Lost Destiny: Joe Kennedy Jr. and the Doomed WWII Mission to Save London by Alan Axelrod

Rating: ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Local Library

Read: July 30, 2016

On August 12, 1944, Lieutenant Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr., heir to one of America's most glamorous fortunes, son of the disgraced former ambassador to Great Britain, and big brother to freshly minted PT-109 hero JFK, hoisted himself up into a highly modified B-24 Liberator bomber. The munitions he was carrying that day were fifty percent more powerful than TNT. Kennedy's mission was part of Operation Aphrodite/Project Anvil, a desperate American effort to rescue London from a rain of German V-1 and V-2 missiles. The decision to use these bold but crude precursors to modern-day drones against German V-weapon launch sites came from Air Corps high command. Lieutenant General Jimmy Doolittle, daring leader of the spectacular 1942 Tokyo Raid, and others concocted a plan to install radio control equipment in "war-weary" bombers, pack them with a dozen tons of high explosives, and fly them by remote control directly into the concrete German launch sites—targets too hard to be destroyed by conventional bombs. The catch was that live pilots were needed to get these flying bombs off the ground and headed toward their targets. Joe Jr. was the first naval aviator to fly such a mission. And—in the biggest manmade explosion before Hiroshima—it killed him. Alan Axelrod's Lost Destiny is a rare exploration of the origin of today's controversial military drones as well as a searing and unforgettable story of heroism, WWII, and the Kennedy dynasty that might have been.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

I'm not gonna beat around the bush here and I'm not going to apologize for my bluntness either. I was hugely disappointed with Alan Axelrod's Lost Destiny: Joe Kennedy Jr. and the Doomed WWII Mission to Save London and feel the eleven and half hours I spent listening to the audio largely wasted.

Axelrod did a marvelous job chronicling Operations Anvil and Aphrodite, but his coverage of the famous face that graces the jacket is nothing short of laughable. The mission, it's purpose and development are illustrated in minute detail, but the man himself features in less than 30% of the text. Looking back, I wish the author had written solely about the operations and listed Kennedy as little more than a tragic pilot, but it's also occurred to me that Joe Jr. was tacked on to this manuscript to capitalize on name recognition and artificially inflate sale numbers.

I'll grant the book has merit for those interested in exhaustive detail regarding WWII aviation, developing technologies, weaponry, and bomb testing, but those looking for information on Kennedy's war experience best look elsewhere.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

But there was no way to know all this as the V-1s rained down and as London, among other cities, waited in dread for assault by the even deadlier V-2s. So the Allied bombers flew, and so Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. and the other men of Aphrodite and Anvil prepared to lay down theirs lives to save the citizens of London and the other English towns.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Kick: The True Story of JFK's Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth by Paula Byrne

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Obtained from: Edelweiss

Read: April 22, 2016

Filled with a wealth of revealing new material and insight, the biography of the vivacious, unconventional—and nearly forgotten—young Kennedy sister who charmed American society and the English aristocracy, and would break with her family for love. Encouraged to be “winners” from a young age, Rose and Joe Kennedy’s children were the embodiment of ambitious, wholesome Americanism. Yet even within this ebullient group of overachievers, the fourth Kennedy child, the irrepressible Kathleen, stood out. Lively, charismatic, extremely clever, and blessed with graceful athleticism and a sunny disposition, the alluring socialite fondly known as Kick was a firecracker who effortlessly made friends and stole hearts. Moving across the Atlantic when her father was appointed as the ambassador to Great Britain in 1938, Kick—the “nicest Kennedy”—quickly became the family’s star. Despite making little effort to fit into British high society, she charmed everyone from the beau monde to Fleet Street with her unconventional attitude and easygoing humor. Growing increasingly independent, Kick would also shock and alienate her devout family by falling in love and marrying the scion of a virulently anti-Catholic family— William Cavendish, the heir apparent of the Duke of Devonshire and Chatsworth. But the marriage would last only a few months; Billy was killed in combat in 1944, just four years before Kick’s own unexpected death in an airplane crash at twenty-eight. Paula Byrne recounts this remarkable young woman’s life in detail as never before, from her work at the Washington Times-Herald and volunteerism for the Red Cross in wartime England; to her love of politics and astute, opinionated observations; to her decision to renounce her faith for the man she loved. Sympathetic and compelling, Kick shines a spotlight on this feisty and unique Kennedy long relegated to the shadows of her legendary family’s history.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Kathleen Kennedy at her wedding to the
Marquess of Hartington, 1944

I've been to Dealey Plaza and toured The Sixth Floor Museum, but my most interesting experience with Kennedy family history took place in a quiet English cemetery. I was visiting my cousins and we'd pulled over to discuss where to go after walking the grounds at Chatsworth. My sister and I weren't part of the conversation, so while the powers that be worked out a game plan, we opted to take a closer look at a nearby church. As we approached the building, we noted a small sign addressed to American visitors and naturally felt obligated to play our part. We followed the directions to a weather beaten headstone and commemorative plaque. Someone had left a blue bouquet of flowers above the memorial marker honoring President John F. Kennedy's visit, but the grave is what caught my eye and I spent the next evening looking up everything I could find on Kathleen.

Unfortunately for me, there weren't many options. Kathleen Kennedy: Her Life and Times by Lynne McTaggart was the only biography I could find, but reviews indicated Black Diamonds: The Rise and Fall of an English Dynasty by Catherine Bailey had some good information as well. A fictional piece, That Kennedy Girl by Robert DeMaria also existed, but not one of these titles satisfied my curiosity regarding Kick's romance with William Cavendish, Marquess of Hartington. I wanted more insight, but the opportunity didn't arise until 2016 when I landed an ARC of Paula Byrne's Kick: The True Story of JFK's Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth.

Looking back on the book, I can't say that much of the material was new to me, but it was detailed and easy to follow. Structurally I was somewhat confused and more than a little miffed, but that is what it is. The title indicated the book would be about Kick and her relationship with William, but he doesn't make an appearance until page 82. The first third of the book struck me as stock material one could find in any Kennedy family biography as it was dedicated entirely to Kick’s parents and her life before Billy. This begged the question, was Byrne writing about Kick and Billy as the title suggested or is this really Kick's story with footnotes on her famous family as indicated by the cover image which inexplicably features Kick and Jack.

I resigned myself to the latter, but even that didn't pan out. Kick's childhood and youth were dragged out over several chapters, but Byrne pulled a 180 and lumped the last four years of her life into a paltry fifteen pages. The only rationale for this is that Byrne didn't want to feature Kick's subsequent relationship with Peter Wentworth-Fitzwilliam, 8th Earl Fitzwilliam too highly in a book that was supposed to be about her romance with Billy, but that line of thought brought me straight back to my original quandary. Was Byrne writing about Kick and Billy or was she writing about Kick? If the latter, why offer a byline about Chatsworth's heir in the title and why omit intricate detailing of her life after his death?

At the end of the day, Kick: The True Story of JFK's Sister and the Heir to Chatsworth is not a bad biography, but its structure wasn't flawless. I'm not sure how it compares to Kick Kennedy: The Charmed Life and Tragic Death of the Favorite Kennedy Daughter by Barbara Leaming which also released in 2016, but it does offer a significant amount of insight to Kick's life in England and I would definitely recommend it to Kennedy enthusiasts.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Kick wrote to the Dowager Duchess, Billy’s grandmother, telling her that it was her duty to be strong and brave, and that if men like Billy found ‘the courage to die so one must have the courage to live’.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

A Woman's Diary of the War by Sarah Macnaughtan

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: April 11, 2016

This is one of the most powerful descriptions of the scourge of the First World War by a woman who was on the front lines and ultimately gave her life for the cause. Sarah Broom Macnaughtan volunteered with the Red Cross Society when World War One broke out, and that is when she started keeping a record of what she saw. In September 1914 she travelled to Antwerp in Belgium as part of an ambulance unit, and as Head of the Orderlies she was witness to hundreds of wounded and dying men passing through her hospital. Her and her staff desperately tried to help them as best they could despite limited resources, and bombs falling all around them. For her bravery and work under fire in Belgium, she eventually received the Order of Leopold.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Sarah Macnaughtan's A Woman's Diary of the War caught my eye the moment I stumbled over it. I've been looking for a surgeon's memoir from either world war for ages, but a nurse's memoir was an equally welcome discovery. 

Macnaughtan's observations are poignantly honest and unguarded. Her perceptions regarding the war in Belgium are not shaped by political affiliation or historic interpretation. They are personal, the kind of simple contemporary insights that are priceless to those interested in understanding the conflict through the eyes of those who witnessed it firsthand. I wish there had been more biographic information included in the book, but the writing is solid and the material itself makes the title more than a little worthwhile.

A Woman's Diary of the War is a short piece, only ninety-three pages in length, but it makes an interesting companion to Sapper Dorothy: The Only English Woman Soldier in the Royal Engineers 51st Division, 79th Tunnelling Co. During the First World War and stands as a brilliant example of British understanding and rectification of the conflict.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

We were breathless, not with fear, but with astonishment.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Islands of the Damned: A Marine at War in the Pacific by R.V. Burgin

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Local Library

Read: June 22, 2015

This is an eyewitness—and eye-opening—account of some of the most savage and brutal fighting in the war against Japan, told from the perspective of a young Texan who volunteered for the Marine Corps to escape a life as a traveling salesman. R. V. Burgin enlisted at the age of twenty and, with his sharp intelligence and earnest work ethic, climbed the ranks from a green private to a seasoned sergeant. Along the way, he shouldered a rifle as a member of a mortar squad. He saw friends die and enemies killed. He saw scenes he wanted to forget but never did—from enemy snipers who tied themselves to branches in the highest trees, to ambushes along narrow jungle trails, to the abandoned corpses of hara kiri victims, to the final howling banzai attacks as the Japanese embraced their inevitable defeat. An unforgettable narrative of a young Marine in combat, Islands of the Damned brings to life the hell that was the Pacific War.

════════════════════════════ ❧  ════════════════════════════

It sounds horrible, but I didn’t set out to read Islands of the Damned. Truth is it was one of those right time right place selections, the kind of thing that more or less falls into one’s lap. I’d just watched The Pacific for the umpteenth time and got it into my head to do a little background reading. With the Old Breed and Helmet for My Pillow were first on my list, but unfortunately neither was available at my local library. A quick search for other titles on similar topics turned up several pieces including Battleground Pacific and Red Blood, Black Sand, but it was Burgin’s name that jumped from the catalogue screen which is how the audio edition of his memoir ended up accompanying me home. 

A friend of mine was moving so I listened to much of the book the following weekend as I repeatedly traversed the stretch of freeway that bisects Camp Pendleton. Traffic was slow, stop-and-go most of the way, and I was thankful for the distraction Burgin’s work afforded. Alone in my SUV, I was able to focus on Sean Runnette’s narration, but I soon found myself at odds with the sedate tone of Burgin’s prose and frustrated by the lack of intensity presented his audience. The comparison isn’t fair, but the book didn’t pack the punch of Leckie or Sledge’s recollections and the end result made it much harder for this particular reader to remain engaged in the account. 

I don’t argue the value of the material and I like the sense of perspective Islands of the Damned offers alongside With the Old Breed, but as a standalone I felt the memoir challenging. It isn’t as comprehensive as other titles and relies heavily on singular interpretation. The author’s voice is mild and he has a tendency to repeat his favorite personal anecdotes. I felt his romance with Florence Risely heartwarming and I was stuck by his memories of Captain Andrew ‘Ack-Ack’ Haldane and First Lieutenant Edward ‘Hillbilly’ Jones, but I prefer those accounts that delve into the complex psychology of life on the front lines and that was not a topic Burgin felt the need to explore length.

I’m glad to have experienced Islands of the Damned, but I’m not ashamed to admit I struggled with it. I went in with an expectation it didn’t achieve and though I’d certainly recommend the title to those interested in WWII’s Pacific Theater, I can’t claim it my favorite Marine Corps memoir of the period.  

════════════════════════════ ❧  ════════════════════════════

What sticks with me now is not so much the pain and terror and sorrow of the war, though I remember that well enough. What really sticks with me is the honor I had of defending my country, and serving in the company of these men. They were good Marines, the finest, every one of them.

════════════════════════════ ❧  ════════════════════════════

Dresden: A Survivor's Story by Victor Gregg

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: February 5, 2015

In 2011, Victor Gregg published Rifleman about his time on the front line in World War II. The experience of writing that memoir sparked long buried memories of his experience during the Dresden bombing. Whilst Kurt Vonnegut's acclaimed Slaughterhouse-Five draws on his experience as a Prisoner of War imprisoned in a deep cellar in Dresden while the firestorm raged through the city, wiping out generations of innocent lives, Victor Gregg remained above ground. This is his story. In four air raids between 13 and 15 February 1945, 772 Lancaster bombers of the British Royal Air Force and 527 of the United States Army Air Forces dropped more than 3,900 tons of high-explosive bombs and incendiary devices on Dresden. The resulting firestorm destroyed 15 square kilometres, or 6 square miles, of the city centre. 25,000 people, mostly civilians, were estimated to have been killed. Post-war discussion of whether or not the attacks were justified has led to the bombing becoming one of the moral issues of the Second World War. An established soldier turning his uniform to the 10th Parachute Regiment in 1944, he was captured at Arnhem where he volunteered to be sent to a work camp rather than become another faceless number in the huge POW camps. With two failed escape attempts under his belt, Gregg was eventually caught sabotaging a factory and sent for execution. Gregg’s first-hand narrative, personal and punchy, sees him through the trauma and carnage of the Dresden bombing. After the raid he spent five days helping to recover a city of innocent civilians, thousands of whom had died in the fire storm, trapped underground in human ovens. As order was restored his life was once more in danger and he escaped to the east, spending the last weeks of the war with the Russians. Harrowing and vivid, Gregg draws us in to the heart-wrenching, often futile attempts to save lives, and the tentative friendships and near-misses along the way.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Before I get too far ahead of myself, I want to make one thing perfectly clear. I like Victor Gregg's Dresden a lot, but I can't justify giving it more than three stars. First hands accounts such as this are priceless, but the book is not a complete memoir nor is it a comprehensive study of the bombing of Dresden and as a reviewer, I have to factor more than content alone.

Others have noted the writing is a little rough and I agree, but I liked it. Adding the spit and polish of clean crisp prose would have diminished Gregg's voice and stripped the account of its personality. My only complaint is that the publisher put a play by play of Gregg's entire experience on the jacket, leaving nothing for readers to discover on their own or reviewers to comment on without sounding like a broken record. 

Stark, but powerful, Dresden is an interesting volume for history buffs and a particularly noteworthy piece for those interested in the atrocity. Again, it is not a comprehensive analysis of the event, but the perspective it affords is both meaningful and unique.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

I have every respect for the brave lads of the RAF who flew the bombers, they were under orders and, as a soldier, I know that orders are there to be obeyed. But, it is my belief that in the act of destroying the evil of the Third Reich we employed further and more terrible evils...

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family by Amber Hunt & David Batcher

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Obtained from: Netgalley

Read: November 22, 2014

The Kennedy wives saw history up close—made history in some cases. They knew wealth and privilege but we are bonded to them by loss which are our losses too. The Kennedy women—fierce, intelligent, and very private—belong to us. Not because of their glamour, but because of their grief and misfortunes. The Kennedy Wives takes an unflinching look at the women who married into the Kennedy family and their distinct roles. Rose, the matriarch; Ethel, the athlete; Jackie, the icon; Joan, the fragile beauty; and Vicki, the redeemer. In reality, each woman was complex and multifaceted. As Kennedy wives, they were bonded through characteristics and experiences unique to the Camelot family. The Kennedy Wives is an exploration of these women that will offer what no other book or film created thus far has: a thoughtful analysis of what drew the Kennedy men to these iconic women, and what the women endured in exchange for their acceptance into the Camelot clan.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

I have mixed feelings about Amber Hunt and David Batcher's The Kennedy Wives. A collected biography of one of America's most recognizable families, the book boasts obvious appeal and covers a lot of wonderful material, but the execution wasn't as even-handed as I envisioned going in and I must admit there were aspects of the book that left me wanting. 

I appreciated the format in that each of the women had a section dedicated specifically to her, but I'm not sure I liked how the authors labeled Rose, Ethel, Jackie, Joan and Vicki. I feel the treatment pigeonholed their personalities into very specific roles, narrowed the authors' views during the writing process and resulted in a very simplistic portrait of each Kennedy spouse. As the jacket states, this is a complex and multifaceted group of women, individuals who are far too dynamic to stereotyped and I'm not convinced the presentation here does justice to that legacy. 

The underlying favoritism of Jackie and the Camelot era also frustrated me as the figurative designation refers to the Kennedy administration rather than the extensive dynasty founded by Joseph Patrick Kennedy. Jackie's section is more rounded than those of the other spouses, her picture is more prominently displayed on the cover and, paired with the Camelot references in the description, I felt she was singled out. Were this the biography of an individual, I wouldn't take issue, but all of these women married Kennedy men and weathered the challenges of that association and at the end of the day, I don't think Hunt and Batcher's work displays Rose, Ethel, Jackie, Joan and Vicki on an even playing field. 

Finally, I had particular difficulty the chapters dedicated to Ethel. To be fair, this section sparked an interest that inspired me to learn more about Robert's widow, but it also highlighted a flaw that left me rather disappointed with the book. I liked what I read so much that I took time off to watch Rory Kennedy's Ethel, but in listening to the documentary, I realized how heavily Hunt and Batcher relied on the film and was ultimately disillusioned with their research. The story is there, but I don't feel the authors brought anything new to the table and that opinion openly colored my experience with subsequent sections of The Kennedy Wives. 

Is it a bad biography? Certainly not. The intent here is nothing short of brilliant and generally speaking, I think the volume a great introduction to Rose, Ethel, Jackie, Joan and Vicki. Yes, I felt there was room to do more with the material and I'm not shy about saying so, but when all is said and done, I value the time I spent with this book and would definitely recommend it to anyone interested in the Kennedy women. 

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

These five women—The Kennedy Wives—lived twentieth-century US history. Their experiences of wealth and power, love, loss, and tragedy occurred at such a heightened level that it’s tempting to see them as mythic, almost archetypal creatures. But Rose, Ethel, Jackie, Joan, and Vicki were and are stubbornly fleshy in their humanity, and they give all of us, men and women, powerful examples of what everyday strength, resilience, and grace can look like. It’s because of their refusal to ossify into sterile sainthood that they will always fascinate—and always inspire.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Inglorious Royal Marriages: A Demi-Millennium of Unholy Mismatrimony by Leslie Carroll

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆
Obtained from: Historical Fiction Virtual Book Tours
Read: August 31, 2014

It’s no secret that the marriages of monarchs are often made in hell. Here are some of the most spectacular mismatches in five hundred years of royal history... In a world where many kings, queens, and princes lacked nothing but true love, marital mismatches could bring out the baddest, boldest behavior in the bluest of bloodlines. Margaret Tudor, her niece Mary I, and Catherine of Braganza were desperately in love with chronically unfaithful husbands, but at least they weren’t murdered by them, as were two of the Medici princesses were. King Charles II’s beautiful, high-spirited sister “Minette” wed Louis XIV’s younger brother, who wore more makeup and perfume than she did. Forced to wed her boring, jug-eared cousin Ferdinand, Marie of Roumania—a granddaughter of Queen Victoria—proved herself one of the heroines of World War I by using her prodigious personal charm to regain massive amounts of land during the peace talks at Versailles. Brimming with outrageous real-life stories of royal marriages gone wrong, this is an entertaining, unforgettable book of dubious matches doomed from the start.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Leslie Carroll's Inglorious Royal Marriages is the kind of nonfiction I wish I came across more often. It tells a story and it's wonderfully detailed, but it is at the same time playful and entertaining. 

Capitalizing on public interest for gossip and celebrity drama, Carroll boldly delves into the high stakes game of royal marriage and the spectacular fallouts that ensued when husband and wife found themselves utterly incompatible. Some of the haplessly wedded royals are very known, others less so, but I found that even the sections covering material with which I was already familiar delightfully witty. 

I also love that Carroll took the trouble to explain the political wheeling and dealing that led to each unfortunate alliance. Royal marriages were essentially business transactions, contracts made for wealth, power and favors and I think that incredibly important to understand when examining royal unions. 

All told, Inglorious Royal Marriage is an excellent collection for those in the know as well as those discovering these stories for the first time. Highly recommended. 

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

No one expected the spouses to be in love, or even to love each other, and yet their families and friends would always act surprised when the man and wife barely got along and the marriage failed.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Check Out All the Stops on Leslie Carroll's Inglorious Royal Marriages Blog Tour Schedule

Tuesday, September 2
Review at Book Lovers Paradise
Interview at Scandalous Women

Wednesday, September 3
Guest Post & Giveaway at Historical Tapestry

Thursday, September 4
Spotlight & Giveaway at Passages to the Past

Friday, September 5
Review at So Many Books, So Little Time

Monday, September 8
Review & Giveaway at Bibliophilia, Please

Tuesday, September 9
Review at Oh, For the Hook of a Book
Spotlight at Princess of Eboli

Thursday, September 11
Review at The Lit Bitch
Spotlight & Giveaway at Historical Fiction Connection

Friday, September 12
Interview at Oh, For the Hook of a Book

Monday, September 15
Guest Post & Giveaway at Let Them Read Books

Tuesday, September 16
Spotlight & Giveaway at Reading Lark

Wednesday, September 17
Review & Giveaway at A Bookish Affair

Saturday, September 20
Review at WTF Are You Reading?

Tuesday, September 23
Review & Giveaway at The Maiden’s Court

Wednesday, September 24
Review & Giveaway at Broken Teepee
Review & Giveaway at To Read or Not to Read

Thursday, September 25
Review at Bookish
Review at Historical Fiction Obsession

Friday, September 26
Review at The Musings of ALMYBNENR
Review & Giveaway at The True Book Addict

Margaret Beaufort: Mother of the Tudor Dynasty by Elizabeth Norton

Rating: ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Obtained from: Personal Library

Read: Nov. 1, 2011 

Divorced at ten, a mother at thirteen & three times a widow. The extraordinary true story of the 'Red Queen', Lady Margaret Beaufort, matriarch of the Tudors. Born in the midst of the Wars of the Roses, Margaret Beaufort became the greatest heiress of her time. She survived a turbulent life, marrying four times and enduring imprisonment before passing her claim to the crown of England to her son, Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs. Margaret's royal blood placed her on the fringes of the Lancastrian royal dynasty. After divorcing her first husband at the age of ten, she married the king's half-brother, Edmund Tudor, becoming a widow and bearing her only child, the future Henry VII, before her fourteenth birthday. Margaret was always passionately devoted to the interests of her son who claimed the throne through her. She embroiled herself in both treason and conspiracy as she sought to promote his claims, allying herself with the Yorkist Queen, Elizabeth Woodville, in an attempt to depose Richard III. She was imprisoned by Richard and her lands confiscated, but she continued to work on her son's behalf, ultimately persuading her fourth husband, the powerful Lord Stanley, to abandon the king in favour of Henry on the eve of the decisive Battle of Bosworth. It was Lord Stanley himself who placed the crown on Henry's head on the battlefield. Henry VII gave his mother unparalleled prominence during his reign. She established herself as an independent woman and ended her life as regent of England, ruling on behalf of her seventeen-year-old grandson, Henry VIII.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Margaret Beaufort

The thing I appreciate most about this book is that Norton doesn't try to recreate Margaret’s personality. She hints here and there but it is always based on Margaret’s own words or actions. For example, Norton covers the intense feelings Margaret had regarding the early marriage of her granddaughter but she doesn’t make assumptions about Margaret's emotions during her own early marriage to a man nearly twelve years her senior. It would be all too easy to say Margaret was a terrified bride, widow and mother by age thirteen but Norton resists temptation, restricting herself to the available facts and allowing the reader to come to their own conclusions. It is a style I personally appreciate as I like forming my own opinions rather than being told what to think, especially when it comes to nonfiction.

Factually this is a wonderful biography of Margaret Beaufort but it is a tough book to read. The spelling reverts to old English at random. Now I’m reasonably proficient in old English but I found myself stumbling more often than I care to admit. More than that, I found the formatting of the book difficult to absorb. Norton frequently starts a paragraph but follows her thoughts through years ahead of where she started only to backtrack again with the next paragraph. Again, I love that amount of information Norton compiled here but all the same, I found it hard to follow.

By and large I have few criticisms of the book beyond what I've already mentioned. Norton's work is wonderfully detailed in so much as the surviving records allow. Fact heavy but well researched. Recommended to fans of Elizabeth and Mary: Cousins, Rivals, Queens by Jane Dunn.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Fortune's Wheel was both kind and sometimes unkind to Margaret: the daughter of a probable suicide, the greatest heiress in England, divorced at ten, married to the King's half-brother at twelve, a widow at thirteen, a mother at thirteen, twice more a widow, a plotter, a prisoner, the mother of the king, most of all, Margaret Beaufort can be remembered as the mother of the great Tudor dynasty.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════ 

#BookReview: The Last Letters of Thomas More by Thomas More, Introduction by Alvaro De Silva

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

Written from the Tower of London, these letters of Thomas More still speak powerfully today. The story of Thomas More, recently told in Peter Ackroyd's bestselling biography, is well known. In the spring of 1534, Thomas More was taken to the Tower of London, and after fourteen months in prison, the brilliant author of Utopia, friend of Erasmus and the humanities, and former Lord Chancellor of England was beheaded on Tower Hill. Yet More wrote some of his best works as a prisoner, including a set of historically and religiously important letters. The Last Letters of Thomas More is a superb new edition of More's prison correspondence, introduced and fully annotated for contemporary readers by Alvaro de Silva. Based on the critical edition of More's correspondence, this volume begins with letters penned by More to Cromwell and Henry VIII in February 1534 and ends with More's last words to his daughter, Margaret Roper, on the eve of his execution. More writes on a host of topics—prayer and penance, the right use of riches and power, the joys of heaven, psychological depression and suicidal temptations, the moral compromises of those who imprisoned him, and much more. This volume not only records the clarity of More's conscience and his readiness to die for the integrity of his religious faith, but it also throws light on the literary works that More wrote during the same period and on the religious and political conditions of Tudor England.

#BookReview: The Log-Cabin Lady by Anonymous

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

The Log Cabin Lady is the autobiography of a woman who leaves behind a simple life as a pioneer to enter the privileged and alien world of the rich. Feeling isolated and out of place, she struggles to learn the rules and etiquette that her in-laws expect her to follow. To make matters worse, her husband is posted to England and the Log Cabin Lady finds herself grappling with the quirks of British manners and royal protocol. And then come the horrors of the Great War and, through the eyes of the Log Cabin Lady, we watch as the world begins to change. This is a story about overcoming social barriers, developing self-confidence and holding on to the beliefs and values that make us who we are. Written in 1922, this anonymous autobiography spans the period from around 1880 (when the author was aged about three) on to 1897 and being presented at court to Queen Victoria in her diamond jubilee year, through to the long years of the Great War and its aftermath.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════
Rating: ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆   |   Obtained from: Personal Kindle Library   |   Read: September 5, 2011
═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════

The writing itself is repetitive and erratic, altogether amateurish but there is much value in the content. The Log Cabin Lady is the intriguing memoir of a woman who witnessed the dawn of the 20^th century. The author, an anonymous society wife, relates her personal history from her humble upbringing to the conflict of 1914. The book leaves much to be desired but offers fascinating insight to the ideas and concerns of a woman who grew up before the suffrage movement as well as the fierce pride the author had for America and her people.

═══════════════════════════ ❧  ═══════════════════════════