2 comments about Mary Queen of Scots.

1. What an excellent addition to a library dedicated to Mary of Scotland. This book covered her life in a beautiful way, what with portraits (done during her life and modern), pictures of the places she lived, and members of her court. Although every detail of Mary's life just couldn't be incorporated into this book, there was enough to help a person see the time that she lived in and, perhaps, what motivated her to do some of the things she did. For a thorough understanding of her days, please enjoy the grand bio of her by Antonia Fraser. For a quick synopsis of her life, this coffee-table style edition is just wonderful.



2. This is a wonderful book about the Queen of Scotland! I was in Edinburgh, Scotland a couple months ago, and saw this book. It contains wonderful pictures and is well-written! Great book for anyone interested in the Mary Queen of Scots!

No comments about Queens Elizabeth the Queen Mother: Chronicle of a Remarkable Life 1900--2000.

2 comments about Bomber Harris.

1. There have been many books and comments about Bomber Harris over the years. Even Harris published his own book but didn't cover everything. This book was written using all of Harris's private papers.

   Not only does the author, Henry Probert, do a great job of presenting Harris's point of view but he presents opposing points of view as well. This book probably does the best job of presenting the most objective view of Harris to date. In some respects it does favour Harris since it is from his private papers. This is an extremely valuable book about Harris and is a must for any student of Bomber Command.

   The author does a great job of presenting Harris the man from birth until death and deals with such topics as his leadership style, the public's image of him, his contemporaries views etc. The many misperceptions of Harris and how people once meeting him in person said Harris was not anything like the image that has been painted of him. A very excellent book! We need more like this one.




2. This book gives an interesting profile of one of the great commanders of World War 2. Although written in a dry style, it brings to light many little-known facts about this most controversial man. Known as Bert to his friends, "Bomber Harris" to the press during the War, and "Butch" (short for "Butcher") to his aircrews, Harris took a demoralized and dispirited RAF Bomber Command in 1942 and built it up into a most formidable force that played a vital role in the defeat of Nazi Germany. The author points out that the policy of night-time area bombing designed to destroys the cities that served as the locations of the German war industries was decided upon before Harris became Commander-in-Chief of Bomber Command. Within a few weeks, he put together the extremely risky Operation Millenium, the thousand-bomber raid on Cologne, whose success proved to skeptics the power and effectiveness that Bomber Command was capable of wielding. Although it really took another two years to make the bombing campaign really effective, it has been proven beyond a doubt that German war production was severely damaged by the bombing campaign since it has been shown that German production increased rapidly when Bomber Command was forced to change its targets from the German cities to others in France related to Operation Overlord in the first months of 1944.
   It is true that Bomber Command suffered high casualties (a crewman had only a 30% chance of surviving a 30-operations tour of duty) but their sacrifices helped keep Stalin and the USSR in the war in 1942 and 1943 at the time when they were suffering immense losses and the prospect of a Second Front looked far away (Churchill was always afraid that Stalin might secretly make a deal with Hitler and pull out of the War). Harris worked diligently day and night to get the resources and aircraft Bomber Command needed and to keep the morale of his personnel high. Although he refrained from visiting the air fields, probably due to a reluctance to face men who could possibly be flying to their deaths in a few hours, as well as the knowledge that the station commanders could be putting on a "show" for him that masked real problems, he did maintain continuous contact with low-ranking people from the air and ground crews in order to find out help them do their jobs more effectively and comfortably.

   Probert, although very sympathetic with Harris, does not hesitate to point out flaws in his subject's personality. For example, Harris broke up his first marriage by having an affair while he was away from home and after his divorce he had a problematic relationship with his children. After the War, Harris developed a strange admiration for Hermann Goering who was not the "noble knight of the air" that some may have thought but was one of the most powerful and cruel of the Nazi hierarchy and was one of the key figures in the Nazi terror even before Hitler's rise to power and who played in role in the Holocaust. Similarly, Harris opposed the Nuremberg Trials. He also said he only felt "hatred" for the Germans once, during the bombing of London whereas others like Battle of Britain hero Group Captain Douglas Bader was not ashamed to say years after the War that he hated the Germans for the evil they brought to the world. In any event, perhaps these quirks gave him the personality traits that were needed to cooly, night after night, send thousands of young man on very dangerous missions to bring death and destruction to the German enemy. Maybe someone more sentimental and emotional, both to his family and to the enemy, would not be able to stand up to the strain. We could perhaps compare him to other great commanders like Generals Patton, Montgomery and MacArthur who also had personalities that rubbed many people the wrong way:
   Probert also demolishes myths that have sprung up after the War such as:
   (1) Harris ordered the supposedly unnecessary bombing of Dresden when Germany was already supposedly defeated out of some sense of blood-lust and vengeance. In reality, he opposed the mission since it was located in eastern Germany and would expose his aircrews to extra danger due to the longer trip, but the allied leaders insisted on having the raid carried out since it was not at all clear at that time that Germany was at the point of collapse and they wanted the Soviet Armies to advance into Germany as fast as possible
   (2) Harris had a contempt for "colonials" and sent them on the more dangerous missions as cannon fodder in order to spare "real" Britishers. In reality, Harris moved to Rhodesia as a young man and considered himself a Rhodesian. After the War he went to live in South Africa, so he indeed considered himself a "colonial"
   (3) Harris was not given a peerage after the War as were many other senior British military commanders because the Labour goverment felt "embarassed" by the strategic bombing campaign and wanted to forget about it. In reality, there is some truth in the fact that people wanted to forget about the bombing campaign, and it is also a fact that no "campaign decoration" was given to the air and ground crews in Bomber Command, but Harris was indeed offered a peerage, but turned it down, partly as a protest against the refusal to grant a campaign medal, but also for personal reasons in that outside Britain (where he intended to live) a peerage was not necessarily viewed as something desirable.

   All in all, this book is must reading for someone interested in World War 2, military history, and the characterists of a great military commander.

No comments about Henry Stratford Persse's Letters from Galway to America, 1821-1832 (Irish Narrative Series).

1 comments about Mistress Anne: The Exceptional Life of Anne Boleyn.

1. The extraordinary life of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of Henry VIII, has long captured imaginations. Is the young woman a seductress who steals the King's heart away from frumpy Queen Katherine of Aragon, or is she unwittingly tangled in the intrigues and passions of the 16th century English court?
   
   Carolly Erikson, who also wrote The First Elizabeth, does a fine job of pulling together what historical evidence about Anne exists. However, the reader may sense that she too often relies upon such statements as "It cannot be known for sure what Anne was feeling during the month of her confinement," or "While no writings exist today, we can guess that the King was frustrated with Anne's haughty behavior..." Biography is a tough genre to write if little actual evidence survives, so Erikson relies heavily upon legend, hearsay, and extrapolation.
   
   Nevertheless, she paints a historically accurate picture of life in King Henry VIII's court. Her vocabulary is stunningly varied, and the images she elicits with her prose are quite powerful. For example, this passage, in particular, shows her narrative voice:
   
   "The court of Henry VIII seethed with intrigue. Snakelike the coils of conspiracy and disloyalty wrapped themselves around every courtier, powerful or vulnerable, ultimately making him sacrifice everything-his reputation, his income, even his friends and relatives-for the sake of inching higher up the greased pole of preferment."
   -Carolly Erikson, Mistress Anne (40)
   
   Overall, I'd recommend this book for a great in-depth introduction to what we know about the ill-fated Queen, who waited for almost a decade to marry the King, only to be wrongly convicted of adultery and treason, and beheaded at the Tower of London two years into the royal marriage.
   
   The last laugh, however, belongs to this strong woman, who was used by many as a pawn. Her daughter, Elizabeth I, ruled England single-handedly, retaining her maiden-status in an era when that was almost inconceivable. Perhaps she learned a few lessons from her mother, Anne Boleyn.

5 comments about The Hacienda: A Memoir.

1. This book is very uneven and slightly dispersed. When I started to read it, I found it a bit boring, and thought some of Lisa's narrations were heavy-handed and with a slight touch of drama. The time in England and Italy, where she lived in a sort of fantasy land with her husband and friends, and the first couple of years in the hacienda seemed especially so. One example of that is when her husband's cousin tells her that she needs to push her authority in order to get results, and pretty much blackmails her into doing so. Another example is her furtive trip into Los Pollos de Eladio. Both scenes, as described in the book, look staged, almost out of a soap-opera. She also used a very self-deprecating tone when describing herself in those early days, and in the distance that time brings, I wonder why she has not been able to forgive herself somehow. After all, she was so young, how could she know what she was doing?

   Midway through, the book started to take shape and develop into a very focused memoir. I think the break point was the episode with the green boy. After that, the flow changed and I found myself flipping pages anxiously, rushing to learn more and more. I was very taken by the letters to her mother interspersed here and there. They give the whole book a human and tender touch. I was less impressed by her poems, though. Some of her Spanish might have rusted out, or her translations lost some accuracy, like La Noche Buena (it is not Christmas, it is Christmas' Eve). But much of Lisa's writing is brilliant, like the story of the dying eaglet. That was beautiful, skilled writing, awesome. I also liked her very subtle references to physical abuse in hands of her husband. She describes these beatings in a way that could be described as elegant, which makes them even more horrific. I very much enjoyed the farming bits, the sheep, the avocado and sugar cane stories. I also enjoyed her transformation from a starry-eyed teenager into a woman assuming full responsibility for everybody and everything: her family, her farm, and the welfare of hundreds of people in it. I wouldn't go as far as describing her as a "powerful matriarch", like the book jacket does, but she certainly obtained a power that was more than anything emanating from herself.

   I was tremendously disappointed with the ending, though. Throughout the book there are many references to her seven years in the hacienda, so you know that at some point she leaves. The end was cliff-like: there is some elaboration to the circumstances that pushed her departure, and some of the obstacles she was facing. And then, that's it. She left. I was hoping for an epilogue, a mention of what happened to her, her daughter, her husband, la gente, no matter how brief. I was left yearning to know more, to wrap it up, because just by physically removing yourself from a place, you just don't automatically close that chapter of your life.

   In any case, this book is very much worth your while. Her vision and descriptions of all people, animals, plants and things were excellent and very poignant, even when referring to a simple object.




2. This is a modern version of the ancient story of blue beard to me. A woman doesn't want to see the obvios signs of danger, and decides she wants to live her fantasy anyway: an handsome and welty man promises the life of queen to Lisa. The thruth is much different from her dream. But there is no escape, and she is forced to act, to become the care-taker instead of been taken care, and this is a tremendous story for any woman of any time. Despite her difficoulties she becomes not just a woman but a sage in dealing with life. I actually know Lisa personally and I can say she is one the most positive and strong person you can meet, and her account is absolutely real. This is what makes the book great, because the author has really lived the experiences of her book.



3. I do live a very few hours away from where the action of this book takes place. Since I read it I have not checked the place out but found some people that actually corroborated part of the story. This is why I reluctantly give it 5 stars. In spite of a certain inconsistency through the book, a few misplaced left leanings comment, a hard to believe naivete, the books stands firm as a good representation of Venezuelan rural mores, and a heartfelt memoir. Now, I do not want this to mean that Lisa Saint Aubin de Teran is an accurate reporter. She tries her best and only God knows how difficult it is to understand Venezuelan society. However she is very successful at conveying the spirit that moves things there, for good or bad. She is at her best when she shows how in spite of every hardship that falls on her, the country slowly gets into her and she cannot help but love it. I can relate with that, she is not making it up. And last but not least, in light of recent political turmoil in Venezuela, I can recommend this book highly: it will explain why a phenomenon like Chaves came upon Venezuela better than any long political analysis you might find around. Although Ms Saint Aubin kept her patrician acquired Teran she was unto something when she describes the "absentee landlord" mores of Venezuelan old elite families. Her comments on them are rather damming. But the reader needs not to worry, this is still a very strong personal memoir, that can also serve as a political memento.



4. I loved this book. This true story is moving, intense, and a wonderful portrait of the coming of age of a young woman. I believe that men will also enjoy this book. The portraits of each individual in the book are well-drawn and the story is exciting.



5. This was quite a unique book. It definitely had a surreal air to it. So many things happened so quickly in Lisaveta's life that it seemed that she was almost blindsided. As the reader, even, when she landed on the Hacienda, I thought to myself, "What just happened here?" I had trouble really understanding what made her fall in love with Jaime in the first place. That was never exactly clear to me.
   
   I was shocked at how different life was on the Hacienda. I'm sure it seemed to Lisa that she had traveled back in time when she arrived. She did a good job of expressing what it was like to show up and have to learn to function in a completely different culture. Again, the days at the Hacienda felt decidedly surreal.
   
   My only real complaint about the book is that it seemed somewhat choppy. The author was prone to tangents and did not really seem that concerned about the organization of her chapters or about a segue between topics. I would occasionally get to the middle of a paragraph and think, "What? Why are we talking about this now?"
   
   I was surprised at how much free reign Lisa had over matters on the Hacienda. Even though she was the Don's (or whatever) wife, I would have expected that she'd really be more of a figurehead and the agricultural decisions left up to the foreman. But she was the one who made many decisions about what was grown and how things were done regardless of the fact that she had absolutely no training in the matters.
   
   An interesting memoir about a woman forced to grow up quickly and face (a very foreign and strange) reality. It wasn't my favorite ever, but I don't regret reading it.

No comments about Long Sunset: Memoirs of Winston Churchill's Last Private Secretary.

5 comments about The Decline and Fall of the House of Windsor.

1. Was the most interesting book I have ever read on Britains royal family. The facts are stated in such a way that the reader is never bored. There is just enough information to really get to know the characters without getting bogged down with too much detail.



2. The reviewer who wrote: "There is just enough information to really get to know the characters without getting bogged down with too much detail" pretty much sums it up. How do you get to know people and still avoid details? Thus the flaw in this type of trash. Save your money. If you want to get to know Queen Mary, read Anne Edward's biography.



3. Donald Spoto is an American. By that I mean that he approaches a subject - royalty - with a skeptical eye, never forgetting that he is a citizen of a country whose entire political system was designed to prevent a monarchy from being established. This attitude stands in refreshing contrast to the bulk of American writing on the Windsors, who seem to stimulate some atavistic longing for royalty on the part of writers who should know better (see the review immediately below for a fairly typical complaint obviously rooted in Windsor-worship). Kitty Kelly's recent THE ROYALS is similar in its irreverence for the superhuman panoply of royalty. Spoto, however, is a far better writer than Kelly. As several other reviewers have commented, Spoto's previous works have been biographies of Hollywood celebrities, and this book extends and refines Spoto's musings on the history and implications of modern society's obsession with media-generated fame. The overarching theme of this book is celebrity as an intrusive phenomenon that is slowly stripping the Windsors of their ancient royal mystique, a glamour which requires distance from the masses to remain viable. Spoto generates a certain amount of sympathy in the reader for the tribulations of what one realizes, after all, are a very ordinary (perhaps even downright mediocre) group of human beings who have done little to merit the attention so relentlessly thrust upon them by the media and their (it must be said) fans and followers. That said, Spoto, with his gift for creating vivid impressions of personalities with a few concise phrases, leaves the reader with a very unpleasant picture of a family gone seriously awry psychologically and dominated by a line of mean, selfish and grasping women who keep their weak male relatives on a very tight leash (all of which may be hallmarks of dynasties in decadence). The most heartbreaking sections of the book deal with the present Queen mother's repulsive treatment of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, and will certainly make the reader think twice when he or she sees the next photograph of the smiling, befrilled, Dowager Queen Mary, for an iron heart lies behind that mask of "sweet little old lady." Equally affecting is Spoto's history of the "Diana years." He depicts a family ruthlessly using a teenage girl as a brood mare, then becoming vindictive when she refused to do exactly what they told her to do. In fact, the activities of the entire clan in recent years, as reported by Spoto, cast serious doubt on their fitness for the role their birth has expected them to play. I was unable to avoid a certain feeling of contempt for these people and their ridiculous courtiers. Spoto's book enables us to see the Windsors for what they really are - the living exemplars of feudalism, still undead as we enter the 21st century. As such, they are a useless anachronism and deserve to go. Kudos to Spoto for daring to write a sharp, well-documented book that pulls no punches!



4. I have read several House of Windsor histories but few make as much sense of Edward VIII and George VI as this one. I'd recommend this book to others because it is a good explanation why the present royal family is what it is today.



5. Decline and Fall of the House of Windsor could best be summarized as a survey class on the British Monarchy from Queen Victoria to the present. A interesting trashy read indeed, but along the way Spoto recounts stories both well known and relatively unknown, rehabilitating somewhat forgotten figures such as Queen Alexandra and recasting familiar subjects such as Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother and Wallis Simpson in a different light. Spoto is adept at pointing out major breaches of protocol if not outright violations of the British Constitution made by King George VI, the Queen Mother, and Queen Elizabeth II along the way. Spoto is able to explain some of the arcane rituals of the monarchy, peerage, royalty, and nobility in a comprehensible and easy to understand manner. His coverage of the Wallis Simpson affair involving the Prince of Wales (later King Edward VIII) is particularly well told and perhaps the most engaging chapters in the book.
   
   Nowhere near as vindictive or hateful as Kitty Kelly's The Royals (1997) Decline and Fall of the House of Windsor is well researched and well annotated but is a bit out of date. Since its publication Princess Diana, the Queen Mother, and Princess Margaret have all died as have other figures such as Princess Alice. Spoto leaves us with the image of Diana and Prince William and Prince Harry enjoying the Magic Kingdom at Disney World and posits that may be the closest they come to an actual Kingdom, but the events that have transpired since then seem to have changed things. Decline and Fall of the House of Windsor is handy ammunition for Republican sentiments and won't be well received by ardent monarchists, but along the way it renders its subjects more human and less regal. Spoto's fair, frank, and honest assessment of the Windsors, faults and all is certainly one of the better books written on the royals. While his assessment of the future of the monarchy is bleak the events since that time seem to indicate a somewhat happier future. But it is evident that light has indeed been allowed in on the magic and the spell that bound subjects to sovereigns has indeed been broken.

1 comments about Montrose (Sutton Illustrated History Paperbacks).

1. This well-written book documents the life of James Graham, Marquess of Montrose, in the 1600's. It is indeed a page-turner: the crisp writing is full of factual references but never burdened by them, like the photos, period paintings and documents illustrating the book, they enhance and support the narrative. It is free of ornamental flourishes or fawning, relying only on exposition of facts and quality writing.

   Rarely do I agree with the marketing hype that usually makes up the front flap of a books dustjacket, but in this case, I agree wholeheartedly:
   "This remarkable story of a great romantic hero separates the facts from legend and yet still manages to capture brilliantly all the excitement of the tale, of gallantry and heroism, of conspiracy and intrigue, of massacres and tragedy, set against the magnificent scenery of seventeenth-century Scotland."

   At least as thrilling as the story of William Wallace (alongside whom one of Graham's ancestors had fought two centuries earlier), this book is a very exhilarating tale of a remarkable person.

No comments about Brunel: The Life And Times of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.