5 comments about Dancing with the Devil: The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue.

1. 3Dancing With the Devil : The Windsors and Jimmy Donahue2 is a sweeping adventure of scandal and euphoria among glitzy cafe society, adeptly brought to life by biographer Christopher Wilson.

   In this case, the name 3Donahue,2 is directly related to a very famous name: Woolworth. When 35 & 102 chainstore mogul Frank Winfield Woolworth died in 1919, he left as part of his substantial legacy great hopes for his cherubic grandchildren. He visualized his heirs evolving into hardworking, benefic, God-fearing, and rational adults. But alas, if he did happen to look down from the heavens years later, I know that several of his descendants would have provoked a disgruntled sigh; including the spendthrift, serial divorcee Barbara Hutton...

   But the mischievous, downright extraordinary exploits of his grandson Jimmy Donahue would have sent Woolworth longing for Divine intervention. The fact is that, the only thing Frank Woolworth and his grandson Jimmy shared (other than a notable gene pool) was a compulsion for the spotlight.

   That compulsion, along with a host of others (some advantageous, most unsavory) are unveiled in this wonderful, fast-paced book. In Dancing With the Devil, we meet dashing Jimmy Donahue, a man who had entirely too much free time on his hands, and entirely too much money at his disposal. We learn that Jimmy1s access to money, along with his excessive adoration for luxury, his psychological baggage (he even witnessed the suicide of his manic depressive and bisexual father) and the questionable role model Jimmy found in his jetsetting mother --all combined to create an intriguing, complex and colorful personality. Wilson depicts an international playboy who defied reigning sexual taboos and balked at authority, yet was sometimes ridden by deep guilt. Donahue exhibited such random amounts of innocent rakishness and sensual greed; of hearfelt generosity and rash wastefulness-- that even his closest contemporaries were not sure what to think of him.

   Wilson expertly peppers his historical accounts with authentic detail, smoothly leading us into post WWII Paris, then sweeping us back to the United States to the playgrounds of Palm Beach and Long Island. Clearly, Wilson did a great deal of research on this book, conducting scores of interviews and tracking down hard to find information.

   Of course, Wilson1s readers are also treated to little known details about the odd triangle between Jimmy Donahue and the Windsors, thus providing an interesting account of the last untold episode in their lives.

   As in Jimmy Donahue1s life, there is nary a dull moment in Dancing With the Devil. (Do check out the 3Acknowledgments2 which reads like a Who1s Who in and of itself). Definitely recommended!




2. You'd think an author couldn't go wrong with this cast of characters, ultra chic jet set locations, and deliciously lewd sex play. But Christopher Wilson took all this potential and and threw it away with the writing style of a schoolboy whose book report was carelessly dashed off before class. Repetitive adjectives, lackluster prose, and unintelligible chapter beginnings and ends - I was hollering for the editor the entire read. I kept saying aloud "OK, that's a start, but now let's unearth some real dish, and show me the proof!" Gossip CAN be transformed into history with proper scholarship. This promising biography of three fascinatingly spoiled and twisted people disappointed me.



3. This book doesn't do much more than re-hash rumor, gossip and innuendo--and some facts--that I've already read in better-written, more thorough and scholarly biographies of the Windsors. I didn't notice any glaring inaccuracies; on the other hand, I didn't notice that the author broke any new ground. He seems to have relied heavily on previously published biographies of the Duke, the Duchess, and the British Royal Family in general, all of which a serious Windsorite will have already read. Also--let's face it--we read books like this one to be titillated, and the author fails utterly to titillate us. Save your money.



4. OK, so the author isn't going to win the Nobel Prize for Literature for this book. But why should he? It's a book about an affair. A tawdry affair at that.

   Initially, I payed attention to the other reviewers and didn't buy the book. But I have a fascination with Wallis and Edward (as vapid as they might have been...)and wanted to know more about Wallis' relationship with Jimmy Donohue. I must have read at least 10 to 15 books about the couple, and despite what the one of the reviewers said, I've only come across a few rare references to him. This book fills in the gaps.

   So is it great literature? No. Is it an interesting book? Yes, if you like the subject matter, and know something about the Duke and Duchess of Windsor to begin with. I enjoyed the book.




5. But, the story is so tawdry & Jimmy Donahue so scurvy, it's a hard read. The author presents information about his upbringing that tries to make you feel a little sympathy for Donahue but it's hard to feel sympathy for such a loser. The Duke & Duchess of Windsor were wastes of human beings, too. The more you read about them the more discouraged you get. What wasted opportunities! They could have done so much good but were such selfish, self-centered & STUPID people. No wonder the Royal Family can't stand to hear their names mentioned. The book reads kind of like a prolonged Dominick Dunne article in Vanity Fair.

1 comments about With the Heart of a King: Elizabeth I of England, Philip II of Spain, and the Fight for a Nation's Soul and Crown.

1. King Philip II of Spain was also the King of England when his wife devout Catholic Mary sat on the throne. Like his spouse he loathed the Reformation and tired to end its pervasive insurrection while also building a powerful empire. When Mary Tudor dies, which means her widow is no longer an English monarch, her half sister Protestant supporter Elizabeth I becomes ruler of England. Philip proposes marriage, but she rejects his offer. Instead she challenges his Catholic ways with her Protestant ways leading her nation into being a rival maritime superpower until by 1588 he sends his powerful armada to conquer England.
   
   This is a terrific historical account of how personal alliances were amongst the sixteenth century European monarchies. In some ways the tome feels like a romance novel as the widower pursues his former sister-in-law who rejects his advances. However, their dysfunctional relationship represents the war between Catholic and Protestant domination of Europe and the New World. Well written and fun to read, Elizabethan aficionados (sorry Philip but history is written by the winner) will appreciate this insightful look at the latter half of the sixteenth century when national conflict was personalized.
   
   Harriet Klausner

3 comments about The Jewels of Queen Elizabeth II: Her Personal Collection.

1. A well written guide to QE II's elaborate collection of precious stones. Comes complete with her family tree as a reference, which you may find handy to refer to as the author traces back how most of the pieces came to the Queen through her ancestors. Many pictures, however, there are almost as many of Queen Mary as there are of Queen Elizabeth II! I especially liked the way it was discussed how some older pieces have been taken apart, reset, and reconfigured to make them do duty in the 20th and 21st centuries. A very well researched book that any royal watcher will enjoy. I would love to see the author devote a publication to the jewelry (real and paste) of the late Princess of Wales.



2. "Amazing" is the only word to describe the impressive array of jewels in Her Majesty's collection. Tiaras, bracelets, earrings... all delicately made and intricate in their structure. Whether they are gifts from other heads of state, inheritance, or personal presents from her parents, the Queen's jewels will take your breath away.
   
   Now when you see pictures of the Queen and her female relations - whether on television or in magazines - you'll be able to name the tiara, place the bracelet, identify the earrings, and swoon over the plate-sized gems pinned to dresses. Brilliant!
   
   © 2005 www.mandysroyalty.org



3. If you love royal jewels like me then you need to get this book... the pictures are fabulous. There is not a whole lot of text and explanation about all the pieces you view in the book but there is enough for you to get a general history of most of the pieces. I highly recommend this book!!!!!

5 comments about Diana and the Paparazzi.

1. I rated this one star because zero wasn't an option. I'm not quite sure what exactly the authors were attempting to accomplish with this book. Well, apart from continuing to make money off the very person that to this day, try to blame for her own untimely death. These two Gentlemen, and I use the term Gentlemen loosely, do not acknowledge nor do they accept any personal responsibility for their contribution to the upset and ultimate death of Diana. The bottom line is, Diana Windsor and Dodi Fayed were victims. Victims of the media's need to take photos and make money off them, victims of our need to buy them and victims of a drunk driver. Was the driver of her car drunk? Yes. Should he have been driving? No. Would he have been if they had been left alone that evening? No. Would Dodi Fayed have allegedly told his driver to speed away from the Paparazzi? No. There wouldn't have been a reason to. No chase! No Crash! We are to blame. The media for chasing them to get pictures and us for buying them. One criticism that really bothered me in this book was the "How Dare She" attitude of the authors, that Diana thought she should be allowed to walk down the street or shop in a store without harassment from the media or public. Well, she should have been able to. Despite the fact that she was famous. She was always willing to oblige when on public display. That should have been enough. Any one of us would have reached the point of hysteria and began acting out if we were constantly hounded as she was. Anyone who says differently is a liar. The authors also state that the Diana "Paparazzi Years" had ended six months prior to her death. This is an obvious attempt to step away from blame. They ended the night the Paparazzi played a part in killing her by chasing her car at a high rate of speed until it crashed.
   This book reads as if to invoke sympathy from the public for the paparazzi who hounded Diana for her verbal attacks on them. They received none from me. Nothing really new to this book. Maybe some previously unpublished photos. They all look like photos I've seen before.



2. This book appears to be a different version of events than the book these two men wrote whilst the Princess was still alive. (Dicing with Di) Their first book was much better, and probably more honest. For somebody with thousands of unpublished photos of the Princess they should have just made a photo book - it would have been more interesting and sold more copies. I was disappointed.



3. I was disappointed to find that this book, promoted as new, is basically an updated version of "Dicing with Di", written in the late '90s. As I was reading it I thought it sounded really familiar, so I sat down with the new book and "Dicing with Di" and found many of the same stories. Yes, there were a few different pictures, but nothing to be able to say Wow!! about. And adding a note written 10 years after the first book to the end of the new book doesn't constitute "new". Knowing the amount of time these guys spent chasing Diana, you'd think they'd have enough stories and pictures for a totally new book. Save your money and just re-read "Dicing with Di."



4. For all intents and purposes, this IS "Dicing With Di", the book written by these same idiots a decade ago. My guess is that they're trying to ride the wave of publicity the 10 Year Anniversary of her death brings and tried to update their old, sorry book. Shame on them. The first one wasn't good . . . why they bothered with updating it is more than I can understand.



5. I really don't know why I purchased this book. I have the author's previous book, 'Dicing with Di' (which has become a collector's item) that I purchased shortly after her death on ebay. After reading the first book, I was somewhat shocked at the attitude of the paparazzi towards the Princess. Very snide and unsympathetic. I couldn't help feeling great sympathy for her, what with these hounds after her day and night. I will be selling the second book on ebay, not worth hanging on to.

4 comments about Prince Harry: The Biography.

1. I hope this is the best book to ever hit the store shelves. It looks SOOOOOOO GOOD, I've read every book anyone has ever written about Harry!



2. i love prince harry so of course i bought this book. the only bad thing was that in the beginning it was more of a biography about Diana. but as harry gets older (more towards the middle) it becomes more about him and it gets pretty good. but the beginning is kinda boring, but i would still recommend it for any fan of prince harry.



3. I guess this book would be good if you weren't an avid fan of Princes Harry and William. However, if you are, then this book is NOT for you !
   First of all, the print looks like it was intended for someone with a reading level of 4th or 5th grade (no offense to 4th or 5th graders), but I guess that's just one of the ploys of the author (i.e. if you write BIG then you don't have to write as MUCH). Second, of the information that is written there is really nothing interesting or new. The first half is about his parents, particularly Diana, and the second just has corny trivial information about him which you've probably heard hundreds of times before.
   The pictures were nothing spectacular, and if you're a really avid fan, such as myself, you'll notice that some of them are mislabled.
   If I were you I'd save my money and join one of the internet Prince Harry clubs. You'll get more recent information, pictures and more than likely won't have to weed through all the information about other family members who you really don't care about !



4. This was the first thing I have read about Prince Harry so all the information was new and intereting to me. Also, the book has a clump of pictures in the middle which are adorable.
   
   One of the issues I have with the book however is that the author spends alot of time talking about Princess Di and Prince Charles. He tries to bring it back to Prince Harry by putting Harry's name on each page (or sometimes Williams name). Sometimes the page in question has nothing to do with Harry or William but all of a sudden there their names are, slapped on the page. There are moments where it seems that he just guesses what they were filling during a certain time and that is enough to get their name on the page. My other issue is that at times the book does feel a little "tabloid" like. The author uses "sources" to tell what the Prince was doing or thinking. Of course leaving you to wondering if the source is someone who shook hands with Harry once and now considers themselves an expert on all things royal. Other times he just seems to make assumptions. A perfect example of these is when he assumes that Harry was in love (or had a crush) on his nanny, Tiggy. Being a young man, that close to an older woman, he probably did have a crush on her, but the author almost asserts it as fact (without any "source" to back it up). Is this true? Has Harry admitted to it? Going futher, he insists that a braclet he bought in Africa was for her to show her his eternal love or something. Is that a fact? Was she seen wearing the bracelet later? He never goes into details like that in the book to back up statements he makes. It's these moments that come across as the author just guessing about the Prince. If he does have intimate sources, he does not give the impression that he does. And for me, a biography should come across as 100% fact from reliable, named sources, not gossip.
   
   Besides all the above, a good amount of the book does seem sincere and accurate. And in addition to that, it was a fun read. I would recommend it (even if I don't know if it's all true).

5 comments about Akhenaten: Egypt's False Prophet.

1. If you've read one Akhenaten title you've basically read them all. As with the countless versions which have preceeded Mr. Reeves treatment of the socalled False Prophet, the author reproduces and supports many of the curious claims surrounding the Amarna periods infamous ruler. One area the author appears to make headway is in identifying Amenophis III with the Aten. In detailing Amenophis III and his adoption of the Aten personna as his "deified physical manifestation", Mr. Reeves appears to defend Akhenaten from the status of "False prophet", but he quickly backpeddles and returns to the normal persecution completely ignoring his own statements.
   
   So was Akhenaten a mad religious zealot or merely a devoted son expressing loyalty and love for his departed father? Was Akhetaten a new capitol city or simply the grandest form of tribute to the man whom truly gave him life? If Akhetaten was indeed the capitol city as is claimed then it appears that the new Pharoah was more of a visionary than many of his predecessors as the location of this new city was a centralized location. Halfway between the old capitols of southern and northern Egypt "as Mr. Reeves points out". This would serve to unify the country and make the Pharoah and his court more accessible to the population and not isolate them as is claimed in this book. Another curious and unverified claim adopted by the author from previous sources is the decline of the Egyptian empire under Akhenaten. As I have said this is an often repeated claim which is never verified. None of the authors who preach of the Egyptian empires decline under Akhenaten ever present verifiable facts to support their claim and Mr. Reeves is no differnt.
   
   Most desturbing is the introduction of often repeated claims of incest on behalf of Akhenaten, again I would ask where except in the mind of the author is the proof of this? What Mr. Reeves does is introduce some very interesting ideals only to shrink back into long excepted ideals and accusations. I can only speculate as to the reason for Egyptology's deep animosity toward Akhenaten as he is befar the most reviled figure in Egypt's history. The hatred expressed for the man and his ideals by those who study him from a distance seperated by thousands of years is almost always skewed in the most vile manner. The use of bricks and usurption of temples constructed by Akhenaten by later rulers is helf up as proof of the hatred the man engendered with his ideals. Yet it is completely ignored that Ramesses "the offending Pharoah" did the same to his own father's constructions. So was Akhenaten anymore hated than any of his predecessors by his own or he simply viewed as a threat by outsiders struggling to make sense of a history long ago written?



2. If you are fascinated with ancient Egypt, do not miss this non-fiction book about Pharaoh Akhenaten,which reads like a well-written novel. The mysterious Pharaoh Akhenaten, who tried to introduce one god, Aten, and overthrow the all the other gods, and became known as the "great heretic" is one of the most interesting and debated historical figures of all time. It is beautifully illustrated with photographs. It also has an early section that summarizes the history of the period up to that point, and it continues on to the reign of his son Tutankhamun. Worth the photographs alone, but well written, not dry.



3. The subject of Reeves' book is Akhenaten; a Pharoah who attempted to remake Egyptian society from country where a host of gods and idols were worshipped to a monothiestic society which recognized only one god: the Aten, or sun disc.
   
   Reeves looks further back than most other authors for the origins of the Aten cult, seeing not just the trend of a priesthood that was becoming more and more politically powerful but also in other events during the 17th and 18th Dynasties which might have effected Akenaten's thinking. Reeves also discusses archeological proof as he tells the story (as it is known) and writes about different theories to explain this or that. Reeves does NOT fall into the trap of discussing the Aten cult as predecessor or influence on Judaism, which has become fashionable as of late. Overall, a good book.



4. Akhenaten has to be one of the most fascinating characters in Egyptian history and the deliberate destruction of much the documentation of his historical legacy by subsequent Pharaohs often leaves the Amarna period open to the wildest of speculations. Nicholas Reeves presents a wealth of information in this book, often including many quotes from original sources and photos of original art work so that the readers can judge some of his conclusions for themselves.
   
   The book is carefully researched and the general argument that Akhenaten used his religious beliefs to legitimate his power is well supported by the evidence quoted. This does not of course preclude the notion that Akhenaten was sincere in his beliefs and Reeves does not suggest this. In fact it seems far from illogical that a ruler of ancient Egypt could have believed he was the son of god.
   
   Many of the conundrums of Amarna history are argued in a very balanced way in the book. Reeves effectively debunks the theories that Akhenaten was homosexual or that his appearance in statuary was due to Froehlich's syndrome. He provides interesting evidence in relation to suggestions that Akhenaten may or may not have suffered from Marfan's syndrome and that Nerfertiti may or may not have been promoted to the status of co-regent. At times, however, Reeves takes fairly extreme positions based on somewhat flimsy evidence. He claims that Akhenaten's 'dictatorial rule' led Egypt to the 'brink of disaster', that Akhenaten's rule involved 'wanton destruction' and 'deliberate neglect'. He describes the later years of Amarna as a 'terror' and suggests that Pharaoh's lover Kiya had an evil personality and may have been pulling strings behind the scene. These extreme positions are supported with arguments based on evidence where the author and purpose of the documents quoted is often ignored. One document marshalled in favor of the sorry state Egypt had descended into was written by a priest of Amun, who would obviously have had a significantly biased agenda.
   
   Overall though, the book is extremely readable and paints a fascinating picture of power politics in Egypt, where priests, generals and the Pharoah himself vie for power and influence in a manner so typical of politics throughout the history of mankind that it certainly rings true.



5. If you are remotely interested in the reign of Akhenaten, which most of us interested in Egyptology are, you can find enough different depictions of the man to leave you thoroughly confused. Was he a pragmatic politician out to break the power of the Amun priesthood (Aldred)? A megalomaniac who enjoyed watching his people broil in the noon-day sun (Redford)? A predecessor of Moses seeking truth in monotheism (Hornung and Lorton)? The deranged gay lover of his brother Smenkhkare (Allen Drury?) Or something else? Where Reeves sticks to the generally-agreed facts provided by recent research, he produces a good and very readable book on the Amarna period. But his own theories, many of them still controversial among Egyptologists (that Smenkhkhare was really another name for Nefertiti, that the late 18th Dynasty were a homicidally dysfunctional family in which Akhenaten, Nefertiti and Tutankhamen were all murdered in succession, that the skeleton found in a disordered tomb near Tutankhamen's is actually that of Akhenaten, and that the woman's mummy found in a side room of the tomb of Amenhotep II is Nefertiti) keep getting in the way of the facts. In order to get a really thorough view of Akhenaten, I recommend reading all of the above treatments (well, maybe not Drury, since it is admittedly a novel), which will show you not the whole truth about Akhenaten, but how much we DON'T know about him after over a century of research.

5 comments about The Wicked Queen: The Origins of the Myth of Marie-Antoinette.

1. This book was a disappointment. I ...was very interested. I am a 'fan' of Marie Antoinette and have been fascinated with her life since reading Castelot's biography of her.

   This book however, though it has some interesting pamphlets of historical interest, is more like a scrapbook. The writing is poor and has no direction. The pamphlets reproduced in the book are mostly pornographic lyrics and droll poetry of the Queen. The worst of which is Marie Antoinette riding an erected penis as if it were an ostrich.

   If you want to learn about the Queen, her children, or the French Revolution, this is not the book to find it in. If you are very familiar with the Queen's life, this may offer you a little insight as to the people's attitude at the time, but that's it. I read it once, and it has been on the shelf since.

   For a truly amazing book about Marie Antoinette, I suggest 'The Fatal Friendship'.




2. The author should study her history and get the facts!
   This book was a joke. I was rather furious and more than disappointed. Marie Antoinette's name was drug through the mud over 200 years ago based on hearsay and false accusations.

   Isn't it time she is given the credit due her by now?
   Read your facts author!




3. Unfortunately publishers feel that a book on Marie Antoinette will sell every couple years, so like clockwork we see an avalanche of pro royalist, sympathetic, out of context garbage. Most of them repeat the same legends...They base their accounts of the flight to Varennes on Carlyle and talk about her martydom...With the exception of Le Notre not one of her biographers has also done a biography of one of the leaders of the Revolution. Most demonstrate an alarming lack of understanding of basic events such as the the Bread March on Verseilles, September Massacres, the Necklace Affair or even how official Court appointment were made.

   This is the first book in sometime that has put Marie Antoinette back into the context of her time...unfortunately for Royalist Mythology she was commonly referred to as the Austrian .... By her actions she precipitated the Revolution...she was provocative and weak...a flammable combination.

   As for the reader who's sensibilities are offended by the "riding the penis" cartoon...you obviously haven't seen the several thousand cartoons of time that are available...the one you refer to IS tame...you should see the ones where she is dressed like a nun....You should also read the pamphlets sold at the Palais Royale...

   While Hebert did indeed make things up in her indictment, it is hard to get around the fact that she has to shoulder a lot of responsibility for the revolution...

   I recommend this book as one of the best books on Marie Antoinette in last 20 years...it has also prompted me to seek out the author.

   I think the book is well researched, devoid of sentimentality and attempts to place Marie Antoinette back into the context of the tapestry of her times.

   Michael La Vean
   Fellow, International Napoleonic Society




4. I regret I did not read these reviews before I bought this book.
   The digressions were very distracting. I was greatly offended by the
   vulgar language of the phamplets. I had to throw the book out to prevent any one else being offended. At the time I bought this book I bought another that was more informative.



5. I read and reread this and I never could make myself like it. It's pretty bad. But for those not wanting to know that much about the human Antoinette and more interested in her in the metaphysical sense, this is the book for you. It's crap to me right now. But who knows....I might find gold in it a decade down the road. Maybe there's insight I've yet to understand. Hence, I'm not placing it in a garage sale...for now.

No comments about Red Princess: A Revolutionary Life.

5 comments about The Lost King of France: A True Story of Revolution, Revenge, and DNA.

1. I'm a history buff and I love reading about the French Revolution, so this book was a must. Besides, I had already read about the DNA investigation that finally solved the mystery of Louis XVII's fate, but I didn't know the details, or the full story of his captivity after being separated from his family.
   
   The DNA part is very interesting, but what I found really harrowing was the description of the shameful treatment meted out to this little boy whose only fault was to be the son of the despised king and queen (who, by the way, displayed a lot more dignity in their final hours than those who sent them to the scaffold). I agree wholeheartedly with the words of the bishop who, in a small ceremony, blessed the heart on which the DNA tests were conducted. He said that the heart of the small victim was a symbol of all those children who have suffered through the ages - and continue to suffer - because of wars, revolutions, and the cruelty of adults. This kid, seven years old when his father was executed, was locked up in a filthy cell away from his family and friends, regularly abused morally and physically, and referred to in contemporary documents as "the wolf cub" or "the ape's son" (the wolf being Louis XVI and the ape Marie Antoinette, or maybe it was the other way round).
   
   I found myself seriously hating people such as Hebert, the despicable pamphleteer who through his libellous paper contributed enormously to the royal family's unpopularity and the little boy's ordeal, or the shoemaker Simon, who brutalized the helpless child entrusted to his "care".
   
   However great and good the motives and ideals behind the Revolution - which no one intends to deny -, it led to acts of unspeakable brutality against innocent, defenseless people. How fitting that many of those who committed or instigated them ended their days with the same violence they so easily used against others. And how fitting, also, that this little hapless victim of cruelty and hatred should finally have found, in the true telling of his story, the vindication that his senseless suffering deserved.



2. Yet again, huge applause for Deborah Cadbury here, proving her amazing book Terrible Lizard, was not just a fluke. IN this she follows the story of what happened to the boy king Louis XVII of France. A child when his parents Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette went to the guillotine in the French Revolution. The boy king was kept locked up in appalling conditions, solitary confinement with constant maltreatment. By 1795 he was silent, unable to speak, and that same year he died. Therein lies the beginning and end of this book for almost immediately the rumours that the boy who died in that cell was not the King, but an imposter.
   
   Deborah Cadbury, intrigued by this mystery, who died in that cell? and what of all the imposters who harassed the Kings sister until her death, were they really the King returned from exile? Or were they also imposters? This would be a very short book if that was all that Cadbury wrote of. However Cadbury provides us with an excellent background from Marie-Anotnia leaving her Hapsburg home in Austria and arrival in France as Marie-Antoinette, the teenage wife-to-be of the heir to the French throne.
   
   The reasons for the French revolution, the downfall of the house of Bourbon in France, the terrible end of the boy king in his lonely pest-ridden cell and then the rise of the swathe of counterfeit King Louis XVII's and their legal battles over the centuries - indeed right into the 1950's when the last great court battles were fought in France by the main pretenders to the French Throne.
   
   Ironically the last court battle was fought the same year that Crick and Watson discovered the double helix model which is DNA which was finally to prove the veracity of the claim. It has only been in very recent times that DNA science could be used to identify mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) from tiny samples provided. MtDNA, unlike DNA, is passed on almost complete from mother to children, there are on average one variation in 33 generations so it is a very stable way of being able to test family linkages.
   
   Cadbury saves the results of the testing to the very last chapters. The last great search for the body of Louis XVII, the painstaking tracking down of his heart which was taken in the the dissection of the body. The search for sources of DNA sources for Marie-Antoinette and her family - and finally the results.
   
   These may not be conclusive as the results suggest. But Cadbury presents all the evidence and makes conclusions which I found convincing, I won't spoil the answer by revealing it, but it will keep you reading to the last page.
   
   This is a phenomenal book, well researched, written with the easily readable style Cadbury showed in Terrible Lizard, and a compelling page turner.
   
   My highest recommendation.



3. The book "The Lost King of France', is a masterpiece of writing, and the storytelling of history in a readable exciting manner. I could not put it down and read it straight through in about 12 hours.
   The tone of the Author is empathetic and her writing crisp and clear. She captures the excitement, danger, and pathos that tore revolutionary France apart. A Revolution that divided a Nation's national psyche,and in a murderous haze butchered its leading families, and countless ordinary people,in a state sanctioned bloodletting.
   The Declaration of the 'Rights of Man,' was suspended as the Nation divested itself of its counter-revolutionary forces.
   The fate of one small boy caught up in the violence continues to haunt us today; he is a metaphor for the descent into the madness that consumed France.
   The author breaks new ground and with the help of modern science attempts to bring to a conclusion the mystery of the fate of that small boy; the Dauphin, Louis Charles.
   The DNA collection and analysis of the Hapsburgs is explained in a simple manner so that those without a great background in DNA analysis can understand it readily.
   However, in spite of the claims that the identity of the boy who died in the Temple prison and Louis Charles are one and the same, that assertion is not proved definitively by science.
   I would say that the history of the heart and its various journeys is interesting and heart-rending, but all that can be proved by DNA analysis is that the reputed heart of a mystery child is related to the maternal line of the Hapsburgs.
   The Neundorff genetic material has excluded it's connection to Marie Antionette, but the results are not as clean as science would wish.
   The conclusion of Cassiman on the results of the DNA match between Johanna-Gabriela the sister of Marie Antoinette, and the DNA signature of the heart does not really bring to an end the speculation over the fate of the Dauphin. As Cassiman states `the scientific tests only prove the heart in the crypt has to belong to the son of a maternal relative of the Hapsburg family'.
   Philippe Delorme stated that all the hearts of Royals were embalmed, but this is not so. Louis XVth's heart was not embalmed due to the fact he died from Smallpox and it was considered too dangerous.
   I don't think the evidence that Louis Charles died in the Temple is proved beyond a shadow of doubt. The question is still open to history and science.
   Perhaps in the future Deborah Cadbury may have to write another chapter in this story as I do not believe the mystery is quite laid to rest.



4. During the French Revolution Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI both lost their heads for their "crimes" against France. Their two surviving children however were still held captive in the prison that the family had been staying at since they were caught trying to flee to Austria.
   
   Marie Antoinette's daughter Marie Teresa was relatively lucky and managed to make it out of the grasps of the Revolutionaries and ended up getting married. Her younger brother Louis Charles was not so lucky however.
   
   The Revolutionaries treated him like an animal. At first the Revolutionaries used him as a pawn to get evidence so that they could kill his mother (saying that she had molested him) as well as other gruesome things. The Revolutionaries also kept him in deplorable conditions which made him sick and die.
   
   This may have been an ending to the sad tale of Louis XVI and his family except that over the years rumors circulated that somebody had snuck the real Dauphine out of the prison and the boy that died was not Louis XVII. This led to many people all over the world to say that they were Louis XVII, which the book goes into detail of the most interesting.
   
   200 years on people where no closer to figuring out the mystery when they decided to do DNA testing on a heart. When the boy in the prison died somebody cut his heart out to be placed with the rest of the hearts of Kings at St. Denis. DNA researchers then tested this heart with hairs that they had found of Marie Antoinette's sisters. What did the DNA Test reveal? Who was the boy in the prison? Where the pretenders telling the truth? Read The Lost King of France-a very interesting book!



5. Not only is this book compelling, well written and powerful, it's also a real life example of the horrible things humans will do to one another when power, greed and revenge are at play. Cadbury brings it all to life in vivid detail and shows us that this kind of cruelty can happen in any age, to any one. What survives is the human spirit, the people who fought against all odds and against time to save the heart of a small boy and ultimately preserve his story for the world.

2 comments about Encomium Emmae Reginae (Camden Classic Reprints).

1. This is a detailed, fact-filled book on Queen Emma of the 11th century. It is a fascinating portrait of a queen who lived through a lot of tragedies. Not for the light reader, though.



2. If you are interested in the life of Emma of Normandy, wife of King Canute, then this book will captivate you. It is a fascinating, contemporary look at the legendary events of 11th century England.