3 comments about Flying Tiger to Air Commando (Schiffer Military History).

1. Chuck Baisden shares the exciting adventure of his participation in the American Volunteer Group (Flying Tigers)who, under the leadership of Claire Lee Chennault, inflicted the first reverses on the military juggernaut of Japan. After the disbandment of the AVG, Chuck reenlisted in the US Army Air Corp and returned to Asia as a member of the First Air Commandos taking the battle behind enemy lines. His career continues up into the jet age as well. Mr. Baisden's experiences are real life adventure and related in a wry and unself-conscious manner. A very entertaining and informative book covering little known operations in a remote theater of war. The book's full of great pictures, too.



2. Chuck Baisden's story of his true life adventure is great reading for those interested in what it was really like during WWII. Many historians have a way of writing that may give us a more complete picture, but I like the direct honesty of someone telling us about events who was actually there and actually did the things that made history. Chuck Baisden's contribution to our freedom in this country makes for a great story and makes me feel grateful.



3. I think this is a great book to read for the sole purpose of wanting to know more about the Flying Tigers or the AVG . I have been tryin to read this book for mounths but I always get side tracked by a school report of reading assignment but I finally finished the book and I love it.

No comments about The Puppet Emperor: The Life of Pu Yi, Last Emperor of China.

2 comments about The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes.

1. If you've ever had a hankerin' for knowledge, trivia or just an insight into the kings and queens of England, this is the source. Dame Longford has provided historical and contemporary references, sotries and tales of the British royals from Boudiccea, the Warrior Queen to Alfred the Great, from Aethelred to Victoria to Elizabeth II. the Book opens with a detailed genology, including the Saxons and Danes, Normans, Plantagenets, Yorks, Lancastrians,Tudors, Saxe-Coburg-Gothas and Windsors. Each dated entry



2. I am frequently called upon by community groups to give a talk on the British royal family, given that I have worked in parliament, studied history in London, and have met several of the royals. This is rare among persons in midwestern America. Fortunately, there is no lack of material, and my talks are never the same.

   One of my sources for interesting side notes and comic relief for these talks is 'The Oxford Book of Royal Anecdotes', edited by Lady Elizabeth Longford. Had there been tabloids throughout history many of these stories might have featured prominently (albeit probably with the occasional alien thrown in for good measure of sensationalism).

   Longford does not commit the sin of most historians of the royals of beginning with William the Conqueror--there was a Britain before 1066. She includes Celts, Danes, and Saxons. Alas, she does not include Scots or others explicitly after 1066, but their stories are woven into the stories.

   Longford's sources include histories, biographies, poems, newspaper accounts, diaries, and personal correspondence in library and museum collections. Many anecdotes are pulled from other histories--those bits that are neglected because the substance of the weightier matters overpowers them. Thus, this collection helps the hidden jewels to shine.

   One example of Longford's treatment would be in recounting the shifting image over time of the reign and fate of Edward II. She gives brief details of biographers from 1313 (during his reign), 1327 (the year of his deposition), a seventeenth century biographer, and a modern biographer. In this we see that while the verdict of history holds sway, it needn't stay constant. Today's hero becomes tomorrow's villain, and yet later tragic character.

   Here one can also see various bits about John Brown, friend and servant and supposed lover (even, some speculated, husband) of Victoria--their relationship is presented from many sides, and Longford resists jumping to conclusions herself.

   From her epilogue, Longford states: 'This has been the story of many dynasties and one royal line. That line goes back a thousand years, yet it has shown infinite variety rather than recognisable family traits. Indeed it seems to cover the whole human spectrum, though in heightened or exaggerated form because of the royal ambiance.... The hushed abdication broadcast from Windsor Castle has replaced the crunch of the axe on Tower Green. Even anthologists can have no regrets.'

1 comments about Melbourne.

1. Listed as number 100 in Modern Library's list of best non-fiction books, this volume consists of Young Melbourne written in 1939 and Lord M published in 1954. It is political biography that manages to let the reader get fully involved with the person before he becomes a public figure. Lord Melbourne is just as interesting as romantic hero, whose wife flirts with both Lord Byron and bouts of madness, as he is as leader of the British Empire. Through the pages of Young Melbourne, it is difficult to imagine his almost accidental rise to power. Melbourne's final transitions to mentor of young Queen Victoria and forgotten political relic are covered with both sympathy to the character and enough detachment to maintain authorial objectivity.
   
   With an elegant style, Lord David reveals Melbournes "starved heart" and his curious character. In a day of absurdly packaged public figures, Melbourne is striking in his enduring individuality and idiosyncrasy.
   
   I would give a 4 plus rating for lovers of pre-Victorian British history or political biography and a 3 for the general reader.

No comments about James I: The Masque of Monarchy (English Monarchs Treasures from the National Archives) (English ... Treasures from the National Archives) (English Monarchs Treasures from the National Archives).

No comments about Memoirs of the Red Queen: The Crown Princesses' Own Story.

No comments about The Prince of Europe: The Life of Charles-Joseph De Ligne 1735-1814.

No comments about The Life of Charles Dickens: Volume 2. 1842-1852.

1 comments about The King in Love: Edwards Vll's Mistresses : Lillie, Langtry, Daisy Warwick, Alice Keppel and Others.

1. You just can't go to the source and find out what it was like to have an affair with King Edward VII in the height of the Gilded Age. Those women wrote books about their lives, but left out all the juicy details. So this is the book that gives you interesting details about how to conduct oneself as the King's "favorita.' The King himself was such an interesting character, nothing like his workaholic mother (Queen Victoria) and father (Prince Albert). In fact, he was a playholic, earning the nickname "Edward the Caresser." He loved hanging out with nouveau riche and "society," and loved to see women partying in their dazzling thousand-dollar Worth dresses, but King Edward politely decreed that women should wear new dresses at ever ball. One of the book's funniest anecdotes is told byh actress Lillie Langtry, who described the only quarrel she ever had with the king: She wore a silver and white gown to two balls in success, not knowing the king would be at both. When he saw her at the second one, he said "That damned dress again!"

No comments about The Coronation Ceremony of the Kings and Queens of England and the Crown Jewels.