Queen The Books

When an aging German banker is found, his body decapitated, hands severed, Lord Francis Powerscourt is called into action. Powerhouse has developed a reputation as an investigator but this case is bigger than anything he has tackled. A vast conspiracy to destroy the British Empire threatens England's place in the world. Germans and Irish republicans combine to threaten Queen Victoria--and the institutions that British power rests upon. Before his investigation is complete, Powerscourt will be shot at several times, develop interest in early arson research, and put his own wife at risk.

Author David Dickinson draws a convincing picture of Britain at the end of the 19th century. Victoria nears the end of her long reign and the entire Empire prepares to celebrate her jubilee. Yet already, Germany (still allied with Britain at this time) sees its place as the dominant nation of the world and views Britain as its primary threat.

Powerscourt makes a sympathetic protagonist. He is clever enough to make a difference, willing to throw himself into the investigation, and very much in love with his wife and family. Scenes where Powerscourt plays cricket or visits his tutor add depth to this interesting character. His curiosity about arson plays into the story and also shows the type of talent that makes Powerscourt an effective investigator.

Dickinson introduces enough subplots to keep up reader interest. Even minor characters such as Dominick Knox of the Irish Office tantilize the reader interest. Unlike GOOD NIGHT SWEET PRINCE, the earlier novel in this series, DEATH AND THE JUBILEE is conservative rather than questioning of authority. Both novels are definitely worth the read.

Okay I love English history and I thought this book did a thorough job on the kings and queens of England. HOWEVER I could detect more than a hint of chauvanism in the writing of it. For example the author speaks of Eleanor of Aquitaine in a rather derogatory way, ignoring her many accomplishments and just stating that "in her youth she was, at any rate, a lady of easy virtue." Where are the comments like that about the dozens of nympho kings Mr Williamson? In fact he then goes to state that Henry II (Eleanor's husband) committed numerous infidelities but "these were to be expected of a man with a wife much older than him." This may have been true in the 12th century but what writer would write that today? Mr Williamson this is now the 20th century. Women are not meek little creature to be kept at home looking after their men. Get with it.

This historical survey of the Queen Mother of Great Britain is intended as a tribute to her life as much as a biographical coverage, and covers her various challenges and contributions as the queen. Many full-page color photos accompany this survey of her life, making for a fine coffee table edition or as an anglophile keepsake.

What will become of humanity and its successors this century, over the current millennium and in the distant future (say 100,000 years or so)? Are we headed for extinction or is 'quality survival' possible or even likely? Are the prospects for quality survival something that we can influence and, if so, what are the priority issues on which to maintain a continuing focus in order to optimize our prospects?

Doug Cocks engages with these questions with obvious enthusiasm. His exploration is immensely wide-ranging and he brings together an extraordinary range of fact, theory and speculation in a way that is scholarly while remaining colloquial, and which carries the reader on a truly fascinating journey through - to quote one of the author's allegories - a series of dungeons in which Posterity finds herself having to slay a series of dragons, maturing and growing stronger as she succeeds in overcoming each more formidable dragon. Cocks' conclusions, at least about the possibility of long term quality survival, are modestly optimistic.

He uses a methodology that contains elements of scenario building and preferred futuring to explore these questions, basing his enquiry around four priority issues. The issues are:
* Nursing the world through endless change
* Raising the quality of social learning
* Confronting near-future threats and challenges
* Anticipating deep-future challenges.

These issues are selected as representative of the need to respond "collectively and selectively to an ever-changing set of priority issues, meaning those judged at the time to have a particular bearing on whether the lineage can achieve quality survival."

Both the content and the methodology will be of interest to anyone concerned with forward planning, as well as to the general reader.

Anyone interested in the long- and shorter- term future of humanity will find this book a fascinating and extraordinarily rich source of material and ideas. It is a tour de force to have been able to assemble and make sense of so much information while maintaining a simple, undogmatic and eminently readable narrative. If you want material on which to base conversation, speculation or analysis about our future, look no further!

James Stephens, author of "The Crock of Gold" and much else, was a master of Irish wit and English prose. This is never more in evidence than in his version of the famous tale of Deirdre and the Sons of Usnaig (various spellings). Unlike some of his fellow writers(Yeats, Joyce, Synge) he had a deep knowledge of the Irish language and the life of traditional country people; unlike others (O'Connor, O'Flaherty, Flann O'Brien) he had a deep and even romantic love of the epics of the Celtic Twilight.
Deirdre is the daughter of a king, and love for her nearly brings about the downfall of the kingdom. It is a magical story with little actual magic and no pookahs or leprechauns or magic crocks of gold-- but magic for all of that.
This book may be his most perfect work. It is a good and faithful telling of a famous tale, and such it is appropriate for 10 year olds who are good readers and love an old story, or for 90 year olds who once were 10 year olds who loved a good story.
It seems a shame that this book is not in every library in the country; thanks to Amazon, at least it can be in yours.

I was really glad to see someone write about Del Rio and was glad to see that sufficient research was done to give a fair and balanced review of the "life" of Del Rio! Of course, there were certainly surprises for me as I lived there in the 40s and 50s but totally enjoyed the work!!

Lalonde's book is an important analysis of the legal basis upon which the borders of new states following secession are determined. Following the fragmentation of Yugoslavia the principle of uti possidetis juris was used by the international community to decree that, in the context of secession from a federal state, exisiting internal borders of the seceding federal unit would be transformed into international borders. This represented an adaptation of the uti possidetis rule that was, at times, used in the context of decolonisation. Lalonde questions the validity of this adaptation from a legal perspective. In so doing she traces the history of the principle of uti possidetis from its Roman Law origins, through to its use in the decolonisation of Latin America in the nineteenth century and post Wolrd War II decolonisation, and on to its adaptation in the context of the former Yugoslavia. The final part of the book looks at the question of Quebec's international borders in the event of that province's secession from Canada.

This book is highly recommended.

Retrato de corte em Portugal: O legado de Antonio Moro (1552-1572)

Cultural links between Portugal and Italy in the Renaissance. (Reviews).: An article from: Renaissance Quarterly

Cultural Links Between Portugal and Italy in the Renaissance

Well. Here I am writing a review for another poetry book ranked vanishingly low in the Amazon sales ranks.

Too bad. Especially for such an unexpectedly good read.

Frederick Turner is a poet whom I've enjoyed particularly for his boldness in crossing boundaries of "genre" in his narrative poetry - he writes book-length SciFi epics in verse. The tricky bit, as you can imagine, is that very (very!) few readers of poetry would skance to glance at science fiction. Hence Turner's marvelous epics go hugely unread and vastly under-enjoyed.

William Heyen has taken a similar, anti-commercial path with this book. How many readers of poetry have had even the slightest interest in the pathetic, media-hyped fairyless-tale of Lady Di and the royals? Conversely, how many of those interested in the latter eagerly await the next issue from BOA Editions !? Like me, you probably could not help but have noticed the Di-Charles saga any more than you could have missed noticing the OJ chase. But certainly one wasn't going to expect serious poetry under such a guise!

Nevertheless, here it is: the royal duo refracted through a strange and fascinating prism. Somehow, Heyen pulls it off. I have no idea if any of the principals are actually the people portrayed here - but the latter are certainly more interesting human beings than those splattered around by the papparazzi.

Consider, for instance, how Heyen approaches the third of his trinity - the queen. She is mostly portrayed in his verse as the young proto-princess Lilibet. Somehow Heyen's approach to parsing elements of that little girl's transformation into the iconic royal visage we see waving her way through the crowds sets the stage for a closer sympathy for the more troubled pair at the heart of the story.

And story it is... Only poetry could jump and skip and fake and whirl to pull a selection of vignettes from those three lives that has a narrative pull but a human flow. In 300-odd double quatrains Heyen manages to tell a story that is steeped in the spans of time within which these royals exist but rich in a sense of their humanity.

Although Diana, the icon, gains some third dimensionality from the portrayal, it is Charles who grows out of the page the most. One would have had to live on another planet for the past two decades not to have absorbed an overall sense of the future king as, at best, a shallow character. Heyen will turn your view around.

Of course, as I mentioned above, none of the trio might actually have ever resembled the characterizations that Heyen weaves. And doubtless we all, in a thoughtful moment, had probably already given at least internal assent to the notion that there must be more to these people than meets the front page. Heyen's real accomplishment is in using a truly different form to twist the reader around to reconsider how real life is - even life lived among the unreal.

I bought this book for my 22-month-old daughter... after seeing it at her cousin's house. We are leaving for Disney this week and her cousin just got back and she used the book to collect autographs from the Disney Princesses. I thought what a great idea! The book is separated into 6 sections with Snow white, cinderella, belle, ariel, aurora, and jasmine. Each princess signed their respective pages! Then your Disney memories last forever! This book is durable and i love the handle so she can carry it around with her. I like having all the princess stories in one book. The pages are made like a board book so little ones don't tear the pages. The stories are short and to the point, because toddler's attention spans are short! Great book! Great gift!