No comments about Richard III.

No comments about Battle Royal.

No comments about Requiem for a Spy: The Killing of Robert Nairac.

No comments about Kingsford's Stonor Letters and Papers 1290-1483 (Camden Classic Reprints).

No comments about Saints of Northumbria (Celtic Saints).

No comments about Victoria and Albert: A Family Life at Osbourne House.

No comments about Open the Door of your Heart.

5 comments about Wellington a Personal History.

1. Author Christopher Hibbert concentrates on the personal aspects of Wellington's career, such as his relationships with family and close friends, and skirts over any lengthy analyses of the Duke's many campaigns. The Battle of Waterloo, for instance, is covered in only a few pages and the entire Peninsula War is given short shrift. Wellington's later years as a Tory politician, however, and his subsequent fall from grace with the populace is presented in detail and makes for quite an interesting read. Portraits of Wellington's brothers and other associates are also abundant in this volume and I was surprised as to how many I've never seen before. Hibbert himself is not totally enamored with his subject and portrays him as a very reticent and reserved aristocrat with little tolerance for fools and even less sympathy for the common folk. In this regard, I don't believe Hibbert has been able to lift the mask of command off Wellington and given us the definite look into his character. Wellington was certainly a man of many contradictions and Hibbert merely presents one side of him---the cold and aloof one. Still it's a worthy book with some scattered information not found in other sources. For the best read on this man, it's probably better for one to start with Elizabeth Longford's "Wellington: Years of the Sword". Hibbert's biography would certainly be a most interesting companion piece alongside it.



2. Having just finished McCullough's John Adams, I picked this up, hoping for another wonderfully vivid portrait of a great historical figure. Instead I find a book so crammed with useless details, so choked with irrelevant facts about irrelevant characters in Wellington's life, as to be virtually unreadable. I have no objection to a high level of detail, when properly employed in the advancement of a good narrative. But I can't explain the purpose of the useless details in this book, unless to parade before us the author's exhaustive knowledge.

   I fall asleep each night after reading one and a half pages. If you're an insomniac with no real interest in Wellington, this book is for you. Otherwise, don't waste your time.




3. I have always thought of the Duke of Wellington as the Hero of Waterloo, but little else. In "Wellington, A Personal History" I learned that he was much more.

   This book is, as the title indicates, a personal history of the man, rather than a history of his times. The reader learns little of the details of Waterloo, nor does he learn much about the impact of his career on the wider world.

   Wellington's story is an interesting one. Born the younger son of lower nobility, his dukedom was earned, rather than inherited. His career was diverse. He fought for the Crown in India before his first encounter with Napoleon's armies in Portugal and Spain during the Peninsular War. The possibility of service in America during the American Revolution was mentioned, but did not occur. The glory which he won at Waterloo was merely a stepping stone to higher service.

   After the banishment of Napoleon, Wellington entered the diplomatic service in France. This, coupled with his membership in the House of Lords, led to service as Foreign Minister and Prime Minister, among many other appointments. In office, Wellington was, generally, a supporter of privilege and order. Despite his dominant conservatism, Wellington was flexible enough to adjust to prevailing necessities. Although initially opposed to Catholic Emancipation, he supported Emancipation after concluding that the defeat of Emancipation would have led to more social unrest than the issue was worth. He then not only had to persuade opinion among the Lords and Commons, but also had to overcome the strong opposition of the King in order to get Emancipation passed. This is of particular interest to me, as family legend has it that we are descendants of Daniel O'Connell, whose election to the House of Commons forced the issue. Jews, whose potential for disorder was presumably less than that of Irish Catholics, did not enjoy his support when Emancipation for them was suggested.

   During his political career, Wellington endured wide swings in popularity. At times he faced the threats of the mob as a result of his policies. He was forced to turn his home into a fortress and to carry pistols while traveling about London. Even when his popularity was at its nadir, his prestige and personal presence were sufficient to insure his safety.

   Wellington's relations with his monarchs make interesting reading. Although he held George IV and William IV in low esteem, his relationship with Victoria was warm and close. He became an intimate and trusted advisor on whom Victoria and other politicians relied as an intermediatory.

   Wellington's marriage was unhappy and distant and he became a widower at a fairly young age. These facts caused him to seek and enjoy the companionship of many women through his lifetime. These relationships and their effects on Wellington account for a large portion of this book.

   As is common among heroes, Wellington's popularity grew as his vigor and involvement in public affairs diminished. Living to an advanced age, Wellington was revered as Britain's greatest hero.

   I often gauge a book by how it makes me think beyond the covers. I compared him to American political generals. His political career was more impressive than Grant's, and of longer duration than Eisenhower's. The closest comparison may be with Washington, both as his country's greatest hero and the man to whom his country repeatedly turned in crises.

   My only disappointment in this book, as minor as it is, is that it is so personal that one gets a sense of his times only indirectly. Overall it is a good study of this major historical figure.




4. I read Dr Hibbert's biography of Horatio Lord Nelson and was so impressed by it that I ordered two more of his books. I've just finished reading this one, and I must say that, although I'd never really liked Wellington's often-characterised stiff-upper-lip persona, I found Hibbert's depiction very appealing. It reveals that, even though the marshal created a mask of aloofness and control, behind it he was charming and engaging. Wellington may not have possessed Nelson's instinctive, natural flair but he was solid, reliable, courageous, determined and a good learner. He comes a close second to Nelson as our greatest military hero.



5. Christopher Hibbert's biography of the first Duke of Wellington is, as advertised, a personal history. His focus is on the man and much less on his long career in the British Army and British political life. His finding, that Wellington was a complex man with a many-sided personality, is not a new discovery. Hibbert's contribution to a crowded field of biographies is to delve into that personality with both enthusiasm and some intellectual discipline in order to put a human face on a distant historical figure.
   
   The first half of the book covers Arthur Wellesley's unpromising youth as the seemingly less talented middle child of an Anglo-Irish nobleman and his familar military career to the Battle of Waterloo. Hibbert skims the military narrative and his analysis is sometimes uneven. For example, he makes rather overmuch of a small skirmish before the assault on Seringapatam in India as a defining experience; but slights later achievements such as Wellington's disciplined and successful defense of Portugal in 1810-1811. He does provide a close examination of Wellington's unfortunate marriage with Kitty Pakenham and his relationships with other women, without necessarily exceeding the spotty factual basis for those relationships.
   
   Hibbert is to be commended for devoting the second half of the book to Wellington's long and often neglected career as politician and public servant. Here, Wellington's well-developed military talents and Tory instincts were often less useful in the indifferent chaos of politics. His relationships, alleged or otherwise, with various women, play a prominent part in Hibbert's treatment.
   
   Ultimately, this book is less satisfying as an examination of Wellington than, for example, Elizabeth Longford's longer but more balanced teatment. Hibbert's account perhaps a little too often reads like the gossip column of the Sunday newspaper.
   
   This book is recommended to those looking for a popular biography of the Duke of Wellington, one suited to contemporary interest in the personal side of public figures.

1 comments about The Churchill War Papers: The Ever Widening War, Volume 3: 1941.

1. If you are a Churchill fan, you should get at least one volume of his "war papers" that Martin Gilbert has compiled. That way you can see the sheer volume of output that he generated, plus the sheer magnificence of the things Churchill grasped in his role, and that he communicated to those that he told to do something, those that he asked for help, those that he shared his empathy with, and, may I add, those of us many years later that get a better understanding of his role and his valor through reading his actual words written on a daily basis during the struggle of the war. I've seen where Churchill was born, and where his remains now are buried, but Churchill's words are still alive and available, through these books that Gilbert has been so useful in issuing. A note of caution--they are sometimes tedious reading, since there's over 1700 pages for 1941 alone (can you write almost 5 pages a day as Churchill did back then, for a whole year, way before there was a computer to instantly accept your keystrokes as you type?) An astounding range of material and an astounding range of human communication.

1 comments about Women under the Third Reich: A Biographical Dictionary.

1. At last, someone has written this book. The stories of women on both sides of the Nazi regime have been shoved aside and ignored for too long, leaving only the mythology of Eva Braun, Anne Frank, and Marlene Dietrich. But women were important participants in the war on both sides; on the front lines, in concentration camps, in espionage, in rescue and resistance. Cosner and Cosner's Women Under the Third Reich introduces us to one hundred women whose lives impacted history. Here you will meet an astonishing variety of women, from Yvonne Nevejean, who is said to have rescued up to 4,000 Belgian Jewish children from the Reich, to Irma Grese, the Beastess of Belsen, a prison camp warden known for her brutality. Each account is well researched and documented. Appendices which reference the women by role and by country of origin are a great bonus. Informative, well-written and lively, this book is a must for every serious student of history.