1 comments about Selected Letters of E. M. Forster, Volume Two 1921-1970.

1. This two volume set is essential for the Forster scholar. Edited by Mary Lago, one of the foremost Forster scholars, it contains some of the highlights of his voluminous correspondence. Up until his death in 1970, Forster wrote up to twelve letters (!) a day, many of which are stored in the Forster archives at Kings College in Cambridge, England. Dr. Lago painstakingly sifted through those massive archival files and translated Forster's unique penmanship and wonderful letter writing style into a lovely, insightful, and entertaining two-volume set of correspondence.

No comments about Years at the Edge of Existence.

1 comments about The Lioness Roared: The Problems of Female Rule in English History (Queenship and Power).

1. This was a real eye opener for me. I had never viewed Mary from this perspective. She is often portrayed as the lesser of the two sisters; this obscures the tough position in which she found herself. I also learned a great deal about Ann, her times and her marriage. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone interested in a new take on female rulers in Great Britain, specifically, or to anyone interested in the British monarchy generally

5 comments about Samuel Pepys.

1. This is another fascinating historical biography that reads more like a novel than a stuffy factual book. Virtually everyone knows the name of Samuel Pepys. Ah yes, he's the man who wrote the diary. This is of course true, but do they actually know anything about the man behind the name of Samuel Pepys. What for instance were his feelings on the politicians of the day. What were his own ambitions and aspirations.
   
   Pepys was a naval administrator and friend and confidant of some of the most famous and powerful people in London . Sex, the plague, music, marital conflict, naval life, public executions and incarcerations in the Tower of London. These are just some of the colourful events in the life of a man famous for his writing of a diary.
   
   The book contains a wealth of interesting material about the life of a man who's name goes before him. Everyone knows his name, but few know of the life of the man himself.



2. I loved this book. I still love this book. On a recent trip to London I found myself thinking about Pepys around the city, seeing things, going places, meeting people. He is so interesting to himself, and to Tomalin, and now to me! She does a superb job telling the story with no intrusions from her self--it's all Pepys all the time. If you can read, you'll love it!



3. Claire Tomalin's Samuel Pepys: The Unequalled Self is quite simply one of the best reads in history, biography or any other genre in a long time. It deservedly carried off the Whitbread Book of the Year in 2002. Pepys lived through the tumultuous changes of the 17th century from Charles I to the Commonwealth and back to Charles II and James II and finally through the Glorious Revolution that brought the Dutch William III to the English crown. That century contained plagues, the great London fire, revolution, counterrevolution, and the emergence of science. Pepys experienced it all and for some 9 years wrote a comprehensive, perceptive, and extremely candid diary.
   
   Tomalin's story rather naturally divides into three parts: pre-diary years, the diary years from 1660-1669, and the post-diary years when Pepys reached his greatest heights and suffered his greatest losses, personal and professional. In the first and last parts Tomalin gives us an excellent if fairly standard biography, but one informed by the incredible detail and honesty of the diary years.
   
   
   When the reader reaches the end of the diary years one feels a sense of deprivation, a sense almost of being cheated. Pepys has drawn the curtain closed and we are no longer privy to the intimate details of Pepys daily activities at court, in the street, in the bedroom. Tomalin's own sense of loss is palpable.
   
   
   Pepys began life as the son of London tailor and managed to reach the highest levels of English government as an advisor to kings by dint of hard work and obsequious obeisance to a number of benefactors, beginning with Edward Montague. An assiduous rump smoocher was he. Along the way he switched from being a supporter of Cromwell and Parliament to backing Charles II and James II. As a high-level naval official he instituted many practices that made the Royal Navy the greatest in the world. Unfortunately for Pepys, Charles II was a wastrel and James II an open Catholic whose religion cost him his crown. His connection to them cost him some time in the Tower of London.
   
   
   There are many diaries, but few that are as perceptive and honest as Pepys' or as fruitful at sweeping in the details of daily life in mid-1600s England. According to Tomalin, Pepys diary gives more detail about the life of young working class girls and women, the maids, cooks, and serving girls, as almost any other source. Pepys also had a strong appetite for women and he did not hesitate to use his position to get what he desired, which he also details in his diary.
   
   
   Pepys' diary and his own achievements show him as a remarkably energetic man with a strongly curious mind. Although not a scientist himself Pepys had a curious mind and also belonged to the Royal Society serving a term as its president. Pepys displays a willingness to work and to fawn as necessary in order to advance. The diary also shows him as a frequent sexual harasser (although his behavior may have been within the norms of the day at least as far as the men were concerned). And while he excelled at his work, he also was not above taking a bit of an "inducement" on the side. We would call these payments bribes, but Pepys seems to have viewed them more like service charges and he seems not to have acted contrary to the navy's best interests. These bribes were usually in pound notes (often sizeable), but he also had a long-running arrangement with a ship's captain for free access to the sexual favors of the captain's wife (Her name: Mrs. Bagwell!).
   
   
   What is truly remarkable is that we know all these things and know them to be true for a certainty only because Pepys wrote them in his diary, a diary that it is generally believed Pepys fully intended to be publicly read some day (he included the six volumes in his library that he bequeathed it to Magdalene College, Cambridge).
   
   
   Highest recommendation.



4. What a marvellous treatment of Samuel Pepys Diaries this book is. It deserves all the awards it has won. It is scholarly, historical and thoroughly well written providing a remarkable insight into Pepys daily life as well as de-mystifying all that was censored from us at high school.



5. This is literary biography of the first rank -- equal to the greats, like Ellmann on Wilde. A hugely impressive work and a pleasure to read.

1 comments about London: The Biography of a City.

1. I read this book in preparation for a trip to London. It really helped to focus on the city and its people through the ages. On occasion, the details threatened to get a bit overwhelming. It followed the history of London from pre-Roman times to the modern era by time period. We look at how they lived and the quality of their life. The book is well illustrated with photographs, maps and drawings. I went to London with a friend who had NOT read the book and I found myself appreciating aspects of older London more than she. I also appreciated modern London more because I know about its struggles. I credit my appreciation and knowledge to this book. I highly recommend it, but don't take my word for it. Some of my guides recommended it, too.

No comments about Detroit's Corktown (MI) (Images of America).

2 comments about An Irishman in the Iron Brigade: The Civil War Memoirs of James P. Sullivan (Irish in the Civil War Ser. 3).

1. This is a thoroughly enjoyable book for me, as I am the great-granddaughter of Mickey Sullivan, or "JP" as we Sullivans call him. I read this book before visiting Gettysburg and so was able to retrace his steps. Gettysburg has an surreal quality about it and still seems alive with the spirits of those who fought there. JP was fortunate to come home from that war. Books such as these that speak with the actual words of the soldiers help you to understand the times and the feelings of those who fought there.

   Lance Herdegen brought my great-grandfather to life for me - an opportunity I would never have experienced if this book had not been written. I have also listened to Mr. Herdegen speak, telling stories about the Civil War, about the "Western" soldiers from Wisconsin, and the Wisconsin Native Americans, who enlisted as "French-Canadians" since as native americans they were considered at that time to be "foreign" peoples...how incredible that seems to us now.

   The Civil War will long hold interest and mystery. I think you will enjoy this book, as well as the others written by Lance Herdegen. He is a great authority on the Civil War




2. I must say I was thrilled to come across this book here. James Patrick Sullivan was my great-great grandfather and I knew little about my ancestors before. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting a glimpse of a soldier's recollections of the War Between the States.

No comments about Mysteries of the Druids - The Veil of Isis.

1 comments about The Windsors: A Dynasty Revealed.

1. Based on research done for a TV documentary of the same name, this book covers the same ground that Elizabeth Longford's "The Royal House of Windsor" does but with a more objective than personal view. This is to be expected because neither author shares the intimacy with the Royal Circle that Lady Longford does. As a result this book focuses more on the historical events that swirled around the Royals than on the personalities of the Royals; yet by their actions, the book still tells a lot about them as individuals.

   Both books should be read if you want to make sense of current events in the House of Windsor. Read Elizabeth Longford's book first, and this book second. Both sets of authors conclude that the House of Windsor will survive. That is to be expected of a dedicated royalist such as Longford. That Brendon and Whitehead came to the same conclusion appeared more to be a lack of nerve in the end than of reasoned conviction.

2 comments about Witnesses for Christ: Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs of the Ottoman Period, 1437-1860.

1. This is a very moving book. My review is simply from the jacket.

   This study is the culmination of two decades of research on Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs under the Ottoman Turks. Father Vaporis has compiled the life stories of almost two hundred faithful men and women who were by and large of humble station, possessing little or no formal education, yet gave their lives, or witnessed, for Christ...It also contains a number of accounts of Muslims who converted to Orthodox Christianity and suffered a martyr's death becasue they refused to return to Islam.

   This, however, is not simply a collection of hagiographic stories. Here, the lives are retold in a fluid, easy-to-read manner, and set in an historical context to make them more accessible to the reader. Also of great interest are the many translations of the dialogue between the Neomartyrs and the Ottoman judges (kadi), during the three interrogations that were mandated by Islamic law. These records provide fascinating information on mutual perceptions and the clash between Orthodox and Islamic cultures, illustrating how the Ottomans bcame decreasingly tolerant of Orthodox Christians as their empire declined.

   While of great historical interest, this collection of accounts of Orthodox Neomartyrs, who had to choose between conversion to Islam and painful torture and death, will no doubt inspire many readers in their own daily lives. Includes 16 full-color icon plates.

   Rev. Dr. Nomikos Michael Vaporis was an historian of Byzantine history and Modern Greek Hellenism, as well as the former Dean of Hellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology, and Director of Holy Cross Orthodox Press.

   Other books of interest may include: Pearl of Great Price, the Life and Martyrdom of Mother Maria Skobtsova 1891-1945 by Sergei Hackel; Exploring the Inner Universe, by Roman Braga.




2. This is a very moving book and is relevant now more than ever since the word and concept "martyr" is being hijacked by Islamic extremists who are the very opposite of what a true martyr stands for. Most of my review is simply from the jacket but there are several books that I have noted which you will want to read if this issue holds any importance for your life.

   "This study is the culmination of two decades of research on Orthodox Christian Neomartyrs under the Ottoman Turks. Father Vaporis has compiled the life stories of almost two hundred faithful men and women who were by and large of humble station, possessing little or no formal education, yet gave their lives, or witnessed, for Christ...It also contains a number of accounts of Muslims who converted to Orthodox Christianity and suffered a martyr's death because they refused to return to Islam.

   This, however, is not simply a collection of hagiographic stories. Here, the lives are retold in a fluid, easy-to-read manner, and set in an historical context to make them more accessible to the reader. Also of great interest are the many translations of the dialogue between the Neomartyrs and the Ottoman judges (kadi), during the three interrogations that were mandated by Islamic law. These records provide fascinating information on mutual perceptions and the clash between Orthodox and Islamic cultures, illustrating how the Ottomans became decreasingly tolerant of Orthodox Christians as their empire declined.

   While of great historical interest, this collection of accounts of Orthodox Neomartyrs, who had to choose between conversion to Islam and painful torture and death, will no doubt inspire many readers in their own daily lives. Includes 16 full-color icon plates.

   Rev. Dr. Nomikos Michael Vaporis was an historian of Byzantine history and Modern Greek Hellenism, as well as the former Dean of Hellenic College/Holy Cross School of Theology, and Director of Holy Cross Orthodox Press."

   What produced these heroes of the faith? A religion that has been militant from its earliest times. Islam has not been a friend to non-Muslims in general and Christianity in particular. Several books by Bat Ye'or detail this millennia-long genocide. "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude: Seventh-Twentieth Century" and "The Dhimmi: Jews & Christians Under Islam" as well as the collection of essays "Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide" detail in depth the tragedy that has beset eastern Christianity as a result of the so-called prophet's religion. It produced true Christian martyrs- witnesses to the love of Christ God- not the suicide murderers of modern times. I do not believe that Islam must be violent, but its history in this regard is shameful and disturbing.

   Other books of interest may include: Pearl of Great Price, the Life and Martyrdom of Mother Maria Skobtsova 1891-1945 by Sergei Hackel; Exploring the Inner Universe, by Roman Braga. The Prophet and the Messiah is a useful and accurate overview of Christianity and Islam for beginners. May these times pass.