1 comments about Highland Warrior: Alasdair MacColla and the Civil Wars.

1. Stevenson looks at the history of the Gaelic fringe of Ireland and Scotland in the seventeenth century with a refreshingly unromantic eye. Gone are the quaint stories of Highland laddies, and villanous Cromwellians. Stevenson's "Highland Warrior" is thick with intrigue. Alasdair Mac Colla emerges from these pages looking super-human, but certainly not heroic in the conventional sense. However, in the fallen world of the seventeenth century, Mac Colla and his sidekick Manus Ruadh O'Cahan may be the closest one might ever get to heroic figures. They are, at least, extremely interesting individuals. This is a magnificent book, and it is a must read for any student of Irish or Scottish history.

No comments about European Past: Memoirs 1905-1945.

1 comments about The Follinglo Dog Book : A Norwegian Pioneer Story from Iowa (American Land and Life Series).

1. I'm originally from Iowa, and of Norwegian ancestry to boot, so I took a chance and ordered this book. I'm very glad I did. The book seems to start out slow ... it goes through a pedigree of the Tjernagel family. But when I got to the dog stories, I was glad for the background. The book is thoroughly charming and it put me in mind of stories my grandfather used to tell. Peder Gustav's fine character and humor shine through the narrative and when the book is finished, you wish you lived next door to his ancestors. I believe that even the Danes and Swedes would like this book. O' jah, you betcha

No comments about Return to Patton's France: 1944's Odyssey Retraced.

No comments about Blasket Memories: The Life of an Irish Island Community.

1 comments about Bless 'Em All: The Lanes of Cork.

1. This is in some ways just like many personal memories and stories, but it was a joy to read. The story of a young woman and her family in mid-century Cork was filled with colorful characters and fabulous stories. Laughter and sorrow blend to give a vivid picture of a life with trouble and delight. Great stories. I enjoyed it a lot!

No comments about Napoleon: From 18 Brumaire to Tilsit, 1799-1807 (Napoleon).

No comments about The Falling Angels.

5 comments about Cromwell: The Lord Protector (Historical Biography Series).

1. Cromwell is perhaps the single most controversial figure in English history. Only John and Richard III have attracted as much venom as he has, and there are still people alive today who hate him -- see some of the other reviews here for at least one example. Naturally the truth is complicated, and Fraser lays out a good deal of detail in support of her case, which is that Cromwell was much maligned, and was on the whole a good and religious man trying hard to do what he thought was right.

   I had no prior belief about Cromwell, but I have to say Fraser convinced me rather of the opposite -- that he was a religious fanatic, brilliant but limited, who was neither a great ruler nor personally very admirable. Her apologies for some of his worst sins, such as the terrible events in Ireland, are outlandish.

   On the plus side, this is a thorough and detailed book, with enough information to allow a reader to make up their own mind. Fraser does at least keep the facts separate from her opinions. The book is excellent on Cromwell himself; it's pretty good on details of the Civil Wars, though it doesn't go to the level that an exclusively military history might. However, it's surprisingly weak on the overall political background. To truly understand Cromwell you need to know what came before and after. I would have liked to see more about the religious state of the country, and why it got that way, and also about the Revolution of only thirty years after his death. But in concentrating on Cromwell the man (at perhaps too great a length), Fraser has skimped on the surrounding politics.

   Overall, I'd recommend this only if you're deeply interested in knowing a lot about Cromwell's life, or if you already know the political and religious framework of the years 1640-1660. If you know both, this is a fine book (allowing for Fraser's open bias) but it's no place to start.

   One other note: the paperback edition (which is what I have) does not have any of the photographs or other plates that are apparently in the hardback -- Fraser makes occasional reference to "the plate opposite page 709" and so on, so I would bear that in mind in choosing between the two editions.




2. Most of my review will echo the discontents expressed by my fellow reviewers, but I hope I can provide an original analysis. If you are deliberating on whether to read this book, do not delve into the lengthy journey without prior knowledge of Cromwell. A more terse and concise biography is more suitable for the beginner. Antonia Fraser knows this time period intimately, and she would probably be incapable to produce a more superficial work on such a massive figure in English history. Although there is a small amount of side information and exposition about the historical events surrounding Cromwell (e.g., The English Civil War), the reader gets the feeling that the author assumes that we know much of the pertinent information already. This causes the novice reader on Cromwell to tend to find herself lost during some of the key events in his life. With some prior knowledge of the time period, this confusion could be avoided.
   
   Antonia Fraser is an erudite writer with stylistic flair, but is also painfully verbose. The sentences are often long and protracted, often with frequent use of the characteristic British punctuation, the semicolon. The result is a biography that is over a hundred pages too long. This is especially true when one considers that this biography is purely a narrative, and there is little writing that delves into the theoretical and political ideas that motivated Cromwell. This may be because Cromwell was motivated by fanatical and zealous devotion to his religion. When one is so enthralled by an unsubstantiated, uncouth dogma, there is little room to ponder questions when an inept but clear answer is to be found. Cromwell was not a theoretician, but a pragmatic man. This is interesting because most of his language and actions are littered with references to the metaphysical, however crude and obtuse those references and underlying thoughts are.
   
   Fraser paints Cromwell as an avuncular, charming man whose religious ethics seeped into his daily actions. While this may be true when applied to his personal life, it is impossible to reconcile this image with the man who sanctioned and even performed atrocities during his invasion of Ireland. The motivation for Fraser's subtle attempt at vindicating Cromwell can only be speculated on, but perhaps she is so enamored with English history that it became nature for her to fall in love with one of its heroes. Whatever the motivation, the bias is there, and needs to be acknowledged.
   
   For those that merely want to get a sense of who Cromwell was and the time period he lived in, a shorter biography will suffice. Try and pick one without the verbosity and slight sycophancy of Fraser.



3. Growing up an Irish Catholic American, I grew up hating Oliver Cromwell without really knowing why (an influence of my Irish grandmother). Fraser's biography of this brilliant and driven soldier is thoroughly researched and surprisingly sympathetic. She gives a great insight into what drove this man as well as giving a broad look at the political, cultural, and religious influences behind the brutal English Civil War. Cromwell was a brilliant general whose strategic and tactical genious beat the King's trained forces. His genius, unfortunately, did not extend to the political sphere. This is a great account of a flawed individual.



4. Fraser's book is best at trying to place Cromwell in his time. It is pointless to upbraid her for writing a book about someone who could be an unpleasant, violent and designing character - Europe was full of even more violent generals and religous fanatics at the time
   
   By carefully following his career and the people around him she shows how he rose from mediocrity to high office AND was a brilliant general even though he started as at the age of 40
   
   I thought it was well written and a good introduction to a complex character in a complex time



5. This was a concise and thoroughly researched book on Oliver Cromwell. I have only one complaint - Antonia Fraser eludes to illustrations that are not present in the book. Either a cost cutting decision or gross incompetence on behalf of the publisher, it is a major distraction. If deciding to purchase this softcover edition, keep that fact in mind.

2 comments about The Sorrows of the Quaker Jesus: James Nayler and the Puritan Crackdown on the Free Spirit.

1. Friends; I have finished a new book, "The Sorrows of the Quaker Jesus; James Nayler and the Puritan Crackdown on the free Spirit", by Leo Damrosch, Prof of Literature, Harvard. One of Prof. Damrosch's main interests is the Puritan reaction to Quakers, to do this he develops, as background, a description of mid-17th Century Quakerism. I wish he had done as well for Puritanism. Another interest is the shoddy treatment Nayler received from Parliament (which really had no business dealing with Nayler, but since there was no Constitution, who is to say) and the shoddy (but different) treatment Nayler received from G. Fox and other Quakers. Since Damrosch is not trying to "convince" to Qism this was a refreshing treatment for me. He has worked with a concordance to find the Biblical allusions of Quaker speech and writing to fair success, missing only a few important ones. University presses are pricey, this is $40, but I am glad I paid the price. Joseph H. Condon, Engineer, Quaker



2. Damrosch's book is the most definitive treatment of Nayler (also spelled Naylor), the controversial contemporary od George Fox, who was tried byt he English Parliament for blasphemy. It corrects many of the factual errors in Bittle's book on the same subject.