1 comments about Seize, Burn, or Sink: The Thoughts and Words of Admiral Lord Horatio Nelson.

1. From: CAPTAIN RICHARD WOODMAN, "Elder Brother" of UK Trinity House and author of over 30 nautical books, including the "Nathaniel Drinkwater" age-of-sail series:
   
   "Monumental, magnificent, what an achievement! Captain Maffeo has extracted from Nelson's correspondence the opinions of the great man and the manner in which they furthered his naval intentions -- for this is not by any means a collection of unadorned or unambiguous comment. Here is Nelson at work, as well as Nelson as a private person, with his concerns and anxieties, his care and thoughtfulness for others, and his ruthless streak. Captain Maffeo has extracted and collected a fascinating miscellany in 'Seize, Burn, or Sink.'"
   
   
   From: STEPHEN COONTS, "New York Times"-bestselling author of "Flight of the Intruder," "Fortunes of War," "Combat," "Deep Black," and "America":
   
   "Two hundred years ago admirals had no staff; yet, more time. In addition to his duties of leading his fleet, an admiral was also his nation's roving ambassador. Correspondence took months to get anywhere, so he was the 'man on the spot' who made political decisions and commitments wherever his ships happened to call. Riding their flagships around for months--even years--at sea, admirals spent much of their days hunched over a desk reading correspondence and writing letters with goose-quill pens; letters to everyone: their superiors, their families, other captains, government officials high-and-low--officials of their own nation as well as of the various ports in which their ships might call. One of these most famous, and victorious, admirals was Horatio Nelson--and he was an admiral who had a way with words. Historian Steven E. Maffeo has mined his voluminous correspondence to give us the nuggets in this book--the best of Nelson; or, if you will, Nelson unexpurgated. You will find this book a great read and a reference you will return to often, in the years ahead, when you need just the right phrase. I recommend it to you."

No comments about James II: The Triumph and the Tragedy (English Monarchs. Treasures from the National Archives) (English Monarchs. Treasures from the National Archives).

2 comments about The Courtesan's Revenge.

1. Harriette Wilson (1786-1845) was among last of the great courtesans and became one of the most notorious when, foiled in collecting annuities that had been promised to her by several gentlemen in her retirement, she published her "Memoirs" with the intention of blackmailing virtually every man who had visited her boudoir. The lawsuits sent her publisher, John Joseph Stockdale, to debtors' prison. But Harriette Wilson's "Memoirs" were a sensation that thrilled the reading public and caused panic at the highest levels of British government. Wilson was blackmailing King George IV and his royal mistress Lady Conyngham, among a long list of powerful personalities. Author Frances Wilson presents a meticulous and lively account of Harriette Wilson's colorful life, from her birth into a tradesman's family in Mayfair, through her reign over England's demi-monde and seduction of its grande-monde, when she cost £50 (over $3000 today) for just an introduction, to her eventual retirement and publication of her "Memoirs" in 1825, through the last years of her life.
   
   For all that she wrote about herself, Harriette Wilson is a perplexing character. Born before the anti-sex fervor of the 19th century posited chastity as the primarily requirement of femininity and women with any carnal appetite came to be feared, Harriette Wilson valued her freedom above all else. She might have had an aristocratic marriage, but she didn't have the temperament for it. "Constancy and convention in relationships were anathemas to her." That's refreshing. But was Harriette's personality bigger than her talents? She reminds me of Mae West: saucy, bold, flirtatious, and completely convinced that she is the most fascinating and sexiest woman around. So certain is she of her allure that force of will makes it so. She excelled in self-promotion. Was Harriette a wronged woman or a vicious blackmailer? She didn't confine her threats to those who had reneged on promises. She begged money until the end. But if only a few men had paid her what she asked -which many did- Harriette would have had enough money to live on. She handled money poorly and lived beyond her means.
   
   Adding to the considerable drama that followed the publication of Harriette Wilson's "Memoirs" was a rebuttal of Harriette's account by fellow courtesan and former friend Julia Storer Johnstone, which Miss Johnstone called her "Confessions". The "Confessions" are accepted by some as the more truthful account, but Frances Wilson points out that is not the case. Harriette Wilson took liberties with dates and details in her "Memoirs", but many of the events can be verified by secondary sources. When the "Memoirs" must be relied upon for explicit information, they are problematic. The men who successfully bought themselves out of the book do not appear within its pages. So many of Harriette Wilson's liaisons remain a mystery. "The Courtesan's Revenge" is an intriguing biography and an detailed piece of the social history of Regency England's demi-monde. There are 2 sections of illustrations containing more than 30 plates of Harriette Wilson and her contemporaries.



2. The author has really done justice to this biography, resisting I am sure the temptation to `sex' the book up, which would have been totally wrong and also unnecessary. This is a wickedly funny biography, a story of a woman, whose name many people will never have heard. It is the life story of Harriette Wilson, who became one of the most famous and most sought after courtesans in the whole of England.
   
   Harriette's beauty was a rare sight to behold when many women, even of a young age were disfigured with pox marks or the loss of their teeth and any of the other multitude of diseases prevalent at the time. But apart from being beautiful she was intelligent and funny. The author has managed to draw from a multitude of sources, which have enabled her to distinguish fact from fiction. Although having said that, Harriette led such an extraordinary life that at times the book reads more like a novel than a biography.
   
   Harriette Wilson had a sensational and at the same time scandalous life. She was nobody's fool and when her former lovers, some of the most important men in Regency London, including the King himself and no less than four prime minister turned against her, Harriette knew exactly how to take her revenge upon them.

No comments about David Livingstone and the Victorian Encounter With Africa.

No comments about A Dictionary of British and Irish Travellers in Italy, 1701-1800 (Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in Britis).

No comments about Lord Elgin and the Marbles.

4 comments about Moscow Farewell.

1. This fantastic book offers a wonderful view of a young man experiencing life to its fullest--in Soviet Moscow. Extremely well-written, funny, and insightful, it shares its best qualities with those in Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," Roth's "Portnoy's Complaint," and Kerouac's "On the Road." Reading this book will make you feel good. It is a book for everyone.



2. I think this book is great. Plus, George Feifer is awesome. He's a friend of the family and he's definitely one of the coolest guys I know. And coming from a teenager, that's a lot. Well, anyways, everyone should definitely read this book. You won't regret it.



3. Fantastic, I have been in moscow for 5 years and been working, meeting people and got the street-pulse. George Feifer's book is showing the russian's mentality with happiness and large respect. The russian people is a proud people who has been through some hard times and Mr Feifer lets you know how they got by. Today Soviet is Russia, but a lot is still the same, still true...The book is very up lifting, I lift my hat off to you George...



4. The first time I read Feifer's book, I was 14 years old. I read it again this summer, after I had returned from Russia, a trip that "Moscow Farewell" helped inspire. The book is so brilliant, so accurate, so timeless that some 30+ years later, the paralells between his life in Moscow and mine in St. Petersburg are eerie. It is a story that lives in your imagination and your heart, and I often find myself wondering about George and his life after the book ends...

1 comments about Outsiders Together: Virginia and Leonard Woolf..

1. I have no qualifications to write reviews other than an MLS in library science and I am an eclectic reader entirely of nonfiction with only a few exceptions. Because I read all kinds of things, I am fairly tolerant of style, but I must offer a warning to any potential buyer of this book on the basis of writing style. I'm sure there is excellent scholarship here as you would expect since the author is a college teacher. However, in the first paragraph of the book are found the following words/phrases: tropes ... microcosmic forms of colonization, tyranny or warmongering ... inbuilt hierarchy ... learning toward the metaphor ... traditionally conceived actuality ... etc. Now this style is a shame because the title sounded like just what I was looking for and the two people who are the subject of the book surely should make an interesting study. But with a writing style like this, I can't imagine anyone but scholars would want to slog through the jargon in order to arrive at the content. Sorry to be so critical, but I wanted a study of the people and I didn't find it.

No comments about Skelligs Calling.

No comments about Henry VIII & His Six Wives.