5 comments about Queen Victoria.

1. A readable and fairly brief account of Victoria. Frequent passages from Victoria's girlhood diary and letters make Victoria's early life particularly vivid reading. Also fascinating is Victoria's relationship with her government, and her tendency to cling to the current prime minister and despise the Opposition, whoever they might be.

   The enigmatic Prince Albert, and his evolving relationship with Victoria, is presented well. Strachey makes some startling suggestions about what Britain might have turned into, had Albert lived longer (answer: Prussia).

   This book is elegantly written, and free of the psychobabble one might expect from a more modern book.

   The book is not boring. Although Victoria is always proper, there is plenty of adultery and dysfunctional family behavior among her many adult children.




2. strachey became famous for his 'eminent victorians' which has the reputation for being a hatchet job-but he was looking at the previous generation from the disillusioned, post-WWI perspective, and he treats florence nightingale et al more like prodigies than monsters. when he undertook to write about the eponymous queen herself, people expected it would be another exercise in target practice-even his mother tried to discourage him, saying that 'if she was stupid, it was not her fault.' But in the event what he produced is one of the most sympathetic, if slightly condescending, biographies ever written-and absolutely one of the most accomplished. it is a chronicle of victoria's 60+-year-long political career and emotional life, a series of portraits of all the personalities in her life-including albert, his curious replacement john brown, disraeli-him, it is true, strachey clearly did not like-a completely non-pedantic reflection on the growth and eventual shrinkage of the british empire during her reign-and the whole thing is done so subtly, so gracefully-and, at the same time, so forcefully-that you may find yourself talking about nothing else but this book and queen victoria for days afterward. one of the most successful marriages of rigorous scholarship and beautiful style in english literature.



3. I purchased this book at a library sale and it has no copywrit date other then the 1921 date published by Harcourt, Grace & World,Inc and renewed by Jame Strachey, with no renewal date. The copy I have has 434 pages which include an index of subject matter. The only other used books mentioned for sale have a copywrit of 1981 and have 100 less pages. This book is in very good condition and has the original cover jacket. It begins its historic tale in 1817 and includes footnotes at the bottom of the page.



4. This life of Queen Victoria set a new standard for biographies when it was written and it still reads very well today. To the modern ear some of Strachey's language may at times be a bit dry. That aside this is an excellent study of the development of Victoria from infancy to old age. The entanglement's of family and the influence of key ministers is well covered and documented . Especially interesting is the treatment of Prince Albert and the Queen's relationship.
   I found this to be quite an informative book and would highly recommend it to anyone with a curiosity regarding this period of British history.



5. lytton strachey is my favorite non-fiction writer. he writes non-fiction that is flawless and beautiful. some of the writing in this book is as good as any writing i've seen anywhere. but who cares? who cares? what a shameful culture has been fashioned that has no room for this.

2 comments about The Amazing Grace of Freedom: The Inspiring Faith of Will Wilberforce.

1. If you're interested in Wilberforce and want to learn more about his life-- but are not excited about the idea of ploughing through long (or possibly dull) biographies, this book is perfect. Accessible, colorful, and refreshing, it's a well-organized collection of 'articles' written about aspects of Wilberforce's life, friends, colleagues, relationships, influence, and legacy. The variety of authors who penned the book gives it balance, and gives you insight from the perspective of people in different walks of life (who have different reasons for being drawn to Wilberforce).
   
   This is definitely not a 'coffee table book' in the sense one is used to; it's basically just a great anthology that looks attractive like a coffee table book. You'll get some great inside info on the film Amazing Grace as well, but it's not at all the focal point of the book--no fluff involved. Also, the physical quality of the book makes it absolutely worth more than its low price--I was actually surprised that this was not a $24.99 book. Highly recommended.



2. This is an excellent book. It has beautiful pictures and is laid out in an 'easy to read' manner.

1 comments about Hazel: A Life of Lady Lavery, 1880-1935.

1. Ms. McCoole does a wonderful job in accurately portraying the life of Hazel Lavery. She has gone to great lengths to uncover the truth about her relationships with historical figures, one being the Irish icon Michael Collins. What many people may not realize is that Hazel was a painter herself before she met her famous husband, John Lavery. Hazel's story from the suburbs of Chicago to the face on the Irish pound note is a truly enjoyable read.

3 comments about OLIVER CROMWELL: SOLDIER: The Military Life of a Revolutionary at War.

1. Cromwell has been mostly remembered for his politics. Politics that made him Lord-Protector of England. But before he was Lord-Protector, he was a soldier and general. This book details Cromwell's life as a self taught soldier and describes his campaigns in some detail.
   This book is for any serious students of Cromwell or of Early Modern warfare.



2. If you're looking for a good biography of Oliver Cromwell, this isn't the book for you. Marshall's description of 17th century battle techniques and his empirical analysis of Cromwell's battles are excellent. But for those (like me) who purchased the book to learn more about the man and his subsequent impact on England and English history, look elsewhere. Mr. Marshall's effort here is quite focused, and a bit more than dry in its literary flair.



3. This is an excellent analysis of Cromwell's life and development as a soldier. And, only one of a few ever done (Frank Kitson's being one of the others -- it too is excellent).
   
   The title says it all though, it is the Military Life of a Revolutionary at War, not a general biography.
   
   Highly recommended.

1 comments about Samuel Johnson: The Life of an Author.

1. Lipking has written a "writer's life," examining Johnson not from the viewpoint of celebrity, but as a history of his writing, and "career development" as an author. Lipking's thesis is that the transformations Johnson underwent in his career went a long way in shaping what we think of authors, and in that interest spends the bulk of his time examining Johnson's written words. While one may initially think this approach is redundant with Kernan's ("Samuel Johnson and the Impact of Print"), in fact Lipking is far less concerned with the publishing industry and more concerned with Johnson's writings themselves. A more direct comparison might be made to DeMaria's "Samuel Johnson," but even there the comparison is weak. Like Lipking, DeMaria analyzes Johnson's writings, but Lipking is less concerned about context, and concentrates far more on the writings.

1 comments about Darling Georgie: The Enigma of King George V.

1. A different look at George V & British royal family...written from a psychologist's POV...A few provisos. Occasionally the author is guilty of overreaching, but he has some interesting insights. Some of his research is a bit faulty, but that could be the fault of sloppy editing. Still, on a whole, I enjoyed the book & recommend it. Interesting how the past influences the present, in ways we don't realize!

2 comments about Churchill (Life & Times) (Life&Times).

1. This powerfully written and informative biography of Winston Churchill tells the story of a monumental British figure who was to influenced the world of the 20th Century. European journalist and Churchill biographer Sebastian Haffner was one of the foremost figures in European writing and influenced Churchill's policy towards Germany and the Nazis. In this major examination of Churchill's life and accomplishments, Haffner provides a passionate and involving probe of the man whose methods and motivations changed the political shape of European history.



2. This book is a great account of Churchill's life; how 3 wars made him famous, his rise and fall in British politics, his private life and other subjects. Churchill had an interesting life. Haffner had an interesting way of telling and writing. Together it makes this book one that you should read.

1 comments about Charles A. Lindbergh and the battle against American intervention in World War II.

1. Today we're used to the ritual of the media building a 'star' and then sacrificing them on the altar of publicity. Diana. John Lennon. Lindbergh, the son of a WW1 Congressman, was one of the first to go. The celebrity that followed his epic flight forced him to reclusivity. A devastating low blow was dealt by papparazzi breaking into the autopsy room to photograph the dead body of his kidnapped son. The aviator thus turned against the press, and they never forgave him for it.
   
   Written with interviews and full access to Lindbergh's private papers, this book demonstrates why Wayne S Cole is "the" historian of WW2 non-interventionism.
   
   Lindbergh Senior was an "old school" foe of entry into WW1. His opposition derived from an agrarian radicalism with roots deep in Jeffersonian soil. Cole has already ably analysed agrarian 'isolationism' in his book onNorth Dakota's Senator Nye. Lindbergh Junior explicitly rejected father's approach and it's opposition to to "big Eastern money". Maybe that was his mistake.
   
   Cole doesn't provide a full biography, he focuses mainly on Charles' career in the movement up to and through World War Two. And into the '60s, by which time Linbergh, somewhat ahead of his time, espoused the cause of indigenous peoples and wilderness before they became fashions for a new generation of celebrities. In the war, denied by a spiteful administration an opportunity to fight with his beloved USAAF, Linbergh worked as a civilian consultant improving the range and armament load of Navy fighters. Despite old age for a pilot, he spent enough time at the front to personally down a Japanese aircraft. This wartime 'quasi-military' career reprised the pre-war career that led him to both non-interventionism and notoriety.
   
   In the thirties the US government's air force capitalised on Air Force Reserve Colonel Lindbergh's international fame by encouraging him to tour the air ministries and industries of europe. His access furnished confidential reports to the USAAF that were, as Cole reports, highly appreciated, and for the most part, in line with their assessments from other sources. It was on this assignment, in the company of a US ambassador, that Goering's surprise award of a medal was made. An incident that gained notoriety only after Lindbergh went public with his anti-war views.
   
   Lindbergh's non-interventionism in many ways paralleled the new internationalism of the interventionists. Based not on his father's localism, Junior had wider concerns for the fate of western civilisation. He believed a war in europe would weaken the west as a whole, only to benefit the USSR and the growing power of Asia. This geopolitical analysis should be considered mundane today as almost all accounts trace the end of the empire to WWII. But it was clothed in racialist terminology, rightfully unacceptable today, but still flourishing in the rhetoric of all parties then. Indeed two decades after Lindbergh, Churchill was still writing histories that elevated anglo-saxons in terms that, to unsympathetic modern ears, smack of 'master race' status.
   
   The new world aviator put air power at the centre. To Lindbergh, American air power not the Royal Navy was the guardian of North America and with a focused effort undistracted by expensive and dubious foreign campaigns, investment in aviation research would make America invulnerable. Such a position, whether right or wrong, should not of itself really be considered surprising from a senior official of NACA, the government aeronautical bureau that would become NASA. And it would seem Lindbergh's views must have had some currency in the Air Force.
   
   Cole only seriously tests one point of Lindbergh's overall analysis. Maybe he should have done more. Cole doesn't mention it but Lindbergh's main prophetic error was in exagerating the importance of aircraft. This occupational hazard was certainly not his alone. Note the later belief that bombers could win wars. It led him to over-estimate the figthing prowess of the Luftwaffe, which was not unreasonably seen as europe's premier air force in the late 1930s. But, in hindsight, it was probably radar, not aircraft, that won the war, even if the atomic bomb ended it. And radar, at least centimetric band radar, was really the product of the world's first true "military-industrial-scientific complex". Britain's. Germany may have had better generals, scientists and industrialists but their coordination was inferior. The reich's industrial tail was divided into uncommunicative "silos" to use corporate-speak.
   
   Cole provides insights into "The Great Debate". I was surprised to learn that the leadership of America First had virtually given up three months before Pearl Harbor in the wake of FDR's "shoot in sight" order to the Navy. They saw this as a de facto declaration of war merely waiting a response from Hitler. They considered folding up shop there and then. And the debate lines were not clearly marked. William Whtyte, the midwestern newspaperman, handpicked by FDR to lead a 'grassroots' public group to support the "all aid short of war" was himself ultimately removed as he apparently really believed in aid, short of, ...but not including..., war. Cole examines Lindbergh's Des Moines speech in detail and provides a chapter dedicated to each of the groups Lindbergh accused of pushing for war, and their reactions to the speech. It generated a furore of criticism from non-interventionists and interventionists alike for it's alleged anti-semitism. Cole suggests the speech may even have been, at least in part, deliberately self destructive. In any event politics magnified the event and Cole finds nothing in Lindbergh's personal papers to find him anti-jewish.
   
   Indeed about the "worst" charge against him that bears the historical support, at least based on the evidence presented here, is pessimism. Or, to those determined to be pejorative, defeatism. But then again, if action speaks louder than words, Linbergh's personal actions in the war years were hardly the behaviour of a defeatist.
   
   As mentioned above, Cole makes one test of Lindbergh's analysis, his pessimistic predictions of the war to come. Cole sees them as, if anything, a near miss. We can easily overlook that the Nazi-Soviet war broke out only six months before Pearl Harbor. If it hadn't been for the Eastern Front, any invading Americans presumably would have faced much stronger German forces than they actually did on D-Day. Up to seven million German troops were killed or captured fighting the Red Army. Had they been deployed west rather than east, victory may not have been as "easy". Most of the former 'isolationist' leaders, including Vandenburg, who became an outright WW2 and cold war internationalist, never conceded any pre-war error. Their position does not seem extreme. Nor was Lindbergh's. He never joined Robert Taft in his post-war opposition to NATO and the Marshall Plan. Post-war Lindbergh became more of an Eisenhower Republican convinced that with the damage already done, American troops and dollars would be needed in Europe for decades.
   
   Lindbergh proved remarkably forgiving to those who plainly smeared him. Talking to Cole in the late sixties he noted that public figures cannot expect gentle treatment. His father suffered worse. And unlike the Vietnam issue, then raging, the Great Debate had been argued without violence. Cole reminds us that Lindbergh still remains something of a lost hero to modern Americans. Unlike the Cold War mud thrown by Joe McCarthy, WW2 mud, perhaps even more groundless continues to stick. It's long past the time Lindbergh was given permission to land. Recommended.

No comments about The Story of a Beautiful Duchess: Being an Account of the Life And Times of Elizabeth Gunning.

No comments about The Diary and Correspondence of Charles Abbot, Lord Colchester; Speaker of the House of Commons 1802-1817: Volume 2.