteen chapters deal with his days in office. Each chapter addresses a topic or issue, beginning with his first international test in leading the UK through the first Gulf War. He deals with domestic issues like Ireland and the poll tax, but spends much time on Europe as European issues hogged the agenda during most of his tenure. He explains his position as a pragmatic Eurosceptic. On one hand, Major has always wanted to remain British and fears the coming of a United States of Europe; on the other hand he sees the foolishness of the UK giving up its influence by refusing to participate.
   
   Pragmatism colours all of Major's decisions and policies. Unfortunately, Major led a party polarized by extreme views on Europe, on Monetary union, and even on the question of Ireland and to many at the time his pragmatism looked weak or lacking in beliefs. It was not. Major convincingly recounts how he was trying to save the Tories from splitting. He saw the Conservative party as a crucial institution, one whose survival in the long term mattered much more than the transient questions of Europe. But Major is an opinonated pragmatist. He believes in the basics of Toryism and then had to watch in frustration as New Labour under Tony Blair appropriated (Major bluntly says "stole") basic Tory social and fiscal policies.
   
   Thus pragmatism had drawbacks. It caused Major to back off a little in order to appease; he accepts responsibility for the Conservative failure and the new Labour landslide.



3. John Major said it himself - if he had been the only candidate in the 1997 election he would have come second. The usual view of his premiership is of an interlude between the eras of Thatcher and Blair. Historians in due course may see it otherwise, but the first thing that needs to be said is that as a historical record these memoirs are first class. For candour, fair-mindedness, lack of ego and clarity in separating fact from inference and opinion I have never read their like from anyone who ever attained such a position.
   
   The candour doesn't stretch to telling us absolutely everything. Like Jimmy Carter John Major was unlucky on top of his own errors, but one great piece of good luck was that his affair (while in a junior post) with a parliamentary colleague Edwina Currie did not come to light until he had left office. It was the funniest story in 20th century British politics and it highlights what was always his problem - he wasn't taken seriously. His face was against him, his voice was against him, and his bank-managerish way of expressing himself at times, such as I have borrowed for my caption to this review via Private Eye, was a gift to the satirists and the chattering classes. Otherwise his style of writing is, in all important and relevant respects, excellent. I cringed on reading `...the huge constituency and its rich variety of interests'; or `...he was always ready with a good-humoured story'. His innocent pride at his own little jokes and bons mots is pretty embarrassing too, but some of his more acid asides such as regarding the overlooked hopefuls whose self-ascribed talents would have needed a long-range telescope to be discerned are actually much better, although he floored me with his remark about the `column inches' devoted by the papers to Hugh Grant after his famous arrest.
   
   There I go. It's all too easy not to take him seriously, and it's all wrong too. This man was a national leader through some pretty momentous times. I can't say that his narration of the gulf war added much to what I already knew, but nobody else was in a position to enlighten us so much about the economic ups and downs of the 80's and 90's, and especially about the issue that more than any other wrecked his government, namely relations between Britain and Europe. Unlike many national leaders, Major understood economics. His rise to the top was mainly via the Treasury, and when next, I wonder, will we ever see an economic narrative like this, told by a man who knows what he's talking about, who was right at the centre of decision-making, who is or appears to be completely willing to tell the whole story, and who is able to put it across with such lucidity? If you think economics is complicated, try understanding the British Conservative party and its behaviour over Europe. Here we find Major the historian at his superlative best. The behaviour of his `euro-sceptic' MP's was a psychologist's field-day, and Major assesses them individually with a dispassionate calmness that is staggeringly impressive considering the hell they put him through. It would all have broken many a lesser man (or woman). I never voted for his government nor would I if I had the chance again, but I can't see how his bitterest critic can fail to be impressed by the way he kept his nerve, and by the way he can stand back from his own performance under that sort of pressure and assess it as if he were marking an exam paper.
   
   As if all this were not enough, he had Northern Ireland to deal with. If it would be fair to say that he was out of his depth with the issue, the same could be said about every other prime minister who has tackled it. Major made a bold and honest attempt to cope, and some of it has stuck, and Blair has been the beneficiary as he has been in a significant number of other ways. Above all, Blair inherited a sound economy after all the travails of the previous 10 years, Major knows that, and he's sore about the lack of recognition of the fact. Major was unlucky to come to office at the time he did - Thatcher and Blair were elected on a wave of disgust at the failures, real or perceived, of the preceding governments, up with whose shortcomings, as the phrase goes, we were fed. Major entered 10 Downing Street at a time when changes were going on that he only partly understands and, characteristically, doesn't claim to understand fully. He came from a poor background, and he is a `compassionate' conservative. Those have actually been around for a long time, witness Disraeli himself. Witness also Macmillan, the premier who said `We are all socialists now'. Macmillan was quite unquestionably compassionate, but he belonged to a tradition, and in an era, when the Conservative party had every reason to believe that power was its birthright. These days it still thinks so, and, worse, acts as if it does. Its problem is that the rest of us think otherwise. Labour's shortcomings are manifold and monstrous, but it doesn't make that mistake and that could be Labour's salvation for quite a long time. If I'm right, Major's thoughtful musings, while valid in point after point, are missing the main one. He was a good manager, but he failed as a leader and as a politician. Blair could see, as FDR could all those years ago, that if you at least act as if you understand what people are asking for they will put up with a great deal. For all his humble origins Major failed to connect, partly through his own fault as he can see very well, but mainly because nobody associated the Conservative party with the values that he himself is most interested in - health, safety, pensions, schools, hospitals and so on. These are traditionally Labour's strong suits, and, largely through his inheritance from Major, Blair has slain the dragon that Labour can't be trusted with the economy. That leaves the Conservatives rowing over Europe on the assumption that what matters to them must therefore matter to the rest of us. Their own chairman and advertising magnate Lord Saatchi has grasped the point perfectly well `Who needs the Tories now?' Blair is running into trouble through pushing his phenomenal luck a little too far and he will be going shortly in any case, but as he faces his fifth Conservative opponent in 8 or 9 years I expect he and his successor will make short work of whoever it is because they have grasped this point. I wonder whether Major has come to see it this way too by now.



4. I wanted to read this book both because of the Speaker Series and because I will be going to London later this year. It has taught me about some of the culture and politics of that great land. Yet, John Major drones on about topics in way too much detail. I usually enjoy the first 10 pages of every chapter at which point he chooses to drag the subject into areas that often don't seem related.



5. I did a report on the history of the Conservative Party from 1990 to 1997. We were asked by our instructor to use at least ten sources, you really only need one and it's this book! It is presented in chronological order and is easy to understand. The rift over Europe helps explain why the Tory Party was so badly beaten in the 1997 General Election. A great source for anybody doing research into this time in British history!

3 comments about Henry Hudson.

1. I am going to give this 5 stars. I'll list why in a second just let me tell you a few of my issues. First Sandler doesn't seem to interview that many people concerning the Clearwater Sloop, the Hudson River Keeper or the many, many other environmental organizations dedicated to keep the Hudson clean. He also brushes over the Storm King case. Sandler does not mention the Indian Point nuclear power plant.
   
   Ok now that's out of the way let me explain a bit why this book is excellent.
   
   First of all its one-third history, one-third travelogue and one-third PSA for keeping all the places Henry Hudson visited clean. The history part is fairly typical in that we don't know much about Hudson; he may have been a bad captain nothing that new or exciting. But overall it's still interesting and a good introduction for those unfamiliar with Hudson.
   
   Then comes the travelogue sections. These are really interesting mostly because of all the unique people the author met on his travels. In reading the book the former director of Clearwater, Andy Mele, comes off as a pretty genuine guy. He's not a crazy tree hugging hippe but just a regular guy that wants to do some good. Most of the environmentalist people come off this way. Some people may not like this but honestly try spending a night near the Hudson...smell that? Yeah, that's the river. I did enjoy Sandle's search for Hudson's monuments and as he mentions in the introduction the most obvious ones are the Hudson River and New York City.
   
   The best parts are the sections that are basically the PSAs about environmentalism. There are numerous digs at GE for dumping PCBs and our society in general. Having lived for four years about 100 yards from the Hudson I must say it's easily one of the greatest sights in the world. But its also one of the biggest dumps too. I think it's terrible that the river is so polluted that you can't go for a swim or eat a fish from there. I had a picnic with my girlfriend one day in Hyde Park right on the river and it was pretty easy to spot all the trash washed up on the shore. Ok enough gushing as Sandler does a much better job explaining this then I do.
   
   In conclusion just read the book. It's excellent.



2. If you're considering buying this book you should know what you're in for. If you're expecting a biography of Henry Hudson you'll be disappointed. There is very little on Hudson in this book. What you get is a high-level overview of what Hudson is thought to have done and a whole lot of ramble on Corey Sandler's experiences visiting the places Hudson visited.
   
   There's not a whole lot that's known about Hudson. What there is comes from a few brief surviving documents. You get the text from those documents word-for-word with little if any interpretation from the author. That's the real disappointment of this book. If I wanted to read the text of the original documents I'd look them up myself online. What I wanted was expert interpretation and the telling of the story that these documents seem to describe.
   
   Sandler writes from Nantucket, an island he shares with the great historian Nathaniel Philbrick. But where Philbrick excels at taking scant information and turning it into a fascinating story, Sandler dumps the source information on the page and then rambles on about his own experiences in visiting the same places 400 years later. Unfortunately, it's just not very interesting. Thought you'd learn about Hudson's trip up the river that bears his name? You're going to get a little of that and then a whole lot of information on General Electric, PCBs, the environmental movement, and Pete Seeger.
   
   An earlier reviewer characterized this book as being 1/3 history. I'd put it more at 1/10th. By the end of the book you'll know little about Hudson, but all about Sandler's political views, summer camp experiences, family, feelings, travel preferences, and a whole lot of other personal detail. If that's what you're looking to read about, you'll love it. But if you read the title and thought you were instead going to read a biography of Henry Hudson, you'll be disappointed.



3. This is a marvelous book about one of the least-known of the great explorers.
   
   As Corey Sandler says, very little is known about Henry Hudson except for the period included within the five years of his four voyages. And much of what is on the record is based on the testimony of the mutineers who were out to save their own necks.
   
   Instead, what the author has done is write a fascinating biography of the PLACES Hudson explored: Svalbard near the north pole, Novaya Zemlya above Russia, the Hudson River, and northern Canada including Hudson Strait, Hudson Bay, and James Bay.
   
   He uses the logs and journals of Hudson and some of his crew to put things in context, and then tells us the stories of some of the most amazing places on the planet.
   
   This is a most unusual book, a great read. And it delivers exactly what it promises: "The Tragic Legacy of the New World's Least Understood Explorer." Every page brought a new perspective on history for me. I highly recommend this book.

1 comments about Princess Margaret: A Biography.

1. Over the course of seven decades she has gone from being the cherubic little princess who captured the hearts of the pre-war public, to the controversial, often badly behaved tabloid darling whose escapades foreshadowed those of her nephews and their wives, to the shadowy figure whose recent stroke would seem to have more or less removed her from the public stage.

   In this evenhanded but essentially sympathetic biography, the Princess emerges as both surprisingly interesting and sadly adrift, a woman whose only substantial accomplishment may end up having been the mother of two apparently well-adjusted and happy children (a feat her older sister might well envy).

   Having interviewed members of the Royal Family for various other projects over the years (an advantage denied most unauthorized biographers), Aronson weaves first-hand quotes into his narrative to good effect. He effectively discounts some earlier biographers' wilder claims (of inherited madness, for example) while, it must be admitted, adding some of his own (is it really possible that the Princess confessed to having "detested" her grandmother, the formidable but endearing Queen Mary?). All in all, though, a pleasant and worthwhile read for Royal-watchers.

5 comments about The Most Offending Soul Alive: Tom Harrisson and His Remarkable Life.

1. It seems impossible to imagine capturing the full and complex life of this man in book form but Heimann has done so - carrying out Harrrison's own plan for his autobiography. He had intended to be to be "self-pitiless", and this accountspares us no `warts'- but what fascinating warts! I am convinced that he would have been profoundly grateful to the author for this recording of his life. Only when fairly measured against the flaws of character and errors of judgment can we fully appreciate his amazingly varied contributions to human knowledge (on human behavior as well as that of birds,orangutans, turtles...) He said of himself that his greatest task was to keep up with himself but he gave it a gallant try, writing as much as 8000 words a day on a wide variety of subjects. One of his better known exploits was the creation of a team which discreetly observed the British public during WW II, getting a feel for the people's frame of mind, in ways that make today's polls look slapdash and superficial.

   Heimann makes it clear why Harrisson was more comfortable during his many years in Borneo (among other difficult travels) than he was back `home' in England, happier in the long houses with the various tribes he came to know and love, getting drunk with them and carousing with their women. His beloved tribesmen later gathered to help rid the Island of the Japanese near the end of the war (some using their blow pipes).

   The knowledge he acquired was never fully accepted by the academic community, due to his lack of formal training, but as Heiman points out, he contributed more to our knowledge of both anthropology and archaeology of Sarawak, where he was a museum curator among other things, than was garnered by specialists in either field in other areas of Southeast Asia. Throw in ornithology - his first love as a student - always a strong interest....and protection of orangutans, and green sea turtles.

   Harrisson had incredible energy, and an amazing lack of requirements for personal comfort, suffering every imaginable discomfort and disease, walking miles through jungle, climbing mountains at a brisk pace, and expecting the same from his behind-the-lines soldiers in the interior of Borneo during the war. He would eat anything, without complaint - had good survival skills! But in what is referred to as polite sociey he often behaved outrageously, being rude, picking fights and in fact being "the most offending soul alive." He had a dreadful talent for offending people who were later able to get back at him and cause a great deal of harm.

   This review could go on and on - buy the book! I am simply amazed at the amount of research that Ms. Heimann has done; there is no stone unturned, yet all this is laid out for us with no unwelcome suppositions on her part - he left plenty of traces without having to invent them - rather one feels led along by someone with a wise and balanced understanding of her subject. Some books about extraordinary people leave disappointing, pale images - the reader longs for a quick glimpse of the real McCoy. Heimann has been able to bring us Tom Harrisson alive and kicking, even while including the immense amount of details that needed to be sorted through and pulled together to describe his life. Bravo!




2. If the purpose of a book is to inform, entertain and delight - Ms. Heimann's book rates A+. Tom Harrisson must have been one of the most gifted persons of the 20th Century. His contributions in many fields of science were incredible. In his early 20's he became a veteran of scientific expeditions to the Arctic and Borneo with oustanding treatises on ornithology to his credit. His scientific pursuits only began there. He provided basic work, inter alia, in sociology, anthropology, ethnology as well as market research and documentary filmmaking! He was too brilliant for formal training and avoided it all his life to the chagrin and jealousy of many with degrees.

   An outstanding leader in WWII, he formed a small army of headhunters with deadly blowguns to drive the Japanese from the jungles of Borneo. This he did with a handful of losses while inflicting casualties in the thousands on the Japanese. Harrisson was no diplomat and often seemed to enjoy rubbing people the wrong way. Although his enemies were legion, he had a way with women. The book's title provides the kernel of his story. From Henry V, the full quotation is:

   But if it be a sin to covet honor, I am the most offending soul alive.

   This book demands reading.




3. Tom Harrisson did more different things in his life than any human being should be allowed to, and did them all outstandingly. And Judith Heimann does a remarkable job of following across continents and professions as he goes from one amazing adventure to the next. He was a war hero, an anthropologist, a naturalist, a pollster and much else. He was also a very difficult person who alienated many people, left a trail of broken hearts, and sorely neglected his children. But he was one of the most colorful and memorable men of his generation, and Heimann's terrific research and fine writing takes you along for an astounding ride. Once you've met Tom, you won't forget him.



4. What a life! Tom Harrisson is hardly a household name in the US but he was one of those rather well-connected and well-educated British misfits who turned their lack of enthusiasm for the British Isles into a grand adventure. He served the waning empire both as a military man and as a civil servant. The high point of his military doings is the guerrilla war against the Japanese that he organized and fought in Borneo with the local population. That part of his life alone deserves a movie.

   After the war he went back to his long standing interests in botany, zoology and ethnography, keeping at some point turtles in his bathroom as part of a study of their migratory habits. All through his life there was much womanizing,boozing and boasting. The latter two mainly got him the reputation that the title of the book refers to. But there was also much serious scholarly work and real concern for the local population he worked closely with. The work produced several publications and a couple of documentary movies.

   As Judith Heimann, who knew Harrisson personally and researched his life for about 10 years, tells the story, his contributions to ethnography have been underrated because of his unorthodox methods and his knack for making enemies. Of course, without that approach he would be a much less interesting character and a less engaging writer: after having read this book, one is actually curious about reading Harrisson's own books.

   However, don't skip this biography. It is a great read: carefully researched, well-written and not over-interpreted as so may biographies tend to be these days.




5. This is a fascinating biography of a man who can truly be considered a "hero in history" because he so personally designed his own life and lived by his own rules and yet had a huge impact. In this sense this is an inspiring biography of a man who in his individualism personified what Western culture is all about. But, the book is also a major contribution to history and social science in that it describes little known events about the war against Japan, the birth of survey data collection, etc. etc. A first rate job of writing and a hard to put down read. Herbert Weiss, Emeritus Professor, City University of New York