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- Intriguing lives, lazily written
- Lytton Lite
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Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Lady Astor
John Halperin
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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Binding: Paperback
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ASIN: 0312176856 |
Book Description
John Halperin illuminates the connection between four fascinating people and the intersecting era in which they lived -the second "Georgian" age, the period in England between the two world wars.
Customer Reviews:
Intriguing lives, lazily written.......2004-11-26
This certainly isn't Lytton Strachey. Like Strachey and Richard Holmes, however, Halperin well realizes the inherent great enjoyability of very short biographies of extremely interesting people. There seems to be almost no original research here, and Halperin is willing to make an extremely shallow and lazy transition to an anecdote just to squeeze it in, but he does write with grace (and has an eye for a great story). Oddly, there's a running theme throughout the book: the perfidy of what Halperin extremely loosely calls "treason," although what he means by treason seems so broad at times as to be almost meaningless. The best lives here are of the stodgy George V and the hilariously irreverent Nancy Astor, because with both Halperin seems really to have a new angle he wants to bring out; while his willingness to applaud the late king for his steadfastness and decency as compared to his eldest son's thorough rottenness, it does not seem to occur to Halperin that Edward VIII's character might be in part due to his parents' legendarily neglectful cold and neglectful care. Halperin's extremely heavyhanded evaluations of Elizabeth Bowen's novels are also a bit puzzling, although Bowen's exceptionally eventful life and character make up for his judgmentalism towards her fiction.
Lytton Lite.......2001-08-17
John Halperin takes Lytton Strachey as his model and provides four short lives of people he views as emblematic of the "second Georgian" era - King Geroge V himself, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby and Nancy Astor. The results are interesting without being particularly memorable. Halperin tells his stories in a plain documentary fashion, without much analysis and with none of the mordant wit or strong opinions of Strachey's nasty little classic. Such a straightforward approach works best if bolsered by extensive research, but the slim bibliography indicates a newspaper profile rather than an original and insightful work. All this being said, Bowen, Philby and Astor are interesting enough as people to making reading "Eminent Georgians" worthwhile. As for the good King George, it will take a much more persuasive writer to bring that admirable but dull monarch to life on the page.
Amazon.com
Winner of the Longman History Today Prize in 1998, Amanda Vickery's The Gentleman's Daughter: Women's Lives in Georgian England is an outstanding study of a crucial period in modern women's history. Roy Porter described this book as "the most important thing in English feminist history in the last ten years." Readers familiar with the feminist analysis of women's lives in the late 18th to mid-19th century will find some of the commonplaces of that viewpoint called into question: the rise of "separate spheres" of male and female experience, for example, or the social construction of motherhood in the 18th century. At once scholarly and readable, The Gentleman's Daughter takes its readers on a vivid and well-illustrated tour of "genteel" Georgian society, bringing that world to life through what Vickery identifies as the "terms set out in their own letters by genteel women." Those terms structure the seven sections of the book: "Gentility", "Love and Duty', "Fortitude and Resignation" (which includes a notable discussion of the experience of pregnancy), "Prudent Economy", "Elegance", "Civility and Vulgarity", and "Propriety". "Our battles were not necessarily theirs," Vickery reminds us, striking her convincing balance between a feminist interest in the restriction and rebellion of women's lives and their own ways of finding meaning and pleasure in the gender distinctions of Georgian culture. --Vicky Lebeau, Amazon.co.uk
Book Description
What was the life of an eighteenth-century British genteel woman like? This lively book, based on letters, diaries, and account books of over one hundred middle class women, transforms our understanding of the position of women in Georgian England. These women were not confined in their homes but enjoyed expanding horizons and an array of emerging public arenas, the author shows.
Customer Reviews:
Well written, with a wealth of historical detail. .......2005-03-12
This book contains a wealth of information, and I certainly enjoyed reading it. The author bases her findings on her study of the letters and diaries of a group of women in Northern England in the last half of the 18th century. From these sources, she attempts to draw conclusions about the women's attitudes and daily lives. I haven't read much straight history, other than textbooks, so what I'm about to say may not be worth much, but her conclusions made sense to me. She referenced other historians freely, and explained how her research either supported or contradicted common assumptions about the period.
I think that the sections that were most interesting to me personally were those where she talked about marriage and housekeeping. I had a vague idea that respectable women were expected to have certain skills, but the sheer scope of what these ladies did just to keep their house in working order is incredible to me. And of course, they did this while bearing and raising children, keeping up with their social contacts, and doing all of this with the appearance of ease. I have newfound respect for those ladies. These were no pretty, ornamental blushing violets. They knew the rules of the social world they were expected to abide by, and they used them for all they were worth. One of the things that I really liked about this book was the amount of actual text from the primary sources that was included. I found myself blinking in surprise, and laughed out loud more than once at some witty observation one of the correspondents made. These women were smart, funny, shrewd, human. That's one of the most valuable things for me about books like this. Besides giving me all sorts of interesting little details, it makes the people seem more like, well, people and less like dead names on a page.
Academic but interesting and enlightening.......2002-11-04
This book reminds me of reading someone's doctoral dissertation--but that isn't meant to be an insult, just a comment on the writing style (academic). We are introduced to real women and their real situations by way of their letters and diaries. It is full of very interesting stories of a few related women in 18th century England. My only wish would be that the book could have been written to include women from other areas in England--really just more women in general. I appreciate the author's work in this under-researched area and hope it inspires more research in the future.
I have long wished that I could have lived in Jane Austen's world (with epidurals). But after reading this I realize that I would rather keep my appliances and modern medicine and my legal rights. I appreciated this book because it broke me of my misconceptions about any kind of "romantic" life of the women of this "almost leisure" class, as another reviewer called it. They were at the mercy of their husbands, their social situation and fate. Very thought provoking for a Jane Austen fan like myself.
The lives of Country English Women in the 18th Century.......2002-01-23
I'm not sure whether to give this book 3 or 4 stars. The author presents a very academic overview of the life of rural Georgian women in England in the 18th and early 19th centuries.
A lot of original research has been done for this book and it shows in it's content. The author highlights the lack of real research that has been done on the lives of women in this period. However, despite a well timed re-assesment of the lives of these women, this is essentially an academic work.
It highlights the fact that things have never been as bad as many other (feminist) books make out - in essence Jane Austin shows us close to the real world as people lived it in her novels.
This book is dry to read, but full of many every day facts for those interested in the "real" lives of 18th century country women.
The Gentleman's Daughter Is Not Quite Up The Mark.......2001-07-18
Although "The Gentleman's Daughter" explored an interesting time in the life of women it was too general for me to feel completely absorbed in the book. I felt that I was looking at an interesting painting from across the room and I couldn't get close enough to really know the subject. In no way does the book compare to "The Aristocrats" which pulls you into the life of it's subjects. Overall it was a disappointment although I did learn a little more in general of life for women in the Georgian era.
Will change the way I read 18th c. novels.......2001-06-05
More scholarship than entertainment (read: dry), but definitely worth the effort of reading for the wealth of detail it provides. As an amateur Austen student (read: junkie), I know parts of this book will come back to me next time I bury my head in _Mansfield Park_.
Book Description
In this classic of English architectural history (first published more than half a century ago), John Summerson provides a perceptive and highly readable account of a major building period in the history of London. Encompassing the architecture of the capital from the Great Fire of 1666 through the city's early nineteenth-century expansion, the book remains an indispensable guide to the genesis and development of Georgian London. Summerson examines the way in which building was conditioned by social, economic, and financial circumstances and discusses some of Britain's most important buildings and their architects. While Summerson's text is essentially unchanged in this edition, it has been corrected in the light of new research, expanded to include a few significant buildings that were originally overlooked, and enhanced with new illustrations. The Appendix of surviving Georgian buildings has also been carefully updated.
Book Description
Contains over 50 recipes from medieval times - all of which can be reproduced in the modern kitchen. The recipes include dishes such as Oyster Loaves, Beetroot Pancakes, Jugged Pigeons and Strawberry Fritters. The book also describes the historical background and has information on food, cooking equipment, the serving of meals and the development of taste and etiquette. As well as looking at what people ate in Georgian England, it explains how the rapid development of scientific and technological discoveries affected both the preparation of food, and the quality of food itself. The book also examines how the increase in literacy led to a new phenomenon - Cookery books. It is fully illustrated with full color photographs and medieval woodcuts.
Book Description
The prevailing image of food at sea in the age of sail features rotting meat and weevily biscuits, but this highly original book proves beyond doubt that this was never the norm. Building on much recent research Janet Macdonald shows how the sailor's official diet was better than he was likely to enjoy ashore, and of ample calorific value for his highly active shipboard life. When trouble flared and food was a major grievance in the great mutinies of 1797 the usual reason was the abuse of the system. This system was an amazing achievement. At the height of the Napoleonic Wars the Royal Navy's administrators fed a fleet of more than 100,000 men, in ships that often spent months on end at sea. Despite the difficulty of preserving food before the advent of refrigeration and meat-canning, the British fleet had largely eradicated scurvy and other dietary disorders by 1800. This was the responsibility of the Victualling Board, a much-maligned but generally efficient bureaucracy that organized the preparing and packing of meat, the brewing of beer, the baking of ship's biscuit, and all the logistics of the Navy and on an industrial scale unparalleled elsewhere. Once aboard ship food and drink was subject to stringent controls to ensure fairness, and this book takes a fresh look at the tarnished reputations of Purser and Cook, before turning to the ways both officers and men were able to supplement their official rations, including the keeping of livestock on board. A chapter compares provisions in the other major navies of the time, and the book concludes with recipes for some of the exotic sounding dishes, like lobscouse, prepared by naval cooks. While Feeding Nelson's Navy contains much of value to the historian, it is written with a popular touch that will enthral anyone with an interest in life at sea in the age of sail.
Customer Reviews:
An excellent look into an important but neglected subject.......2004-12-12
Cervantes in "Don Quixote" lampoons the writers of chivalric romances for failing to address the mundane realities of life, chief among them being how their heroic knights errant managed to feed themselves. To a lesser degree, perhaps, the modern authors of nautical fiction likewise do not much address the question of how their seaborne heroes (and their crews) were fed, day in and day out. Undoubtedly this is partly because it is far more interesting to write about boarding an enemy frigate than boiling salt beef, but I suspect that it also has to do with the absence of readily available, reliable information about the subject. Now, Janet Macdonald has addressed this want of discussion with "Feeding Nelson's Navy: The True Story of Food at Sea in the Georgian Era". Coming from a background of writing about cookery, she has tackled the complex and surprisingly mysterious question of how in the world the Royal Navy fed itself during the classic Age of Fighting Sail. Although it might be thought that a matter of such obvious vital importance to maintaining a fighting fleet of tens of thousands of mariners would have been recorded officially in detail, in point of fact Macdonald has had to sift through obscure primary documents such as ships' logs, personal memoirs, and period letters to adequately explore how it was all done: from procuring the foodstuffs (and drink) in the first place, to storing them, getting them to the ships in port and at sea, storing the victuals aboard, preparing meals, and serving them to officer and crews. And even with such diligent research, she must resort to informed speculation to address some questions, such as just how a ship's cook kept separate the rations for the various messes and served them out in an efficient manner. The breadth of coverage is impressive: the Navy's Victualling Board administration, officially mandated rations and substitutes, typical recipes, shipboard organization, disease and vermin, the "hardware" of food preparation and consumption (stoves and dining implements), and surrounding social customs. For anyone interested in the real world of the Royal Navy behind the fiction Horatio Hornblowers and Jack Aubreys, "Feeding Nelson's Navy" is a revelation, dispelling old myths and offering new facts such as the caloric and vitamin content of the men's meals. Macdonald throughout her book illustrates the practicalities of the subject by citing numerous real-life incidents drawn from period documents.
Book Description
Wives and Daughters Women and Children in the Georgian Country House Joanna Martin A detailed and personal account of women's lives in eighteenth century aristocratic society ountry houses symbolized the power and taste of eight-eenth century Britain. Told through the stories, journals, and personal letters of the women of the powerful Fox family, Wives and Daughters is a window into the daily lives and ex-periences of women of eighteenth-century aristocratic society. Combining personality, historical setting and detail, and readability, Joanna Martin traces the lives of fifteen indivi-dual women in their four country houses through several genera-tions, allowing the reader to see them in society as well as at home in private. Taking an intimate and personal look at courtship, marriage, childbirth, education, houses and gardens, reading, hobbies, travel and health, this book is a new and engrossing account of women's lives, concerns, activities, and feelings in this fascinating time. Joanna Martin was brought up in a country house (Penrice Castle in Wales) and is a professional genealogical historian. She is the author of William Fox-Talbot at Penrice and the editor of A Governess in the Age of Jane Austen. She lives in Suffolk. History 1-85285-271-2 $29.95 $44.95 Canadian 61 /8 " x 91 /4 " / 336 pages Includes 35 bw illustrations Hambledon London June
Customer Reviews:
Great Women.......2006-01-18
Joanna Martin is already author of two books, Fox Talbot and Glamorgan and A Governess in the Age of Jane Austen. She is also an extremely talented professional genealogist. In her latest book she applies the scrutinising eye of a true professional to an interrelated group of families, focussing on the lives and loves of their female members.
Women have been neglected by history for centuries. The last decades have seen a massive refocusing of interest, thanks not least to the rise of women in the previously male-dominated world of publishing. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, published in 2004, made headlines, correctly, for including many biographies of women in its previously very masculine halls of fame. Throughout history, it was women who looked after households, from cottages to stately homes, including the Wessex mansions, Redlynch; Melbury; Bowood and Lacock, that feature prominently in this book, and in its beautiful illustrations.
It was women who brought up children; hired and fired servants; nursed the sick and dispensed charity. As Joanna emphasises too, it was they who wrote voluminous letters concerned to no small degree with family affairs. But these writings also ranged over the vastly more intellectual areas, including the latest books; gardening techniques; remedies and political gossip, all traditionally supposed to be the realm of men.
Where archives of such records survive, historians and genealogists alike can have a fieldday. So it is here with the records of the great Whig dynasty of Fox Strangways. Under the shadow of the Earls of Ilchester, a host of women lived their lives and left wonderful records for posterity.
The interconnected families Joanna studies are famous for its men, including Charles James Fox the radical politician and William Henry Fox Talbot the pioneer of photography. But if ever the phrase `behind every great man there's a great women' were proved true, it is here. And who better to study a group of interconnected families, and understand and explain how they intermarried and what significance their alliances had on themselves and the world about them, than an experienced genealogist?
Ultimately this book goes way beyond the `narrow' boundaries of the families on which it focuses and tells us all a great deal of relevant information about the social history of the Georgian period. There's a great deal here worth reading simply for its interest and amusement. Joanna is wonderful in her treatment of diseases and cures in her subjects' writings. Did you know that, in the 18th and early 19th century, `delicate' children were deliberately infected with measles to toughen them up? One of the Talbot boys, Kit, survived this extraordinary practise, though he later wrote that the after-effects of measles `nearly carried me off'. Amusing too is Thomas Talbot's reaction to a home-remedy of burnt cork mixed with quince marmalade for diarrhoea. It worked at first, apparently, but then the complaint returned with a vengeance. `I don't mean to try any more experiments', he commented ruefully, `unless absolutely needful'.
If your ancestors were not themselves great Georgian hostesses, they probably worked for them or were married to their tenants - or suffered from their remedies. There's lots here for everyone.
An interesting tour through three centuries of women.......2004-08-26
The author is so lucky! Descended from the women she writes about, she has access to all their letters and diaries and many of their personal possesions. She takes all this and paints a fascinating portrait of some very interesting women living in a very interesting time.
I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because it is obviously the work of an amateur historian. She has great sources, and she makes them very accessible to the reader... but sometimes I felt that she did not really analyze them all that thoroughly, nor does she draw connections to the wider world. In addition, she mentions, in a rather offhand manner, that her Victorian ancestors "organized" the papers that she is using... the Victorians were infamous for destroying family records that painted an unflattering view of long-dead family members or did not support the strict Victorian code of morality. Martin does not mention her opinion of whether such vetting occured: it may seem like a minor detail, but it had me wondering for the rest of the book if some important details about these fascinating women might be missing, though the author seemed to think not.
If you liked "Aristocrats," you MUST read this book, because this book shares several characters with that one. This is a fun, easy to read introduction to Georgian upper-class women.
Customer Reviews:
takes you to Ireland.......2004-12-27
Everyone in love with Ireland knows about the 18th century Georgian architecture. In Dublin city centre for instance, where whole streets and squares are still lined up with its buildings. And also in the countryside, where its design respectfully matches Ireland's beautiful landscapes.
As some of these Georgian houses have been converted to Bed & Breakfast's, any tourist has a fair chance to see them from the inside. If the opportunity arises, just do so. You'll appreciate their great and rich atmosphere, originating from a well-balanced architectural planning long ago. An atmosphere breathing respect for everyone's conviction about human life and destiny. An atmosphere urging you not to have yourself rushed.
For those living away, 'Irish Georgian' makes an almost perfect substitute. This book's wide range of details, its penetrating photo's and its expert-text give you a few hours of sincere enjoyment. While reading, don't being rushed up.
Georgian houses in Ireland (UK edition).......2001-10-22
I have a simple Georgian house in Ireland so this is the perfect book for me. Most books are about either Georgian stately homes in the UK or American Colonial houses. The Irish Georgian houses, on the whole, are smaller and more intimate and therefore whilst still of the period are not quite so fancy. This book covers different types of houses from grand through manor to cottage. The pictures are wonderful, the text doesn't have to be read though it is interesting.
Well worth having if you're investigating Georgian houses in Ireland either from a research point of view or are in the process of restoration. However, it does not have great detail but does give a good flavour through the splendid photographs.
Customer Reviews:
Fun but ..........2007-08-13
Full of twaddle. Content is fact specific with a humorous spin, but nothing to really sink your teeth into. These books appeal to the child who can't engage his/her mind in anything academic and needs this band-aid method to learning history. A sad representation of historical fact and another example of the "dumming down" methods of education.
Shrieks of laughter followed by "Hey listen to this...".......2007-01-10
The "Horrible Histories" books deliver up historical facts regarding American, European and World history in such an entertaining way for 7-12 year-olds, that the children may never notice how much they're learning. During a family vacation to the U.K. we first stumbled upon these books in the bookstore of one of the castles we toured and bought a couple volumes at our 9 & 12 year-olds' requests in order to keep them occupied in the back seat as we drove several hours to the next stop on our itinerary. Shrieks of laughter ensued from both children not long after we got underway, interspersed with, "Hey, listen to this..." The dreaded long drive passed without complaint from the denizens of the back seat, which was a welcome change, but by the time we arrived at our destination they'd each finished one book, were trading copies, and begging for more. We looked for more "Horrible Histories" as we continued our vacation, returning home to the U.S. with perhaps 8-10, which they re-read on the plane flight home. I bought several other volumes over the next couple years as gifts, which were eagerly received. My children have now outgrown them, but if you have children in this age group, they are sure to enjoy this book.
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Bernard Mandeville's "A Modest Defence of Publick Stews": Prostitution and Its Discontents in Early Georgian England
Irwin Primer
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
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ASIN: 1403971676
Release Date: 2006-03-02 |
Book Description
In A Modest Defence of Publick Stews (1724) its reputed author Dr. Bernard Mandeville argues that the best solution to the problems of prostitution (with its related evils of venereal disease, infanticide and other crimes) is not to stamp it out-an impossibility-but to legalize it and regulate it under strict government supervision. This proposal seems serious enough, but Mandeville's satire, with bawdy humor and passages of deliberately faulty reasoning, calls into question the seriousness of this somewhat utopian project. In this first annotated edition, the editor reveals that this complex work often relies upon ancient Classical and Renaissance authors (Plato, Ovid, Martial, Shakespeare, Ariosto, Milton, Butler and especially Montaigne) and that it merits reconsideration as a work richer in literary values and vitality than most readers had previously imagined. It also remains very pertinent to our ongoing debates on prostitution and sexuality in this era of HIV and AIDS.
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Defining John Bull: Political Caricature and National Identity in Late Georgian England
Tamara L. Hunt
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
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ASIN: 1840142685 |
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