Obviously the Versailles of '73 had a profound impact on ...
583778
Obviously the Versailles of '73 had a profound impact on the history of fashion, but I thought this story was excessively drawn out.  I really appreciate Givhan's original research based on personal interviews.  Definitely for the fashion enthusiast, but not the casual reader.
3721420
This book, a cursory study of several of the Georgian princesses of the 17th and 18th century,  is quite an eye opener for people who think that the life of a princess must be one of privilege and riches.  Most of these princesses, a few who actually became queens or empresses, may have lived in the lap of luxury but their personal lives were full of heartbreak, illness, and abuse.  In most cases their husbands were adulterous, penny pinching, abusive rulers, and a couple were even certifiably insane.  The women, who seemed to share only a few given names among themselves (Dorothea, Sophie, Charlotte, Augusta, etc.) were all related, as cousins (even double first cousins) aunts and nieces, mothers and daughters, all from ruling families of German principalities and duchies.  All were descendents, or collateral relatives, of the granddaughter of James I, Sophia, who  became the heir apparent of William III and then Anne of England.  She died in her eighties only a few days before Anne, therefore missing out by a very short period of time being an actual Queen of England. The throne went to her son George of Hanover who  became George I of England. Information is given about the queens and daughters of the four Georgian kings (I through IV) as well as the family of George II's son who died before his father.  The relationships in the family tree, with so much intermarriage, can be confusing.  In the end I drew up my own in order to keep everyone straight.  (The print of the trees in the Kindle version is too small to be read easily.) Considering the generations of intermarriage between first cousins, it's no wonder so many babies were stillborn or miscarried, or that the ones who did live inherited so many debilities.
  The book is interesting and engaging but the lives of these princesses were pitiable and tragic. Probably most tragic was the short life of the sister of George III who was married to the imbecilic king of Denmark.  The luckiest, but only in contrast to her inlaws, was Queen Adelaide, the wife and widow of William IV.  More information is provided about the family of George III and IV. The unmarried daughters of George III were virtual prisoners of their mother and were not even allowed to  walk in the park without chaperones, despite being in their thirties.  The most scandalous may have been Caroline the much hated wife, and first cousin, of George IV.  He refused to have her be crowned and the scene of her trying to enter WEstminster Abbey during the Coronation is both sad and slapstick.
  At the end I could only think that Queen Mary, the wife of George V, avoided the fate of her predecessors, and cousins, and how fortunate it was that George VI married the unrelated Scots-English  Elizabeth of boundless charm and good sense.  Those who complain that the current Queen Elizabeth is too German forget that she's half Scots!  As for Diana, the sad Princess of Wales, she should have learned about these earlier princesses and their marriages; she had little to complain about in comparison.  Highly recommended for readers interested in royalty and the Georgian period in particular.
20096
If, as has been said, history does not repeat itself but merely stutters, then we are still finishing the sentence that was started in 1919. With the world now full of armchair strategists and generals tweeting and blogging, it is refreshing to read a book that reminds us  that politics is and will remain an odd mix of luck, opportunity, temperament, expediency and principle. Wilson, Lloyd George and Clmenceau come across vividly in this brilliant account of their struggle to shape the post-WWI world. I had not until now appreciated the absurdity of the Italian position at Versailles, or the extent of the blunders committed by Venizelos. In the main, one gets the feeling that statesmanship is the most thankless of tasks, as well as one of the most important. Great book.
214918
We all experience tumultuous times during the course of our lives, but those of us who grew up in the 1970s will find this story particularly poignant. Esther Erlich addresses the subject of individual suffering and how it can radiate to impact the lives of those around us. However, she does this with elegance through the eyes of a child in search of hope and restoration. We've all suffered at one time or another and are on that same journey, which is what makes the story relevant.
595498
Magnificent is the only way to describe this outstanding review of the late 17th century and early 18th century that corresponds to the reign of Louis XIV. I say review but in fact it is about 720 pages of excellent scholarship and synthesis of tremendous amounts of history, philosophy, science, religion, and art.

The book begins and ends with Louis XIV. Louis XIV assumed the throne under dangerous conditions and an uprising of mature nobility, the Fronde. However both Louis and his mother exhibited considerable courage to negotiate through this conflict. France had been greatly strengthened by the oversight of Richelieu and Mazarin and Louis, in many ways, benefited from a strong state infrastructure and capital inflow. The Durants are thorough covering the love affairs, marriages, music, architecture, theater, and literature that progressed during this early period of Louis life.  However, they also cover a major factor that undermined the strength of France which was the treatment of the French Huguenots. Under the concept that all the subjects had to have the same religion as the king, these Protestants underwent persecution bordering on genocide. They were middle class literate merchants for the most part and their expulsion to Amsterdam and England only strengthened these other nations.

The second part of the book focuses on England and covers the fall of Charles I, the rise of Cromwell, the Restoration of Charles II, and then the Glorious Revolution that saw James II replaced by his daughter Mary and his son-in-law William of Orange. Several sections of this part of the book cover the English literature of this time and covers Milton, Dryden, Pepys, Defoe, and Swift.

Swedens Charles XII and Russias Peter the Great are covered as well as a chapter on the Sephardim and Ashkenazim communities in Europe.

The chapter on Isaac Newton is superb but the chapter on Spinoza is absolutely brilliant. In fact the chapter on Spinoza is so well written that I had to read it twice from sheer enjoyment.

The book ends by returning to Louis XIV and the dramatic changes in his life after his wife dies and he marries the devout governess for his illegitimate sons. It is the war of the Spanish Succession that he fights for his grandson that sets the stage for the impoverishment of the French people and is a precursor causative factor for the French Revolution. France lost more young mens lives in the War of the Spanish Succession than the United States lost lives in World War I and II combined.

This is a wonderful and broad sweeping survey of this time in history and can only be called wonderful reading.
1398552
I am a retired art teacher and history buff.  It wasn't an easy read as some biographies are.. The events seemed to go back and forth in time somewhat which was difficult.  None the less it was a compelling narrative and the accompanying photos of Monet, his friends and his work,added a lot.  It made me more appreciative of the struggles Money had to go through to finally realize his dream. It is obvious that the author spent many hours in researching the events in this artist's life.  The results of this reading inspire me to make the trip to France and see these huge magnificent paintings in person, or to view the ones that are harbored here in the USA.
1871249
I saw this first time in Europe last year. I loved the way the real life was described: the illnesses like the smallpox, and their treatment, how they carried on their daily life  under the pressure of Englishmen and the higher taxation, how they made the decision to appeal to the king of England to have less taxes leading to denial and then eventually to the war. The hard choices were made, thus, making some people angry even if there really was no other choices to make.

The politicians at the time learned by doing their work, like Washington, Adams, and Jefferson, how to be politicians, and what is best for the country at the time, even if it does not always please everyone or even their former allies.
Sometimes you need to cooperate with your former enemy and ruler in order to save your country and continue to be prosperous.

The actors were also believable in their roles as John Adams and his wife, Jefferson and Bejamin Franklin. The French court was described quite accurately with their desire of beauty, fashion, and novelty... except perhaps not enough of the lack of cleanliness, and how they actually suffered of lices, did not wash themselves so often, and the children often died early because of not being so clean. In Versailles, it was actually a custom for the visitors to pee in the corners, and they sometimes kept medallion chain with a smelly grease around their necks to collect the bugs, like lices, in them. As they did not wash themselves so often, they hid the smell, the dirt, and the grease under the wigs and powder. Powdered wigs were popular during the Louis Quatorze (Ludvig IV, the Sun King) time.

Versailles palace was, and still is, a luxurious place with hundreds of rooms as described in this miniseries. The palace garden is still famous and you will recognize it once you see it because it is unique. The palace is nowadays open for visitors, and even if you won't be able to see all the rooms, you will see how glorious it must have been in 1600-1700.
When Adams and Franklin served as ambassadors in France, looking for financing and allies, they visited the royal court in Versailles, and played by the rules of the king of France, Louis IV.

In addition, when the French Revolution started, and Washington and Adams had to make choices whose side they are and who they support, it was a hard decision as described in this series because England was a former ruler, and still a mighty enemy. The founding fathers could not risk their relationship with England.

All in all, the producers did a great job in describing the time of the founding fathers as it was, without sugarcoding the actual conditions and people.
4912840
Few historic periods are as eventful, turbulent and consequential for human society as the 25-year period starting from 1889. Even avid history buffs are often at loss to explain how the revolution of all time for democracy ended up with the popular rise and then fall of Napolean in the double quick time. Everyone should listen to this easy to understand lectures simply to learn about this fascinating period if not for any other reason.

Ms Desan's lecture series covers the tumultuous period's events in the most understandable manner without turning overbearing. She has a new style that blends chronological progress with continuous analysis of themes. Or perhaps the other way around. Let me elaborate.

The professor does not simply state history with the implications and analysis of events. Rather, each session is built on a new theme or a subject which could range from the poverty, daily life, art or certain personalities and their key traits. To expand on the theme, the narrator would go back in time, elaborate on the relevant details and reach up to a new moment in the French history of the period, cover the moment and expand on its impact for the future. Still, in every lecture with those critical themes and events, the series would keep rolling forward chronologically. The style is beautiful and immensely creative because it allows the flow of the narrative to remain fresh and meaningful.

From Bastille to Napoleon's Corsican exile, the struggle between the Jacobins and Girondins that led to the internal civil war, the reign of terror and the guillotined end of the democracy itself, the Thermidorian provided first intermission and the spectacular rise of Napolean followed by the innumerable fables of the legend - the lectures have enough topics to support even a ten year soap opera!
2802883
Jane Ridley has definitely done her research thoroughly, and it can't have been easy, considering Edward VII's determined efforts to obliterate all traces of his private feelings and thwart biographers of the future.  Of all the biographies I have read in recent months, this represents the most impressive scholarship of them all.  Ridley has taken full advantage of resources heretofore unavailable to researchers, which has made a truly in-depth biography impossible, and the best picture we could hope to have of Edward VII is the result.

So why not a full 5 stars?  Ridley, as so often happens, is a little more sympathetic to Bertie the wastrel Prince of Wales than perhaps she should be.  She isn't pulling her punches when describing a thoroughly dissolute four decades of his life, but one is left with the distinct impression that if ONLY Victoria had been a better mother (and really, she couldn't have been much more dreadful as a parent), then Bertie would have been less of a screw-up.  The truth is, we just don't know.  It is entirely possible that his position in society was such that he was bound to indulge himself, no matter what his upbringing had been.

Likewise, his performance during his brief reign as king exceeded the expectations of just about everyone, as Ridley hastens to point out.  But really, by 1901, there was nowhere to go but up.  Some very serious scandals in the 1890's had put Bertie's political future in very serious jeopardy, and had more people than we realize giving serious consideration to dismantling the monarchy (or at least curtailing it severely).  Edward's accession came with a great deal of unease on the part of Britain's population, but he always jealously observed the social proprieties which were due him, so it shouldn't come as a surprise that he took the dignity of his station as seriously as he did.

As far as his role as Britain's diplomat in the courts of Europe --- yes, his personal connection as "The Uncle of Europe" did make a difference, but Ridley only obliquely concedes that he might be as responsible for Europe's slide toward catastrophe in 1914 as anyone.  As far as the Entente Cordiale is concerned, Ridley does not give nearly the amount of credit to skilled French diplomats such as Thophile Delcass and Paul Cambon, who very early on identified the importance of settling French differences with Britain in order to contend with the much greater danger that Imperial Germany posed.  While Edward VII certainly softened the popular French attitude towards Britain, Ridley makes it appear as though he practically seduced an unsuspecting Marianne, who giddily tumbled into the British bedchamber without a second thought.

Aspects of the book I particularly liked:  Ridley's discussion of Bertie's almost countless affairs in a measured way, keeping this book from descending into salacious gossip, and her careful discussion of alleged royal bastards and other rumors.

Aspects of the book I particularly disliked:  her treatment of the Royal Baccarat Scandal was a little more cursory than I felt it should have been.  It was a major scandal, and the damage it did to the monarchy should not be underestimated.  Ridley gives a good discussion of the events leading up to the trial, but then hurries the reader past the trial itself.  The Prince of Wales was exposed as having breached the Military Code and also breaking the law (as baccarat & most forms of gambling were illegal), and was forced to take the stand under oath.  But Ridley's treatment of the whole affair makes the trial seem rather anticlimactic.

But these are small quibbles.  Anyone with an interest in this period of British history, or who just appreciates a really good biography, would be well-advised to seek out this book.  Strongly recommended!
2451951
Jean-Francois Parot brings pre-Revolutionary France to life in ways that reek (often almost literally) of authenticity.  The period detail is fascinating, but lightly worn, never wearying the reader.  Parot is particularly good on the palace protocols and political intrigues of the Bourbons, writing sympathetically and very movingly about this doomed dynasty, especially as he lays bare the ugly reality behind the call "the king is dead, long live the king". The Nicolas le Floch Affair (set in 1774 and the fourth in the series) is much more than a compelling if complex murder mystery. It is also an epicurean discourse on the finer side of eighteenth century life and an entertaining read. We know where this is all headed of course, but it will be fascinating to watch Commissioner le Floch as he draws ever closer to the "dies irae" of 1789.
841134
I imagine that back in 1989 (when this book was written) everyone wanted to know what the lives of the two most photographed women in the world was like. Well, if you are this sort of character, then you have a juicy piece of literature here to tell you everything from the places the then Princess of Wales and Duchess of York went to lunch, shop, have their hair done, etc.; to the houses they owned, the palaces they lived in, the sports they practiced and their general lifestyles. This is mostly a volume for young girls who dream about probably the same ideals these two young women once dreamed of - and sadly found there were too different from their own dreams. It is, however, a delightful book, full of details on what a "Royal lifestyle" is like; the clothes, the jewels, the traveling and the spotlight in general. The author is herself a frequent visitor in the "Royal Circles" so she can pinpoint her own opinions quite correctly sometimes. On the other hand, this book is not an interesting piece of literature from the critical point of view and, at the beginning of this new century, now that the masks have worn off and the two ladies are not even  part of the Royal Family anymore (one of them sadly and dramatically gone forever), this volume seems hopelessly outdated and, sometimes, silly.
1921964
Fascinating and highly detailed account of an event that seems to have fallen victim to a stereotyped version of post-war history; mainly that the big three recklessly re-drew the map of Europe with the intention of punishing Germany. This, of course, set the stage for WWII. In reality, the big three were faced with the aftermath of the cataclysmic fall of the Russian, Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman empires that signaled the end of monarchy and the beginning of new nationalism throughout the region. The wonder isn't that Wilson, Lloyd-George and Clemanceau failed, it is that they accomplished anything. This account, while at times a little tedious, fills a need for deeper understanding of how fragile the social, political, military, economic and psychological environment was at the end of the Great War. The Paris Peace Conference wasn't the cause of WWII, it was the first act in the drama that we are still living today.
2604832
This is an extraordinary collection of documents, photographs, posters and publications, many of which have hitherto been unavailable other than  to scholars, relating to the period following the fall of France in June 1940 until its liberation in 1944-45. The willingness, nay, eagerness of the Vichy government to embrace many of the Nazi precepts and doctrines in the service of the Third Reich and to activate them so quickly after Compiegne bespeaks the flabbiness of the Third Republic and the mentalities of its successor, so manifest in this work While the majority of the French populace sought merely to survive its ordeal, the support of Vichy was by no means insignificant, with dire consequences for French Jews, Freemasons and other targets. This catalogue of the recent Paris exhibition at the Archives Nationale lays bare, unadorned and transparent, the visual evidence of the degradation of a great nation under the heel of a merciless conqueror. It is an indispensable addition to the vast (and still incomplete) literature of the period. It goes without saying that a fluent knowledge of the language is necessary to absorb all that this unique work offers.
3562952
At first I thought because of some slow reading passages, I would give Mr. Bellesiles work only 3 stars, but after considering what a Tour de Force of Gilded Age issues 1877 really is, I find that I have to rate it more highly.

Essentially, 1877 points out that at this period in American history the relationship between labor and capital replaced race as the preeminent social issue of the time, with freed African Americans ostensibly being thrown under the bus, so to speak, as the Era of Reconstruction came to a premature end.  It would take, as Mr.  Bellesiles points out, nearly 100 years to right the wrongs of reconstruction.

The year 1877 also marked the greatest mass labor unrest in our nation`s history when what has been called The Great Strike of 1877 took place in July of that year.  Mr. Bellesiles does an excellent job of describing how violence played such an integral part in all aspects of American life at this time, but he especially focuses on the way violence was used as a reaction to and against labor unrest and wealth disparity.  Out of the cataclysm of American Civil War grew a late 19th century nation that a legacy of government sanctioned violent behavior and this legacyimpacted all aspects of American life in the year 1877.

Perhaps the most interesting part of this work is they way Bellesilles profiles certain personalities like Jacob Riis, Walt Whitman and Frances Willard at the end.  However, some parts of the book are a little redundant and do make for reading that is a bit on the slower side.
4822468
This is one of the most important and most neglected books ever written about the two world wars. The reason for it being neglected is obvious: it overturns, from the point of view of a very intelligent observer and participant, any amount of accepted pieties. No, the Versailles treaty was not viciously crushing; No, Wilson's Fourteen Points were not the wise and unfairly discarded code of a new peaceful world; no, Clemenceau was not a vicious, vindictive French imperialist; no, France did not want to annex the Rhineland... The amount of ignored information this book contains is incredible: did you know that shortly after the armistice, the leading political figures of the Rhineland came close to declaring independence, only to reverse themselves when, to everyone's astonishment,the news came that Wilson,the American president, opposed any such idea? The whole history of the West in this tragic period has been rewritten to suit a number of interests and superstitions. But Schwarzschild, a good German who had fought Prussian militarism and then Nazism his whole life, did not have any reason to follow these mystifications. This book, in spite of a few errors of fact (yes, Hitler had in fact gained the Iron Cross he wore), is as good and enlightening account of the period as anything published since, and badly needs to be republished.
1984986
This was the last shuddering crisis in modern philosophy. Fascism was on the rise and those intellectuals who had so much hope in a revolution after the carnage World War I in Western Europe were faced with an aesthetic crisis. This collection of writings by Neo-Marxist cultural critics essentially foretells the insanity of the Holocaust through a careful analysis of bourgeois capital and its effects on society. This is not a light read, but will change your understanding of humanity.
1226193
It is a great little book that helps a person get more familiar with the last twenty years of history at the domaine. The tragedy surrounding the poisoning of the vines, and the life of the current vigneron Aubert de Villaine. There is also a historical aside of the first owner of the domaine the prince of Conti, Louis Francois. A good quick little read. It lets you get a little closer to the people that run this fabled estate. I was just sad to see it end so quickly.