No comments about Pavie in the Borderlands: The Journey of Theodore Pavie to Louisiana and Texas, 1829-1830, Including Portions of His Souvenirs Atlantiques.

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.

No comments about Years Flew by: Reflections of Madame Sidney Gifford Czira.

5 comments about Prince Leopold: The Untold Story of Queen Victoria's Youngest Son.

1. In the many books about Queen Victoria's family that I have read, Leopold seems to be known only for his haemophilia. He seems to have been the most popular member within the royal family, although not with his mother, who seemed to see him as a convenient drone. She was notorious for trying to keep her children on a leash long into adulthood. Leopold appears to have overcome these obstacles. In his short life, he accomplished a great deal, he was the first of the royal family to attend Oxford, he was on the boards of a great many charities, he managed to travel, and he worked as an unofficial secretary to his mother.

   This is a well written and researched book. The author provides information on other more obscure members of Queen Victoria's family, such as her half sister Feodora and her family. The family tree of the female side of Victoria's family is the most extensive and interesting I have seen, although it does not solve the question of where the haemophilia in the family came from.




2. I'd rate this less than zero, if the rating system allowed me to. This is completely lousy book and a huge waste of money! Many facts are wrong, which is a disgrace for someone of Ms. Zeepvat's experience. Her writing is flat and uninspiring and almost anything of interest is obtained from other books about the subject. Personally I'm sick of all these royal books that are basically re-packaged versions of previous books.



3. This is the first book, of the many I have read on Queen Victoria and/or her children, that focuses on Prince Leopold. Even reading the edited letters between Victoria and her daughter Vicky had very little mention of this child. The book was informative and I learned a great deal regarding her true obsessive and sometimes vicious behavior to Leopold, as a child and as a grown man. I highly recommend it.



4. This is a decent biography on Prince Leopold, although the author's theories on how he contracted hemophilia through his mother Queen Victoria was a little over my head, and the author could have made her explanation a bit more clearer. Also, I do wish the author would have made a family tree of Prince Leopold's descendents.



5. With this book, the author takes a welcome look at the life of Prince Leopold, fourth and youngest son of Queen Victoria. A fascinating prince, Leopold is one royal that history has more or less forgotten save his sad position as the first known royal hemophiliac. The earnest Leopold was highly intelligent (later Oxford educated), and desperate to live some semblance of a normal life, despite his illnesses (besides his hemophilia, Leopold was also likely a mild epileptic, both of which were not well-known outside of his family). His precarious health also made his already overbearing mother keep an even shorter leash on her youngest son, and his battles for a life separate from her were hard-won.
   
   Zeepvat is by profession a historian, and this book was definitely well-researched. The author includes much correspondence amongst a family of prolific letter-writers, and gives her audience an almost daily account of Leopold's activities and whereabouts. This approach also gives a well-rounded portrait of Leopold's personality, his thoughts on his illnesses, his struggles for independence, and his familial relationships. Aside from his dealings with Queen Victoria, Zeepvat also highlights Leopold's very close relationship with Alice, Grand Duchess of the small German principality of Hesse, and likewise her husband Louis. Zeepvat likewise describes Leopold's Oxford days well, along with the long-lasting friends he made there (Alice Liddell of Alice in Wonderland fame among them) and the happy memories he kept.
   
   The author also offers a theory on Leopold's hemophilia coming from Victoria's mother's family. Though the disease is passed to sons by their mothers, hemophilia was previously unknown on Victoria's maternal side. Hypotheses since Victoria's time have offered suggesting that Victoria's genes were perhaps mutated. Zeepvat points out what little was known about hemophilia even in Leopold's time, and further points out several young boys of Victoria's maternal family who died of what was thought to be usual childhood maladies of the times.
   
   The book is well-written in the fact that it is so rich in historical fact; however, Zeepvat's profession as a historian is evident, as the narrative is not particularly engaging. Also absent is much information on Leopold's wife, Helena of Waldeck-Pyrmont. Though their marriage was brief (it lasted just short of two years, ending in Leopold's sudden death), Leopold had wanted to marry very badly as part of living a more ordinary life. He and Helena had a very happy relationship, unlike many arranged royal unions of the time, and had two children, a rare feat for a 19th century hemophiliac.
   
   Nonetheless, Zeepvat has provided a solid effort with this work on Leopold, giving her audience a good picture Leopold's life, one that was all too short and is remembered far too little.

2 comments about Unsung Hero: How I Saved Dozens of Lives as a Secret Agent Inside the IRA.

1. good read, it informs the reader just how corrupt the british system really is. a must read for any one that thinks the ira are terrorist.it will show you that the brits may be the real terrorist.you will leave feeling bad for the agent even if you are pro ira.



2. The whispers you have heard for years are finally coming out, according to 'Kevin Fulton'. This guy went deep undercover & for what, Saving lives? No, massaging ego's if what you read is true. The book takes you along at a very good speed & is in essence, a very good book, a bit short, if I was to be cynical. There are not a lot of real surprises in this book, just confirmation that trust was weak on the ground & in some cases, confirmation that there were more than one enemy in this god forsaken war.

5 comments about Queen Elizabeth I.

1. Every single one of Elizabeth's biographers (particularly the male ones) seem to have fallen in love with her, and this, the epic Bess bio, is the most unashamedly gushing. Part of the reason for Elizabeth's enduring appeal is that she combined good looks and dress sense with a flair for self-invention (and re-invention) - the very same qualities which still endear Onassis-Kennedy and Diana Spencer to their legions of mourners. As a politician Elizabeth's achievements approached genius, but any sympathetic biographer still has to paper over the cracks somewhat when we get to her reliigious policy, particularly the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots. Since this biography was written at a time where many Englishmen were still riding the Imperial wave, there is a tendency to forgive the Virgin Queen on matters such as this, but this work remains a milestone.



2. After having read everything I could get my hands on about Elizabethan England reading this book was very refreshing. Delving into the social and political realm of Queen Regina is what this book is all about. Well written and easy to read it gives a new perspective on the trials and tribulations of a very courageous and smart lady.



3. J.E. Neale, Elizabeth I's most famous modern biographer, is not an author who is easy to read for the modern scholar or anybody who regards the Virgin Queen as anything short of a goddess. His style of history has vanished, I'm glad to say. His worship of Elizabeth and his nationalistic biases make this a very tough read and not a very worthwhile one. Anne Somerset's modern biography would be a better use of the reader's time.



4. Although hardly a year goes by without someone new coming up with another biography on Queen Elizabeth I, this probably is the best of the lot. Many of the subsequent volumes that have appeared after Neale generally owe him a debt of gratitude at least for assembling the basic facts of the life of the Virgin Queen.

   Elizabeth's life has been told many times, her parents, Henry VIII and Anne Bolyn's ill-fated marriage, imprisionment during the reigns of both siblings, Thomas Seymour (whose sister replaced her mother in Henry's bed-would any soap opera try this plot twist?), Thomas Wyatt, William Cecil, Robert Dudley, Mary Queen of Scotts, the Spanish Armada, Shakespeare, and Gloriana. What Neale does quite well is to provide some real insight into the life of this the best of Britain's rulers and to place her actions in context. Some might think that Neale's treatment is too positive, I think the tone of the book is consistent with the greatness of this woman who, unlike her modern day namesake, ruled as well as reigned.




5. Neale's book comes from an older world of historical writing, and would not satisy the demands of current historians. It tells the story of Elizabeth I as a loving tale of a personal friend, focusing on assessments (or presumptions!) about character. The book makes Elizabeth seem a strong and deserving leader. The book reveals little, though, of the details and especially the implications of political decision-making. A war, or a raising of taxes, is seen as meaningful only as a development in some relationship between Elizabeth and some other nobleman. This work would be of almost no help to someone trying to understand the developments in English politics in the 1500s. As a personal drama, though, (perhaps as a soap-opera), this is an engaging and informative read.

1 comments about Mission Italy: On the Front Lines of the Cold War.

1. The Carter Administration's success in helping Italy to stay on the pathway of freedom and democracy, at a moment when it could have gone in the oppostie direction, is a shining example of enlightend diplomacy over cold war ideology. Richard Gardener, Carter's appointed ambassador, with his Italian wife, was the essential ingregient in keeping vital contact with the Italian center-left that made it all possible.
   
   The ethical realism of this important episode, set the stage for all that followed under Ronald Reagan. It was an essential, and quite necessary, link in George Kennen's "containment policy"...that eventually led to the happy end of the Cold War.

1 comments about The Irish Puritans: James Ussher and the Reformation of the Church.

1. Awesome book - especially if you belong to a Reformed church and are Irish! Received promptly and in great condition.

No comments about A Double Life: A Biography of Charles and Mary Lamb.

1 comments about Lenin Lives!: The Lenin Cult in Soviet Russia, Enlarged Edition.

1. This is a very good book about how Lenin was made into a god to Russia. There is a lot of detail about Lenin's life, but more about what happened to Lenin after he died. It was not to surprising his body was preserved and put on display. In this way he was treated as the Orthodox Church has always revered its saints by keeping relics and body parts. Lenin's wife was angry that Lenin was not properly buried, but Stalin's idea was to make him into a saint. For all the years following Lenin was practically worshipped. This book shows how the cult was created by the Communist Party and forced on Russian citizens. The book treats Russians and Lenin with respect, and it has very good history.