1 comments about Deep End.

1. I have read some books and almost always felt that the authors were not totally candid. Ger's book faithfully chronicles the entire range of emotions that he experienced dealing with the tragic loss of his companion and his dread of perhaps turning up HIV positive. A hard hitting and candid account of his own personal experience.

No comments about Eminent Edwardians: Four Figures who Defined their Age: Northcliffe, Balfour, Pankhurst, Baden-Powell.

3 comments about Mary of Guise in Scotland, 1548-1560: A Political Career.

1. The key to the contents of this book is in its subtitle - "1548-1560 A Political Study".

   The author has done a lot of original research into Scottish politics during the minority of Mary, Queen of Scots and in reality this is what you'll find in this book and it takes up 99% of the first half of the book.

   We get to see Mary de Guise in a more biographical form in the second half of the book. However, if you buy this book expecting to read a biography of Mary de Guise you will probably be disappointed. While Mary's political actions are dealt with in great detail, in the end you feel you really don't know that much about her. Instead you know more about how King Henri of France felt about Scotland, or the importance of various treaties than you do about Mary herself.

   This is a first rate book for those who want to know the ins and outs of the various political schemes in Scotland from 1548-1560 but less successfully gives us a real feel for the personality of Mary of Guise. On the plus side the author has included a number of quotes from original documents in both their original French and with English translations for those of us not fluent in the French language and all the sources are well footnoted.




2. Ritchie's skillful narration of this difficult and controversial period has provided by far one of the best books as yet available on the politics of sixteenth century Scotland, but is also a must-see for anybody interested in the dynastic politics of France and England.

   16th century Europe is one of the most fascinating periods in history, populated by some of the such colourful and well-known figures as Henry VIII, Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and Bloody Mary. It is also a century, as the names listed above suggest, that features a large number of women in positions of power. Mary of Guise, mother of Mary Queen of Scots, was another of these powerful political women.

   The side-effect of the colourful nature of the lives of some of these women is that sixteenth-century history books often read like little more than romantic fiction. They play up the history of personalities (often based on poor research and quasi-psychological guesswork), but ignore the serious side of the women who ruled some of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe.

   Pamela E. Ritchie does not make this mistake. Her book is a serious study of a serious woman, and is based on meticulous and extensive research. But the book is no turgid academic tome, and Ritchie manages the difficult trick of providing a thoroughly readable and engaging study of the career and ambitions of a fascinating woman. Mary of Guise has traditionally been written off in Scotland as the main agent of an unpopular French/Catholic domination of Scotland that took place in the 1550s, which was overturned by the popular revolution of John Knox's Reformation in 1560. Ritchie shows this was not the case. Instead Guise, for most of the 1550s, enjoyed considerable support from Scots, and her plans for a dynastic union of the French and Scottish crowns by the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francois was supported by Catholic and Protestant Scots alike. Guise, above all, was a skilled politician who carefully balanced the difficult circumstances of the dynastic conflicts of sixteenth-century Europe to best pursue the interests of her own family (les Guises) and her daughter, the monarch of Scotland. That her regime collapsed in 1560 as a result of a rebellion brought about as much by the role of a new protestant regime in England as any deep-seated popular hatred of the French influence in Scotland, should not obscure the successes of her time in power.




3. Ritchie's skillful narration of this difficult and controversial period has provided by far one of the best books as yet available on the politics of sixteenth century Scotland, but is also a must-see for anybody interested in the dynastic politics of France and England.

   16th century Europe is one of the most fascinating periods in history, populated by some of the such colourful and well-known figures as Henry VIII, Mary, Queen of Scots, Elizabeth I and Bloody Mary. It is also a century, as the names listed above suggest, that features a large number of women in positions of power. Mary of Guise, mother of Mary Queen of Scots, was another of these powerful political women.

   The side-effect of the colourful nature of the lives of some of these women is that sixteenth-century history books often read like little more than romantic fiction. They play up the history of personalities (often based on poor research and quasi-psychological guesswork), but ignore the serious side of the women who ruled some of the most powerful kingdoms in Europe.

   Pamela E. Ritchie does not make this mistake. Her book is a serious study of a serious woman, and is based on meticulous and extensive research. But the book is no turgid academic tome, and Ritchie manages the difficult trick of providing a thoroughly readable and engaging study of the career and ambitions of a fascinating woman. Mary of Guise has traditionally been written off in Scotland as the main agent of an unpopular French/Catholic domination of Scotland that took place in the 1550s, which was overturned by the popular revolution of John Knox's Reformation in 1560. Ritchie shows this was not the case. Instead Guise, for most of the 1550s, enjoyed considerable support from Scots, and her plans for a dynastic union of the French and Scottish crowns by the marriage of Mary Queen of Scots to the Dauphin Francois was supported by Catholic and Protestant Scots alike. Guise, above all, was a skilled politician who carefully balanced the difficult circumstances of the dynastic conflicts of sixteenth-century Europe to best pursue the interests of her own family (les Guises) and her daughter, the monarch of Scotland. That her regime collapsed in 1560 as a result of a rebellion brought about as much by the role of a new protestant regime in England as any deep-seated popular hatred of the French influence in Scotland, should not obscure the successes of her time in power.

No comments about Daughters of Erin.

1 comments about Bertolt Brecht's Berlin: A Scrapbook of the Twenties.

1. It is a scrapbook. Berlin dreams included many things, art, architecture, theater, sport. In the 1950's the city's dividedness became an occasion for more riches of artistic expression.

   Brecht died in 1956. His daughter took over his company--the Ensemble-- and the right to produce his plays. The Berlin of the 1920's became frozen in time. After reunification the question arose as to whether the Berlin Ensemble should be preserved.

   Friedrich Ebert was the first President of the Weimar Republic. German inflation, 1919-1923, was more demoralizing than the defeat of armies. Berlin is surrounded by beautiful lakes and woods but most of the inhabitants stayed within the city's confines which produced a multitude of employment opportunities and leisure pursuits. There was also the issue of a lack of low cost housing which some of the architects and planners sought to overcome.

   Berlin night life defied description. There was political cabaret. There were night clubs one does not talk about. Criminal gangs were camouflaged as social clubs. Franz Werfel, Stefan Zweig, Erich Maria Remarque, and Stefan George were active. Kathe Kollwitz and Georg Grosz were inevitably involved in showing the ugliness of life in the city. Other artists included Otto Dix, Ernst Barlach, Paul Klee, Max Beckmann, Otto Muller, Lyonel Feininger, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner. The Bauhaus group influenced the avant garde.

   The first public psychoanalytic institute was established in Berlin in 1921. The Berlin theater attracted the best talent. German film makers used Espressionism. Another genre of film was the mountain film. The music scene included Wilhelm Furtwangler, Arnold Schonberg, Paul Hindemith, Otto Klemperer, Erich Kleiber, Arthur Schnabel, and Kurt Weill. The Wandervogel movement was apolitical. Notes and index are provided.

5 comments about Irish Blessing.

1. This is one of those books that you pick up and you can't put it down. I read it in one evening. Carolyn takes us back in time to a wonderful story about perserverence and family love. It is a book that you will want to pick up for years and read it again. Can't wait for more books from this author!



2. This is a great book for readers of all ages! I picked it up and couldn't bring myself to put it down. It was fantastic!



3. The story was so interesting and descriptive, I came away feeling nostalgic, as if I had lived through it myself and wished I could go back.



4. Irish Blessing is a wounderful read. It has been a true blessing to share with my daughters. It gave us a feeling of what it must have been like to live in the time of our early America. If you like history, rich character developement, and the feeling of escaping into a good book, I strongly recommend reading this book.



5. This book is a great story that takes you back in time. As I read I found myself feeling very emotional.You find yourself feeling like you are a part of this family enduring all their hardships and sharing their laughter,joy, and sorrows. I found myself not wanting to stop reading just wondering what might happen next. This is a great book that should be shared with your family! This book reminds you of how much you love your family and how much you would sacrifice for thier needs, happiness and blessing.

No comments about Lord Cromer: Victorian Imperialist, Edwardian Proconsul.

5 comments about The Last Empress: The Life and Times of Alexandra Feodorovna, Tsarina of Russia.

1. In this wonderfully nuanced book, Greg King explores one of the most complex and contraversial figures in Russian history. Alexandra Romanov was universally reviled by the Russian people and scorned by the Russian aristocracy. King does an excellent job of exposing the woman beneath the legend. One the one hand you see the exceptionally devoted wife and mother who desperately fights to preserve her family and their heritage. On the other hand, you see an unyielding and essentially stupid autocrat who is unable and unwilling to accept wise counsel or clearly see the dangers all around her. The story of Rasputin is the perfect example. She remains desperately devoted to the Russian holy man because of her belief that he can save her hemophiliac son despite the overwhelming evidence that he is a serious threat to the empire.

   Alexandra is a fascinating subject, and King's balanced analysis of her character and her impact on the history of Russia is excellent. King combines excellent research with complelling story-telling. This book leaves you with a sense of sympathy for such a misunderstood woman and a simultaneous frstration that she was so stubbornly misguided in her attempts to influence political events.




2. This book is a good retelling of the facts, with some new theories added (King's ideas about the influence of the Empress's childhood, for one) and some academic theses give the popular treatment for the first time. On the latter score, this biography, for example, is the first Romanov book which does not repeat the old stereotype that Rasputin was exploiting the trust of the Imperial family for political ends, but rather adopts the more credible line that he simply agreed with their own views. The political context is presented a little superficially, with no attention being given to the Empress's real reasons for selecting particular ministers, and the assumption made (all too easy with hindsight) that she was pursuing an illogical and doomed course. Dominic Lieven's "Nicholas II" is a good alternative picture, locating her strategies firmly in the populist tradition of the later nineteenth century. In some ways the book does not fulfill the promise of its introduction, which hints at a totally new picture. However, it is a good read and a good introduction for newcomers, and the character it presents, if less attractive, is a more lively and interesting one than that in the celebrated 'Nicholas and Alexandra'. It redresses the balance of the latter by actually discussing the Empress's work beyond the political sphere, in particular her interest in girls' education. For a fuller picture of her political role, see Joseph Fuhrmann's footnotes to her edited correspondence with her husband.



3. This book is better than Erickson's in many ways. I did wish
   King could have told us more about Alix's childhood and family.
   Read Mager's bio of Grand Duchess Elizabeth for a better narrative on this point. Some of King's phrasing is awkward (he
   repeats the word "pair" too often when referring to 2 people.
   Overall, this is a pretty good book, as long as you consult
   other books to flesh it out.



4. This book is the BEST biography on Alexandra Feodorovna. Very detailed information. I've been a Romanov fan for a long time and when I got this book, it had information I had never heard of before, from her childhood to her bloody end. This is a MUST-HAVE book if you're interested in Alexandra Feodorovna OR the Romanovs. Well done, Greg King!!!



5. I just could not put down this book. It is exceptional. THis should be required reading for any history course on Alexandra and Nicholas. What I liked about it was how the author made history interesting and gave life to the people he wrote about. He brings compassion to the subjects and really explains the complexities of WW1. I highly recommend this to anyone interested in the last tsar and tsarina of Russia. It is a very intriguing read.

No comments about Owain Glyndwr (Cyfres Cip Ar Gymru / Wonder Wales).

No comments about Lady Gregory, Fifty Years After (Irish Literary Studies).