2 comments about Forgotten Lunatics of the Great War.

1. This is a heartbreaking book, in that the plight of the mentally wounded soldiers of WWI are revealed, and in realizing that so many could probably have been helped with today's therapies and drug treatments. Barham does an excellent job in uncovering the brutality (it's not too strong a word) of the "establishment" over the soldiers' disability pensions. There was no government assistance available to the in-home caregivers, and the mentality of the physicians and medical personnel of the time was extremely limited. Basically, severely shell-shocked soliders had no chance of recovery, given the limited medical understanding of the condition.
   
   This is an important book. I could wish the writing was just a little looser; the author obviously has sympathy with the subject matter, and the detailed research can't be faulted, but there is something dry about the presentation. I still strongly recommend the book, and I think it can be useful & interesting to both the WWI "buff" and anyone interested in mental health topics.



2. Superbly researched and well presented work on the subject of the psychological cost of the Great War. The author writes with compassion and insight as well as with wonderful wit. Deeply touching and haunting, this book will leave the reader with a deeper understanding of the psychic wounds suffered by soldiers and perhaps a sense of outrage at society's ignorance of the hidden suffering of the military veteran.

No comments about The Corsican: A Diary of Napoleon's Life in His Own Words.

4 comments about Kings in the North.

1. The Percy family's rise from small landholders to virtual kings of the north of England. The book is not only about the Percy's: it is about the period, but with them at the centre. They lived in a tumultous era and they were very much part of it. The author has done a splendid job with his source material and paints a fascinating history of the politics and warfare of the period. The tone of the book is slightly irreverent, which is good, since the protagonists are not always the nicest people.
   This book is very much about politics, not so much about culture or life in the middle ages. The only drawback is a lack of maps, which makes much of the activity in the book unclear.



2. This was a good, popular, history of Northern England, the Anglo-Scottish wars and their impact on Late Medieval, Renaissance, and Early Modern Britain told through the prism of the Percy family. But the Percys appear and fade from this history with an annoying regularity. Also much of this history is reasoned conjecture...as it necessarily must be since documentation is rather spotty at times. This is not the fault of the author...the records, it would seem, just were not there to access.
   
   All-in-all a good and informative read about an area of British history in which little is in print for the average reader. A recommended read for anyone interested in British history...and, really, who couldn't be interested in British history...such an anodyne to the flood of American history that every press, these days, seems obsessed with.



3. Kings in the North is the best kind of history. It has been extensively researched and is written in a style accessible even to to non-historians. I am a psychologist and I couldn't put it down! It's a must-read for anyone interested in the details of what really happened in early England. Shakespeare and Hollywood have sold us many fictions, but in this book you can find out the facts about Hotspur, Prince Hal and what really happened to William Wallace (Braveheart.)



4. a very good connection between the percy family and british history, so detailed with perfect details

3 comments about Warwick the Kingmaker.

1. Excellent reading which you won't want to put down. Traces the life of THE KINGMAKER as he is buffeted by the winds of fortune, endlessly rising and falling until meeting his death at Barnet Field. Will make you feel Warwick's surging energy as he carries the fortunes of the White Rose on his back. His self contemplation before the Battle of Barnet is powerful stuff.



2. As one of the two best biographies of Richard Neville, 16th Earl of Warwick, this book enables one to understand the complexities. He was not the "Last of the Barons" - especially since he was an earl ;-), as Shakespeare made him out, but rather a betrayed and fair person who did not want power, but rather good government. The book brings out the trials of a man betrayed and finally defeated, but his ideals lived on. A Warwick! A Warwick!



3. A very balanced biography of this enigmatic figure. It presents his intense energy and desire for good government, but also as an extremely ambitious, proud man who allowed himself to be caught in the web of the great Spider King, Louis XI of France. I wish Kendall had not included his periodic flights of fancy (imaginary dialogue, going into the mind of a man long dead), but this is a highly readable and detailed book.

1 comments about Lucia Joyce: To Dance in the Wake.

1. This review is based in good part on Joan Acocella 's comprehensive review which first appeared in 'The New Yorker'. It also makes use of information provided by D.T. Max in a story on Joyce's grandson , Stephen Joyce and his efforts to protect the family from too close public scrutiny.
   Shloss worked for many years on this book, and her aim is to both rehabilitate Lucia Joyce from the image given of her by Joyce scholars Richard Ellmann( The great Joyce biographer) and Brenda Maddox( Biographer of Nora Joyce).
   As Schloss sees it Lucia Joyce was herself a creative artist who was not simply an inspiration but a real collaborator with her father in the creation of 'Finnegan's Wake'. This claim is one Acocella believes there is no real evidence for, and is in fact the major exaggeration of the book.
   Other claims of Schloss however are given greater credibility. The primary one is that Lucia Joyce was victimized, institutionalized unnecessarily through the treacherous actions of her brother Georgio. As Schloss sees it James Joyce was Lucia's defender in the family , loved her and believed in her genius. But in his dedication to his work, especially to the completion of 'Finnegan's Wake' he did not take the time and effort to stand up to his wife Nora and son Georgio who worked against Lucia.
   Lucia's sad story, her schizophrenia, her rejection by three assistants of Joyce, including Beckett and Alexander Calder, her failed efforts at a dancing career, her tale of childhood wanderings with an indigent father artist, her language difficulties , her long period of institutionalization is told here in great detail.
   Schloss has tremendous sympathy for her subject.
   Unfortunately she in trying to make Lucia Joyce a subject of interest is unable to change the fact that the reason most people have had or will have interest in her is because of the possible light her life throws on that of Joyce itself.
   Certainly the illness of his daughter was for Joyce a major source of worry grief and frustration.
   Yet in the way Schloss tells the story Joyce himself too appears a victim, both of his other family members, and of his genius.
   He also appears as an often neglectful but nonetheless largely caring father who could not prevent his child from having a life of great pain and suffering.

No comments about George III: A Life in Caricature.

No comments about Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes and Selected Travel Writings (World's Classics).

5 comments about Wallace: A Biography.

1. We sat on a train out of Edinburg Scotland and took up a conversation with a charming lady across the table. We mentioned William Wallace and the Stirling Bridge Battle. She recommended we read her brother's book "William Wallace" by Peter Reese. We just ordered it through Amazon.com Salute to Haggis!



2. Peter Reese's book is highly recommended because:

   a) It is divided into logical sections.

   b) It covers both the life of Wallace and the aftermath right up to the date of publication (1996).

   c) It is very strong on the military aspects of Wallace's life and campaigns.

   d) It sets Wallace's life into the context of Scotland at that time.

   e) It is very well written, avoids going into unnecessary detail, and makes the important points.

   The epilogue is slightly out of date now as a lot has happened in Scotland since 1996 i.e. the devolution referendum in 1997 and the establishment of the new Scottish Parliament in 1999.

   In summary, one of the best Wallace biographies - we recommend it very strongly. [MacBraveHeart May, 1999]




3. For a cut and paste biography, this book does an excellent job of conveying facts (or offering up what may be facts) and making it plain that certain things are under speculation. It offers different opinions from different sources, but lacks personal touch. It wasn't emotionally engaging in the least, unless you care more about dates than the man himself.



4. Peter Reese was a soldier and rightfully concentrates on the military career of William Wallace. As a responsible scholar he also acknowledges the dearth of contemporary records of what actually happened during the Scottish wars of independence. Although some may find it annoying or confusing, the author is understandably forced to cite his sources so that he may present the material in the most objective form as possible. In a sense, the book is more scholarly than biographic, building upon the writings of previous Wallace biographers who also must have been challenged by the lack of records from the period. Despite this, he deduces from common sense and the trends of the era to portray what Wallace's life may have been like. His honesty is proof that history should be learned from sources other than Hollywood.

   There are a few weaknesses, however. The maps were helpful but somewhat incomplete. Major towns and fiefdoms mentioned throughout the book cannot be found in the maps of Scotland. The diagrams of Stirling and Falkirk are great but lack some important details (they might've sacrificed detail for greater area). Nonetheless these are minor points compared to the one factor I found very problematic. The author makes sweeping assumptions several times throughout his work, mostly concerning the character and essence of a certain people or race. Though cultures have strong mores or habits, that does not apply to entire peoples who may undergo several cultural transformations. In his assumptions the author stands dangerously close to stereotyping, however harmless his conclusions.

   Overall the book is a well-researched and honest account of Scotland's famed freedom fighter. The bibliography at the end is interesting in and of itself. It certainly moves one to explore further the mystery of William Wallace, a true nationalist.




5. William Wallace must have been a stunningly charismatic and daring leader. That certainly comes across in this biography by Peter Reese. However, the book doesn't quite pull you along as such an incredible life should. Perhaps that is due to the very few facts we really know about Wallace.
   
   Nevertheless, Reese gets the facts correct so far as I can tell and paints a good picture of the time in which Wallace lived. One does get a pretty good sense of Scotland itself, its people, culture, and society. England and its kings, particularly Edward I, are examined in detail as well.
   
   The battles are explained in good detail and the reader can get a fairly good sense of how the main battles went. The maps, both of the battles and Scotland, are somewhat lacking, as others have noted.
   
   The book, while correcting some facts about Wallace that the movie Braveheart missed, doesn't force one to reject the picture of Wallace in Braveheart. Certainly some events depicted in the movie were subject to creative license. The movie certainly doesn't show why Wallace won the battle of Stirling bridge, namely that the Scottish cut off and annihilated a large element of the English forces by taking and blocking the bridge. The book does verify his use of large wooden spears against the mounted knights, his poor relations with the Scottish nobility, and his rise from the common class. And the movie, of course, rightly portrays medieval warfare, perhaps too well! It would seem that Wallace certainly must've been the sort of passionate man envisioned in the movie.
   
   All things considered, if you like Wallace, you'll probably enjoy the book. It's Wallace the man we would all like to know more about but perhaps the fine details are too sparse to enjoy a full picture.

No comments about Galloper Jack: A Grandson's Search for a Forgotten Hero.

4 comments about Czars: Russia's Rulers for More Than One Thousand Years (Serial).

1. Ther was so much that it was all so hard to put together. It needs to flow more. I dont have much more to say than, "Overall it was exceptional".



2. Czars: Russia's Rulers for More Than One Thousand Years is a great book. It is so well written, which makes it incredibly entertaining. It encompasses every facet of the Russian's fascinating history. This book I will definitely read again. Usually, I would find the Russian history complicated and rather dull, but this book makes it interesting. It is an overall masterpiece.



3. This is a very readable book about the long history of Russia under the Grand Princes and Czars. It contains many interesting facts about rulers you never knew existed. My only complaint is that it only has 5 maps and only 3 of them are helpful. A history book should have maps to help readers visualize the wheres, whens and whys. And a book about the 1000 year history of Russia under the Czars should have many maps. This book lists many cities and towns that were important throughout Russian history but it doesn't show on a map where they are/were located. This book goes into great detail about battles between Russia and the Khans, Ottomans, Swedes, Poles, Napoleon and the British. However, it does not provide maps to allow the reader to follow the battles. I had to find another book of maps to be able to fully understand what was going on. Hopefully, the next time the authors write a book or update this one they will take into consideration the reader's desire and right to know where things are happening.



4. Fairly well written and detailed it unfortunately lacked the graphic information needed to complete the thought. Several times it would mention a certain region or town without giving the reader the map leaving you guessing to where the event had occured.

   More pictures of the major players would have been welcomed as well, if possible.