Customer Reviews:
We need more like him today........2007-07-03
This book is about the author of the "Long Telegram" in his own words. He helped lay the foundation for the Cold War that was eventually successful.
For people who think Reagan won the Cold War, don't forget people like Kennan.
We need more people like him in the diplomatic corps today.
A must-read for anyone involved in foreign affairs.......2004-01-25
In a very different period of time, I have travelled to (or lived in) almost all the places described in these memoirs. Furthermore, I have confronted - a generation or so removed - many similar anecdotes, characters and bureaucratic missteps. This book has a ring of authenticity that is striking. It describes the ordinary and then shifts smoothly to the momentous. I have not found anything else quite like it. (Leigh White's 'The Long Balkan Night' has this similar feature, but it's the story of a journalist).
With all of that said, I was nonetheless struck by Kennan's essential desire to survive by avoiding any personal risk. He was a successful bureaucrat. During his life, he derived his status entirely from his position, or membership in an organization, and not from any personal endeavour.
How many today would naively do as Kennan and, during a whole career, derive status from membership? There are too many other things on offer. And the bureaucracy now is, well, too bureaucratic. Thank God.
kennan's filth.......2003-11-04
His writing lacks coherency and he seems as though he genuinely has no knowledge of the subject, a thoroughly challenging book with no discernable benefit. The conclusion is inadequate and unjust, perhaps he should learn the facts first.
Historically Significant and Equally Sensitive - Rare Combo.......2001-03-12
It is extremely rare that the memoirs of someone who played a truly significant role in his country's history are also beautifully and sensitively written. They candidly reveal the shy and introspective man who also happen to have been a critical player in the U.S. relationship with the Soviet Union from the 1940s through the 1980s (from the late 1920s thorugh the 1950s in his governmental role and as historian and critic since then). Kennan is candid, brilliant, critical, and happens to have a wonderful writing style. This is personal history at its best. If you've read this one (which won the Pulitzer Prize), be sure to read the sequel.
A Fascinating Life, a Penetrating Look.......2000-12-28
"Experience had convinced us that far more could be learned by careful, scholarly analysis of information legitimately available concerning any great nation than by the fanciest arrangements of clandestine intelligence."(p48)
"In the face of this knowledge, [of the inevitable Russion domination of Poland] I could only feel that there was something frivolous about our whole action in this Polish question. I reflected on the lightheartedness with which great powers offer advice to smaller ones in matters affecting the vital interests of the latter. I was sorry to find myself, for the moment, a part of this. And I wished that instead of mumbling words of official optimism we had had the judgment and the good taste to bow our heads in silence before the tragedy of a people who have been our allies, whom we have helped to save from our enemies, and whom we cannot save from our friends."(pp209/10)
"The strength of the Kremlin lies largely in the fact that it knows how to wait. But the strength of the Russian people lies in the fact that they know how to wait longer."(p511)
[On the German war crime trials] "I have already mentioned my aversion to our proceeding jointly with the Russians in matters of this nature. I should not like to be misunderstood on this subject. The crimes of the Nazi leaders were immeasurable. These men had placed themselves in a position where a further personal existence on this earth could have had no positive meaning for them or for anyone else. I personally considered that it would have been best if the Allied commanders had had standing instructions that if any of these men fell into the hands of Allied forces they should, once their identity had been established beyond doubt, be executed forthwith.
"But to hold these Nazi leader for public trial was another matter. This procedure could not expiate or undo the crimes they had committed. It could have been justified only as a means for conveying to the world public the repudiation, by the conscience of those peoples and governments conducting the trial, of mass crimes of every sort. To admit to such a procedure a Soviet judge as the representative of a regime which had on its conscience not only the vast cruelties of the Russian Revolution,of collectivization, and of the Russian purges of the 1930s, as well as the manifold brutalities and atrocities perpetrated against the Poles and the peoples of the Baltic countries during the wartime period, was to make a mockery of the only purpose the trials could conceivably serve, and to assume, by association, a share of the responsibility for these Stalinist crimes themselves."(pp260/1)
This is a great book. It shows the progress of a fine mind possessed of a practical scholarship and a moral voice in what were often excrutiatingly ambiguous circumstances.
Kennan was in Moscow in 1935 when Stalin began the purges; he was in Prague in 1938 when Germany invaded the Sudetenland; he was in Berlin when Germany declared war on the U.S.; he was the chief architect of the Marshall plan. Of course, he is associated with our Cold War policy of "containment" of the Soviet Union, an association that he regrets, since very little of it reflects his thinking. The book is a fascinating look at modern power politics from a bemused, but acute, inside observer.
Average customer rating:
- Doesn't deliver what it promises
- "Magnum Opus"?
- Simply the Best
- Fantastic tale!
- Unseemly Questions
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Creation
Gore Vidal
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ASIN: 0394500156
Release Date: 1981-02-12 |
Amazon.com
In 445 B.C., Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, is the Persian ambassador to the city of Athens. He has a rather caustic appreciation of his situation: "I am blind. But I am not deaf. Because of the incompleteness of my misfortune, I was obliged yesterday to listen for nearly six hours to a self-styled historian whose account of what the Athenians like to call 'the Persian Wars' was nonsense of a sort that were I less old and more privileged, I would have risen to my seat at the Odeon and scandalized all Athens by answering him." Having thus dismissed Herodotus, Cyrus then dictates his life story to his nephew, Democritus, with similar disdain for the Greeks--whom we in the modern world have come to view as the progenitors of civilization, but whom Cyrus considers to be bad-smelling rabble.
Of course, Cyrus Spitama speaks with a very modern, ironic voice supplied to him by Gore Vidal--and the political intrigues in which Cyrus finds himself immersed are likewise familiar territory for fans of Vidal's historical fiction. But the narrator's delightfully wicked observations are the icing on a narrative of truly epic scope--out of his desire to understand the origins of the world, Cyrus undertakes journeys to India, where he encounters disciples of the Buddha, and China, where he engages Confucius in philosophical conversation while the great sage fishes by the riverside. Creation offers insights into classical history laced with scintillating wit and narrative brio.
Book Description
Once again the incomparable Gore Vidal interprets and animates history -- this time in a panoramic tour of the 5th century B.C. -- and embellishes it with his own ironic humor, brilliant insights, and piercing observations. We meet a vast array of historical figures in a staggering novel of love, war, philosophy, and adventure . . .
"There isn't a page of CREATION that doesn't inform and very few pages that do not delight."
-- John Leonard, The New York Times
Customer Reviews:
Doesn't deliver what it promises.......2007-09-23
You don't like a novel written by a legend and immediately, you feel guilty, even stupid. It's like standing in front of a very expensive painting of what looks like vomit marks on a canvas, and the "art critic" next to you lectures you on the deep meaning behind such a fantastic artwork.
Not that this book is a literal comparison here, but I found it a labor to read. Worse, the promise of the book was a fantasy "as if" look at what would happen if all the ideas of the axial age had somehow merged, or at least crossed paths. For years I've thought this an excellent concept for a book, and was delighted when I discovered that somebody had written one. This book is a waste of a fantastic concept. Totally undeveloped. The hero simply meets folks like Confucius and Buddha and basically says hello and goodbye. Not to say the book isn't interesting, just too long. By half.
"Magnum Opus"?.......2007-07-27
While reading "Creation" by Gore Vidal, I kept imagining that the main character, Cyrus Spitama, was a representation of Vidal himself. There are several parallels that lead me to this conclusion. First, Cyrus is from an important family, and so is Vidal. Second, Cyrus is closely connected to political events around him; so is Vidal. In any case, in my opinion, I feel Cyrus Spitama is Vidal. I enjoyed this novel, probably because ancient history and philisophy are two of my main interests, and a novel, well-written and interesting on top of it, combining these two interests would surely rank high on my charts, and it does. The protagonist in the story, this Cyrus Spitama, the grandson of the religious leader Zoroaster, gets involved with different political assignments throughout the ancient world, including Greece, Persia, India, and ancient China. While on these assignments, Cyrus gets in touch in various ways with the land's resident philisophers, be it Buddha or Confucius and so forth. Cyrus is on a quest to find the meaning of "Creation", or the meaning of it all. It's unclear whether or not he finds such meaning, but by the end of the novel I feel that Vidal wants to strike a balance between endless philisophical searching and involvement in the world around us; for example, politics. This idea has it's voice in the character of Confucius, who, in the novel, is portrayed both as a philisopher and a political tinkerer. I believe that Vidal has more sympathy for the ideas and behavior of Confucius than, for example, the Buddha, who is seen in the book as a lazy bum who doesn't want to do anything productive with his time. Some of the events of ancient Greek history are seen from a "behind the scenes" viewpoint, and this is important because Vidal is known for criticizing "official" views of history. Admirers of Vidal's work will find the standard wit and cynicism laced throughout the text. Overall, this is an interesting novel and well worth the time to read it.
Simply the Best.......2007-04-15
This is the best historical fiction novel written by one of the best historical novelists ever.
Fantastic tale!.......2007-03-20
Incredibly, it took me three tries to finish the book. The first two times I put it down because it talked at length about Greek politics and it was a bit boring. However, I am glad I got to finish it. The story portrayed in Vidals' book is Cyrus Spitama's and his travels during what Jaspers called the Axial Age. Spitama, the grandson of the prophet Zoroaster, is imagined to travel to India and to China, where he met with the most prominent religious figures of his day, namely:
Makkhali Gosala (p. 204-07). This thinker parted company with Mahavira. He believed that everyone begins as an atom and has to go through 84,000 rebirths. Only then is the monad finally blown out. Everybody must endure the entire cycle from beginning to end. There is no way out. Nobody can help one escape the cycle.
Mahavira (p. 219-23). He achieved "kevala". He was the 24th Tirtankara ("Crossing-maker"), founder of the Jains. He upheld an atomistic view of life. He believed in the need to extinguish karma by refraining from actions (including good ones).
King Bimbisara
Buddha (p. 330-36) and his disciples Sariputta and Ananda. See Buddha's rebuttal of God's existence in pp. 624-25. Spitama says: "The absence of deity, of origin and of terminus, of good in conflict with evil...the absence of purpose, finally, makes the Buddha's truths too strange for me to accept." And again: "It is astonishing to think that millions of people actually think that at a given moment in history, two human beings [Buddha and Mahavira] had evolved to a higher state than that of all the gods that ever were or ever will be. This is titanism. This is madness." (p. 300)
Lieh-Tzu (p. 489-96)
Confucius (p. 549- 57)Spitama cites his views in detail (p. 672-73)
Democritus' views (p.701)
Unseemly Questions.......2007-02-23
If X Created Us, Then Who Created X? And other Unseemly Questions.
About 2,500 years ago, a blind old man remembers his adventurous life. He is half Persian, half Greek, and traveled all over the world known to his people. He's met every major thinker of his time and posed to them the same question--in effect the same question. In India, he sat with Buddha. In China, he fished and chatted with Confucius. He listened to their explanation for how we came to be and asked the next question: Who created that set up? His grandfather Zoroaster taught him about the Wise Lord, but as he comes to realize, not where the Wise Lord came from. Confucius is the only one with a coherent answer: there's no point in inquiring what we can't know, so let's instead focus on the here and now.
At one level, this is a philosophical treatise. But like all great books, it works on more than one level. So this is also a picaresque adventure story, told delightfully by the weary yet ever so witty old man, Cyrus Spitama. From the ghastly enamel makeup on a Persian great queen's face to the exotic foods sold in a Chinese market place, the details are marvelous. Several historical characters come to life, Persian emperor Xerxes among them. By the end, Xerxes no longer cares about Greece or China or India or even his own empire. He just wants to stay in his harem and drink. That's one response to the complexity of existence.
Fortunately, Spitama has a very different response. He explores and learns and then transmits his learning to his young nephew, Democritus--another historical character, the philosopher who originated the view that the world consists of atoms in constant motion. What would the fictional Spitama have thought of atoms? One suspects he would have been most curious. The book, a wonder of engaging narrative, raises tantalizing issues and really makes one think.
Average customer rating:
- Great information
- gbird and me: another legacy of annenberg will
- An outstanding book by a great author.
- An American 20th century story of the highest order
- An American epic that has it all
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Legacy: A Biography of Moses and Walter Annenberg
Christopher Ogden
Manufacturer: Little, Brown and Company
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The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable
ASIN: 0316633798 |
Amazon.com
Few biographers convey their subjects' business abilities and personalities with equal acuity, but Washington-based journalist Christopher Ogden has done just that in this accomplished portrait of Moses Annenberg (1877-1942) and his son, Walter. Depicting Prussian-born Moe's rise in American publishing, Ogden captures the innovative circulation gimmicks and bare-knuckled competitive tactics that fueled the success of newspapers like the The Inquirer in Philadelphia and the Daily Racing Form (the Annenbergs' cash cow). He also unsparingly but sympathetically depicts Moe's terrible temper and willed blindness to the shadiness of some of his business practices and associates, which led to a two-year jail stint for tax evasion before he came home to die. Spoiled only son Walter, born in 1908, didn't really grow up until his father's conviction shocked him into finally focusing on the family assets, which he further enhanced by creating such pioneering niche publications as Seventeen and TV Guide. Ogden nails Walter's complex character as well, doing particularly well in evaluating the younger Annenberg's famous philanthropy--partly the result of his mother's nurturing and partly a burning desire to justify his father's choices and remove any taint from his legacy. A pleasing combination of colorful history and moving father-son drama. --Wendy Smith
Book Description
Few biographers convey their subjects' business abilities and personalities with equal acuity, but Washington-based journalist Christopher Ogden has done just that in this accomplished portrait of Moses Annenberg (1877-1942) and his son, Walter. Depicting Prussian-born Moe's rise in American publishing, Ogden captures the innovative circulation gimmicks and bare-knuckled competitive tactics that fueled the success of newspapers like the The Inquirer in Philadelphia and the Daily Racing Form (the Annenbergs' cash cow). He also unsparingly but sympathetically depicts Moe's terrible temper and willed blindness to the shadiness of some of his business practices and associates, which led to a two-year jail stint for tax evasion before he came home to die. Spoiled only son Walter, born in 1908, didn't really grow up until his father's conviction shocked him into finally focusing on the family assets, which he further enhanced by creating such pioneering niche publications as Seventeen and TV Guide. Ogden nails Walter's complex character as well, doing particularly well in evaluating the younger Annenberg's famous philanthropy--partly the result of his mother's nurturing and partly a burning desire to justify his father's choices and remove any taint from his legacy. A pleasing combination of colorful history and moving father-son drama. --Wendy Smith
Customer Reviews:
Great information.......2005-07-08
Since James Annenberg Levee was my roommate and fraternity brother, I was curious about his famous family. The book is well researched, informative and readable. A great rags to riches saga.
gbird and me: another legacy of annenberg will.......2003-12-04
Legacy does an accurate job of portraying POP the way he wanted it and believe me, he certainly controlled the content. As one who is most familiar as an insider, I can say that his goal was to build the image of greatness. Yes, Pop, you were great and no matter what the cost. In the end you won. To the family, you know how he was. Gbird if you get this, im still here, faithful as ever, yet still controlled by old walter from the grave.
An outstanding book by a great author........1999-11-10
After having read Legacy I had all of my beliefs about the Great Walter Annenberg confirmed. This man is truely a great and magnanimous individual. His donations are really unprecedented and you could say he has done more for education than any other American. I truely love this man. As an alum of the Peddie school I was astounded by his massive gift in 1993 and I do hope his actions will inspire other alumni to make similiar or even larger gifts.
An American 20th century story of the highest order.......1999-08-17
In this engaging and wonderfully written biography, Ogden describes with consummate skill the origins, careers, hardships and accomplishments of two remarkable men, Walter Annenberg and his father, Moses. Facinating insights on business dealings (sometimes hardball), White House maneuverings (not always exemplary), politics, government, social discimination and class structure in America from the end of the 19th century to the present abound. The childhoods and early family environments of both Annenbergs (quite different for each) are well described. The complexity of the father/son relationship (partly due to very different temperaments) and its continuing influence long after Moses Annenberg's death in 1942 is especially poignant. One need not have a special interest in media empires to find this book engrossing; an interest in the capacity to endure, adapt creatively, and prevail in stunning and magnanimous fashion is quite sufficient. This is a distinctly American 20th century story of the highest order.
An American epic that has it all.......1999-06-29
Just finished Legacy after a whirlwind of reading. Couldn't put it down. Each chapter of this brilliant biography flowed into the next. Author Ogden has done a magnificent job of weaving this father/son story together, managing to illustrate much of the American century through their compelling (and inspring) tale. Reads like a great novel. I will be recommending Legacy to everyone I know.
Book Description
First posted to Moscow in 1962, Jack Matlock was America's man on the scene for most of the Cold War. Filled with portraits of the major players, including Gorbachev, Yeltsin, Reagan, and Bush, this dramatic, eyewitness account of those momentous years contains many new revelations and insights into the decisions of American policymakers. of photos.
Customer Reviews:
A highly readable account from an expert on the matter........1997-12-08
This "Account on the Collapse of the Soviet Union" may be the best book I have read about the demise of the Soviet Union - I personally prefer it over David Remnick's "Lenin's Tomb," which won the Pulitzer Price. For one thing I think Mr. Matlock is among the men best suited to write about the Soviet Union, since he has experienced it first-hand for over 30 years. Moreover, although he never denies that the book constitutes his personal account, he still manages to seperate the issues discussed from his own person, something that I found Remnick to have trouble with at times. His theories, although not necessarily earth-shattering, are backed up by oodles of evidence, be it data or just anecdotes. The summary and the description of the CIS states and the future of the Commonwealth also provide a glimpse into the future. All you ever wanted to know about the epochal events and influences shaping the former Soviet block today.
Average customer rating:
- Do note that Prince Bandar "cooperated" with his friend, the author, William Simpson.
- The Prince: The Secret Story of the World's Most Intriguing Royal, Prince Bandar bin Sultan
- FASCINATING
- A recommended pick for a wide range of collections, from college to general-interest public libraries.
- Public Myths, Private Realities
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The Prince: The Secret Story of the World's Most Intriguing Royal, Prince Bandar bin Sultan
William Simpson
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At the Center of the Storm: My Years at the CIA
ASIN: 0060899867
Release Date: 2006-10-17 |
Book Description
A riveting portrait of one of the most enigmatic yet influential powerbrokers in America–Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al–Saud, the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States from 1983–2005.
At a time when understanding our friends is as important as understanding our enemies, Prince Bandar bin Sultan remains one America's most enigmatic powerbrokers. As the illegitimate son of a Saudi prince and a servant girl, Prince Bandar overcame his unrecognized beginnings to rise as one of Saudi Arabia's brightest diplomatic stars, ultimately becoming the Ambassador to the United States–and one of the most influential men in Washington.
As Ambassador, Prince Bandar worked with CIA Director Bill Casey to fund covert CIA operations with Saudi petrodollars. He played a key role in the Iran–Contra affair; consulted with President Gorbachev to secure Soviet withdrawal from Afghanistan; negotiated an end to the Iran–Iraq war; and, with Nelson Mandela, resolved the Pan Am Flight 103/Lockerbie Affair. He served under four different American presidencies and was called "Washington's indispensible operator" by the New Yorker.
Yet Prince Bandar was more than this. His entre into Washington society and the Oval Office was unmatched. George H.W. Bush took the Prince and his family on fishing vacations; First Lady Reagan used him to convey messages to her husband's Cabinet; Colin Powell would drop by his house to play racquetball.
Customer Reviews:
Do note that Prince Bandar "cooperated" with his friend, the author, William Simpson........2007-06-09
Do not waste your money. This is an obvious PR effort and none of the recent news regarding the Prince shows up here - for obvious reasons.
The Prince: The Secret Story of the World's Most Intriguing Royal, Prince Bandar bin Sultan.......2007-04-13
Not that intriguing a character. The author is a very goooooooood friend of the subject and is obviously very bias.
FASCINATING.......2007-02-14
Definitely worth reading, I find it very interesting to read about a Saudi prince. Most people have no idea what a Saudi prince is all about and this is a way to find out.
A recommended pick for a wide range of collections, from college to general-interest public libraries........2007-02-08
THE PRINCE: THE SECRET STORY OF THE WORLD'S MOST INTRIGUING ROYAL PRINCE BANDAR BIN SULTAN might at first glance seem to be a special interest title - but it's actually much more. Any reader interested in Middle East issues should read THE PRINCE, as it surveys the life, political rise and richness of the Saudi Arabian prince who today is Ambassador to the U.S. His life reflects social and political changes in the country and his work has led him to play pivotal roles in emerging politics of the entire region, making THE PRINCE a recommended pick for a wide range of collections, from college to general-interest public libraries.
Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch
Public Myths, Private Realities.......2006-10-18
I have met Prince Bandar bin Sultan a number of times in the United States in my capacity as a money manager for extremely wealthy international families, and as a financial advisor to governments. I also lean towards political conservatism, although I am deeply disappointed at the extent to which corruption has become common in our government in the last decade or so. It use to under the table, now it's in our face.
William Simpson's book on Prince Bandar is requisite reading if Americans are to begin to understand Saudi Arabia. This is the critical country in the Middle East, and the world's dominant oil producer. Understand that Simpson the author is a personal friend of long-standing with Bandar, having attended together the Royal Air Force College in Cranwell, England many years ago. The Prince has publicly blessed this book. This tells you that this is an authorized biography, which means Bandar has edited every page. He's managing his image, and I must say quite well after reading it.
The problem I have with the book, but it must still be read, is that it is completely self-serving, and the author is in the Prince's pocket. This is not surprising; just about everyone in Washington was in the Prince's pocket. When you have a billion dollar personal fortune at your disposal plus the full financial backing of the world's most liquid country (both oil and greenbacks), who wouldn't want to be Prince Bandar. He's also got political access, and diplomatic immunity to boot.
The real question which is not answered by this book is to what extent did Bandar while the Saudi Arabian Ambassador to the United States from 1983 to 2005, use his money and his power to achieve the goals of his country to the detriment of ours. For the most part Bandar was exempt from the normal laws, and procedures that our own citizens must adhere to.
This man became close personal friends with several Presidents including the current President Bush. You may not remember this, but in the aftermath of the 9/11 tragedy, scores of Osama Bin Laden's relatives were still living in the United States. Many of them were students at different universities. Bandar arranged with President Bush for FBI controlled aircraft to pick up these family members, and whisk them immediately outside the United States to Saudi Arabia where they would be protected from our laws.
How startling is this when you think about it. This was the greatest loss of human life via an attack in our country's history, instigated by one man, Bin Laden, a Saudi by the way. The rest of us were stuck at airports throughout the United States for a week. The only non-military planes allowed to fly throughout the United States were planes being sent to pick up family members of the mass murderer so they could be flown out of the country. This shows you Prince Bandar's power, and he used that power for 22 years as he saw fit, for those he saw fit.
Bandar's money and fingerprints were all over the Iran-Contra scandal that could have conceivably brought down Ronald Reagan's Administration. It certainly tarnished Reagan's government, and ruined the last 2 years of his Presidency. You need to know about these events, and Bandar's connection to them. As citizens of the most important democracy in history, we need to know, and keep an eye on what our government is doing. Our founding fathers did not trust governments. Only an informed citizenry can guard our freedoms.
It has been said that POWER CORRUPTS, AND ABSOLUTE POWER CORRUPTS ABSOLUTEY. I believe this is true, and history demonstrates its veracity. Bandar is a man that has moved in very powerful circles. He was the ultimate power player displaying a persona based on public myth while the whole time operating under different private realities. There were only two people in the world that had power over this man who was the illegitimate son of Prince Sultan and a servant. The book talks about these two men in detail.
Bandar's father was the Saudi Arabian Defense Minister during the early 1960's. It was his grandmother who was the widow of King Abdulaziz that recognized the boy's talent. Bandar had a fabulous personality, truly charismatic. When he is in the room, you know someone special is around. It was this charisma that endeared him to King Fahd who controlled Saudi Arabia with an iron fist for decades.
King Fahd was his mentor, and Bandar wielded enormous influence over the King. After all, it was Bandar that lived overseas all those years doing the King's bidding, and in return influencing what that bidding might be by the advice he rendered to the King. There is no question I am told by people in a position to know that Bandar would use his influence on the King to say that he knew what each of our Presidents would do under certain situations. In return, Bandar would tell the President of our country, several Presidents in fact, that he knew what King Fahd would do. He was the ULTIMATE MIDDLEMAN.
This is why you must read this book. Even though it is self-serving, you can't help but get a feel as to who and what Bandar is. You also get a feel for Saudi Arabia, and the power game they play. Even though the Prince tries to limit the reader as to what he wants you to know about himself, and the game he played, the truth still comes out between the lines. This is why you have to spend the time to understand the Prince, and the culture he comes from. Saudi Arabia is a lifeline for us. Without their oil, the oxygen would be sucked right out of our economy.
You might be wondering how influential Bandar was through the years. Look at it this way. More than a generation ago, when Richard Nixon was trying to cover up the Watergate scandal, his aides told him it would take money. The President asked how much? He was told a million dollars in cash, the equivalent of $20 million today. Nixon replied on the tapes, "I know where I can get it." This was before the Saudi connection that is now firmly entrenched.
There are times when every President needs access to large sums of cash. Sometimes it is to bypass the necessity of reporting to Congress. Other times, it is convenience. Bandar always had that access. We will never know in the darkness of the night to what extent he used that access, and what we had to do in return. You have merely to judge the relationship of the United States to Saudi Arabia to figure it out for yourself.
Let me illustrate. A couple of years ago, I was in South Africa working on a project. I usually stay at a certain hotel, because it is secure. They know me, I am private, and we take care of each other. The entire hotel had been taken over by the Saudi entourage for a diplomatic celebration. I saw dozens of Saudis. Here is what was strange. They were wearing business suits, which as you know usually have an outside pocket on the left side of the jacket where some men would wear a handkerchief. Instead of the handkerchief, each of these dozens of Saudis had plastic envelopes, each one containing $10,000 in hundred dollar bills. Some of these people were walking around with five, six envelopes. Other individuals had suitcases full of plastic envelopes.
My associates at the hotel said they had brought tens of millions of dollars in American cash with them. I don't drink, but I do have meetings in bars, and restaurants. I prefer public locations for security reasons, especially in foreign countries. While in the bar, I ran into a group of 9, 10 Saudis celebrating. They started to take bottles of Cristal Champagne, shake them up and shoot them at one another at $350 per bottle. The bill 2 hours later was $40,000 without the tip. When you have that kind of cash, you can buy influence, and that is our problem in this country. The food in the bar was terrific by the way.
Bandar also wielded tremendous political influence. I was doing a study on North Korea years ago in reference to a geopolitical project I was involved in. President Bush announced the potential drawdown of our troop deployment in South Korea, which is 30,000 plus military personnel. All of our soldiers are within artillery range of North Korean armaments just across the border.
I could not understand how President Bush would have made such an announcement without exacting North Korean concessions in return. It then came to my attention that Bandar had talked Bush into it. How is it that the Saudi Arabian Prince could influence American foreign policy on the Korean Peninsula? It did not make sense, until an associate informed me of Bandar's logic. He told Bush the North Koreans were so unreliable politically that he could envision them launching an artillery attack.
If they did, we would have 15,000 dead Americans in hours. Wouldn't it be better Bandar told the President to reduce the American presence, so that if the North Koreans were foolish, you would have a local, regional conflict on your hands, and not a major war? Bush went for it; Bandar has INFLUENCE.
Read the book. It's a great read about a man of many faces. Word is that Bandar is now out of favor with the Saudi leadership, and that is why he is no longer Ambassador to the United States. The publicly stated reason for the change in ambassadorship was Bandar's health. Sure, do you think the Saudi weather is more conducive to his health than American sunshine? As time goes on, the truth will get out. It is also strange how oil prices have come down strongly off their previous peaks, coincident with a critical Congressional election in November. If I believed in co incidents, we could call this the SAUDI VOTE. The question is does it have Bandar's fingerprints on it?
Richard Stoyeck
Book Description
Craig Murray was the United Kingdom’s Ambassador to Uzbekistan until he was removed from his post in October 2004 after exposing appalling human rights abuses by the US-funded regime of President Islam Karimov. In this candid and at times shocking memoir, he lays bare the dark and dirty underside of the War on Terror.
In Uzbekistan, the land of Alexander the Great and Tamburlaine, lurks one of the most hideous tyrannies on earth – one founded on cotton slavery and brutal torture. As neighbouring 'liberated’ Afghanistan produces record levels of heroin, the Uzbek rulers cash in on massive trafficking. They are even involved in trafficking their own women to prostitution in the West. But this did not prevent Karimov being viewed as a key US ally in the War on Terror.
When Craig Murray arrived in Uzbekistan, he was a young Ambassador with a brilliant career and a taste for whisky and women. But after hearing accounts of dissident prisoners being boiled to death and innocent people being raped and murdered by agents of the state, he started to question both his role and that of his country in so-called 'democratising’ states.
When Murray decided to go public with his shocking findings, Washington and 10 Downing Street reached the conclusion that he had to go. But Uzbekistan had changed the high-living diplomat and there was no way he was going to go quietly.
Customer Reviews:
Buyer Beware.......2006-12-31
I note that the favorable reviews of this book, both on Amazon and on the book cover, seem to come from people already convinced that Murray is a victim and a hero and that Uzbekistan (and the United States) are evil.
I don't know whether what Murray alleges can be taken fully or partially at face value or should be rejected outright. I do think he has a point of view that should be heard. A few points for the debate, however:
1. This is a poorly, probably hastily written and edited book which is sloppy and contains internal inconsistencies.
In spite of the bad writing it is highly entertaining (and disturbing) to read.
2. This is clearly written to justify and promote the author--nothing wrong with that, especially if he his telling the truth. But it's worth keeping in mind that there are multiple points of view here
3. He is clearly very disingenuous about his motivation and the evolution of his thinking, even if the rest of his allegations are true: a close reading reveals a bias against both the Karimov regime and the US before he ever reached the country.
4. He has a deep-seated anti-Americanism that goes far beyond a normal European hatred of President Bush or doubt about the Iraq war--in fact, he criticizes the British government for standing firm with the USA after 9/11--on the grounds that the US did not enter WWII until it was attacked itself. This doesn't mean what he says is untrue--but it does suggest he had at least a strong point of view before the events in the book unfold.
5. At various times in the book he accuses the same US officials of a) being totally complicit with the Uzbek regime and b) being totally naive in believing that the regime was reforming. One of these allegations might be true. Both are highly unlikely.
6. While the allegations of the horrors of the Karimov regime ring true, his explanation of the campaign against him starts to wander into the real of highly implausible conspiracy theory: a phone call from the White House to London asking his removal sounds possible. A campaign by (who?) to set him up for the variety of allegations...a poisoning? If we were really all that bad, wouldn't it have just been easier to have him shot?
7. For a diplomat, Murray shows a surprisingly simplistic view of diplomatic policy and priorities. The air base the U.S. was using in Uzbekistan--which he argued was so vital that we were "backing" the regime--was subsequently abandoned, after Murray's time, with little or no consequence on the war on terror.
8. While his descriptions of his highly immoral personal behavior might serve to lend a further air of truth...the fact remains that he is a self-confessed serial adulterer and very heavy drinker. A man with a family who had a time consuming job but chose to spend his free time in strip clubs...none of this means he's lying...but it does, at least in my mind, make it plausible that he may not have totally come clean. He deceived his wife for decades, but he wouldn't deceive us?
Look, this is a fascinating story--I would just counsel that it be read with a healthy amount of skepticism given the source. And that the author not be awarded hero status just because of the enemies he picked...
The enemy of my enemy is my friend.......2006-07-13
Allegations of visas in exchange for sex against a British ambassador to some ex-Soviet republic; subsequently cleared on all counts but forced out nonetheless. Like many in Britain that was all that really remained in my memory of the lurid headlines and media reports of a year or so ago - and life carried on.
Anyone for whom that rings bells owes it to themselves to read this book, as does anyone wondering about the true nature of the West's so called 'War on Terror'. It is deeply disturbing on two levels:
1. It documents the appalling nature of the 20 year Uzbek Regime of Islam Karimov. A regime which spans the pre and post-to-date Soviet era. Not in some dry academic fashion either but through the exploits of the Ambassador who, at considerable risk to his own safety, intervened in numerous cases of offical brutality. The reader is left in no doubt that the Karimov regime of Uzbekistan is on a par with the very worst of the worlds self-serving and brutal dictatorships. It was during this period that controversy about US/UK willingness to 'make use of evidence obtained under torture' and US so called 'rendition flights' became public. The ambassador reported that any such 'evidence' from Uzbekistan was useless since the regime was simply in the business of forcing 'dissidents to confirm what the regime wanted the West to hear. His reports were unwelcome.
2. To have the true nature of one the then principal strategic allies in the West's 'War on Terror' exposed to scrutiny was judged by the Foreign Office top brass to be (euphemistically) 'counterproductive'. In spite of him having overwhelming support from human rights organisations and the Ex-Pat British business community, not to mention achieving more genuine influence with the Karimov regime than any of his predecessors, he had to be stopped. The methods employed to stop him were the inspiration of those headlines which hid a myriad of other kafkaesque stratagems . They bring shame on both the British government and the upper echelons of a politicised civil service which even now is doing all it can to prevent both the sale of this book and publication of documents which prove its authenticity.
A Diplomat Tells the Truth for His Country.......2006-07-11
Few of us have done battle with a murderous dictator. "Murder in Samarkand" tells how a British Ambassador did so and survived, only to be stabbed in the back by his own Prime Minister. Tony Blair ignored diplomatic advice if it complicated his relations with George W. Bush. How the British Foreign Office tried but failed to dismiss Ambassador Murray for invented disciplinary offences is an individual tale of injustice. However, the gripping core of this story is of a young and studious Ambassador driven to take absurd risks in remote parts of Uzbekistan as he builds up a dossier of incontrovertible brutalities by his host government. Those who try to obstruct him find this experienced and slightly overweight scholar is no patsy. He disputes the lies of petty bureaucrats. He storms into a corrupt procurator's office and dismisses him as a criminal - a risky way to use an Ambassador's "full and plenipotentiary" powers. But it works. The bully is exposed as a coward in front of those he has bullied. There is even a snow-shrouded chase with President Karimov's goons in pursuit - no wonder film rights are under discussion.
The shocking part of this story - narrated with skill and honesty - is that, at heart, much of the British Foreign Office valued Ambassador Murray's reporting from his Embassy in Tashkent. Dealing with human rights abuses is never easy. Murray knew his way around the policy heavyweights at home well enough to make sure that a controversial speech critical of Uzbekistan had support from the human rights desks. But when the White House complained to Tony Blair and he passed this down the line, spines crumpled - from Foreign Secretary Jack Straw down. This book shows how diplomats can bring shame or honor to their country. There is a simple lesson for Tony Blair (and George Bush) to learn. If you ask diplomats who are trained to report truthfully, to tell lies, the lasting problems will come from the ones who obey you, not the ones who stick to their professional calling.
Book Description
A man of impressive mental powers, of extraordinary intellectual range, and—last but not least—of exceptional integrity, George Frost Kennan (1904-2005) was an adviser to presidents and secretaries of state, with a decisive role in the history of this country (and of the entire world) for a few crucial years in the 1940s, after which he was made to retire; but then he became a scholar who wrote seventeen books, scores of essays and articles, and a Pulitzer Prize–winning memoir. He also wrote remarkable public lectures and many thousands of incisive letters, laying down his pen only in the hundredth year of his life.
Having risen within the American Foreign Service and been posted to various European capitals, and twice to Moscow, Kennan was called back to Washington in 1946, where he helped to inspire the Truman Doctrine and draft the Marshall Plan. Among other things, he wrote the “X” or “Containment” article for which he became, and still is, world famous (an article which he regarded as not very important and liable to misreading). John Lukacs describes the development and the essence of Kennan’s thinking; the—perhaps unavoidable—misinterpretations of his advocacies; his self-imposed task as a leading realist critic during the Cold War; and the importance of his work as a historian during the second half of his long life.
Customer Reviews:
Good Introduction to Keenan.......2007-09-20
Lukacs' George Kennan is purpouted to be about the character of the man but rather serves as a very short biography of the man that ensured the defeat of the Soviet Union then any other American president. Many years after Keenan hammered out his containment philosophy, he remained convinced that the essential problem regarding Russia was not communism but instead was the paranoid nature of the Russian state. Look no farther then the so-called head of the Russian Republic now. Unlike, our current administration appointments, George Kennan was curious about the rest of the world and before he wrote anything down contemplated for every eventuality. That Lukacs knew Keenan is the ultimate flaw in the book, because there are several points where the author veers into untrammeled hagiography. But overall, a good introduction to Keenan and the tremendous impact he had on the world.
An admiring overview of a remarkable life.......2007-07-07
Lukacs views this as a study of a man's character, but it's really more of an overview of Kennan's life. It probably will have limited appeal to people who have read a lot of Kennan's work, particularly his books and collection. It is probably better for someone like me who is familiar with his famous work on "containment" and has read some of Kennan's more recent magazine pieces in the New Yorker and elsewhere. Kennan had a remarkable career that straddled academia and government and his mastery of Russian and German allowed him to get beyond the usual sources of information that fed Cold War debates. He was truly a man of the 20th century who was engaged in the world from the time shortly after WWI through the end of the Cold War.
Lukacs provides the broad outlines of Kennan's life and what he felt to be Kennan's most important books. In that respect, he has written a biography that is likely to stimulate interest in Kennan's longer works, particular those from the middle Cold War era. Lukacs never really describes his relationship to Kennan, although it is clear that they were friends and collegial with respect to topics such as foreign affairs. It may be that this was written too close to Kennan's recent death to provide the distance necessary to fully consider another person's life.
As a character study, the book falls somewhat short and misses obvious connections between experiences and points of view. There is a short description of Kennan's religious journey (from a Presbyterian upbringing to an vaguely described flirtation with Catholicisim and finally adoption of Episcopalianism) without recognizing the essential Calvinism in Kennan's lifelong world view. Kennan was clearly an enthusiast of bourgeois values, in the traditional sense and sympathetic to rather authoritarian, despotic government. He advocated a kind of government by "wise men" that certainly suggests a belief in "a predetermined elect". Ironically, he had the opportunity to see how policy by wise men could be undermined by broad political currents (the Truman years) or could bring about disastrous policies (the JFK years). Lukacs wonders how Kennan would have viewed this philosophy in light of our current government by "wise men" most of whom have come from the conservative "think tank" world, something that Kennan probably would have viewed as an a oxymoron. Kennan's view of the world comes off as lacking holism in important areas. While recognizing that past behavior is the best predictor of future behavior, even at a political/social level, Kennan seems to have minimized the dynamic nature of societies and the inevitable presence of internal and external forces which propel societies in new directions. Rather he is a humanist of the old school and conservative in the sense of being skeptical of "progress" and intervention. In many cases he proved prescient, as in Vietnam and the execution of the Cold War, but in others such as the rise of fascism, his cautious view of the world was inadequate.
Kennan lived a remarkable life and was able to see a much of the world and play a part in US foreign policy at key points in our recent history. He was a true scholar and one unmoved by constraining or trendy paradigms. His status as an outsider and a public intellectual probably lessened his academic prestige, but his depth and insight make him someone worth revisiting and reading further. As a character study, this book has serious analytic shortcomings. As an affectionate brief biography, it works better and it should stimulate more interest in the life and work of this remarkable man.
Worth reading.......2007-06-13
I knew almost nothing about Kennan before I read this book, but Lukacs got me interested in learning more about Kennan and reading Kennan's books. This is by no means a balanced, objective, or scholarly work - Lukacs very obviously admires Kennan and makes no attempt to hide this. If you want a scholarly analysis of Kennan's life, work, or legacy, this book is not for you. But if you want to read a mostly well-written and interesting biography of a rather major American figure, I recommend it.
Eulogy.......2007-04-22
A close friend looks back with respect and fondness over the long span of the intellectual life of Mr. Kennan, one of our nation's most distinguished diplomats and foreign policy experts. Important insights into the grand history of the Cold War are presented in this short volume. But this, as the author repeatedly states, is in no way a full biography.
A rare (but mild) criticism is expressed by Professor Lukas of Mr. Kennan's written evaluation of a German leader: "...Kennan's admiration for Bismark is unstinting. He esteems and defends the German chancellor throughout." (p. 171) This can be as well said of this book's near deification of George Kennan.
While I admire Professor Lukas' previous work, I do think he is too blindingly close to his subject for objectivity. My case for this view is made when Professor Lukas closes by linking the greatness of this American life, by a direct allusion, to that of Abraham Lincoln's: "Now he belongs to the ages."
Book Description
Swanee Hunt’s life has lived up to her Texas-size childhood. Daughter of legendary oil magnate H. L. Hunt, she grew up in a household dominated by an arch-conservative patriarch who spawned a brood of colorful offspring. Her family was nothing if not zealous, and that zeal—albeit for more compassionate causes—propelled her into a mission that reaches around the world.
Half-Life of a Zealot tells how the girl who spoke against “Reds” alongside her father became a fierce advocate for progressive change in America and abroad, an innovative philanthropist, and Bill Clinton’s Ambassador to Austria. In captivating prose, Hunt describes the warmth and wear of Southern Baptist culture, which instilled in her a calling to help those who are vulnerable. The reader is drawn into her full-throttle professional life as it competes with critical family needs.
Hunt gives a remarkably frank account of her triumphs and shortcomings; her sorrows, including a miscarriage and the failure of a marriage; the joys and struggles of her second marriage; and her angst over the life-threatening illness of one of her three children. She is candid about the opportunities her fortune has created, as well as the challenge of life as an heiress.
Much of Swanee Hunt’s professional life is devoted to expanding women’s roles in making and shaping public policy. She is the founding director of Harvard’s Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School of Government, chair of the Initiative for Inclusive Security, and president of the Hunt Alternatives Fund.
Swanee Hunt’s autobiography brims over with strong women: her mother, whose religious faith and optimism were an inspiration; her daughter, who fights the social stigma of mental disorders; the women of war-torn Bosnia, who transformed their grief into action; and friends like Hillary Clinton, who used her position as First Lady to strengthen the voices of others.
Hunt is one more strong woman. Half-Life of a Zealot is her story—so far.
Customer Reviews:
A candid rendition of a zelots' life.......2007-09-03
I am just one-half way through this book but must say, at this point, it is probably one of the "best" books I have ever encountered. The factors contributing to this assessment are readibility, candor, lessons learned that I might use, subject matter and on and on. The author has led an unusual life, not just because she could because of her fortune and fame,but equally because she had the drive and desire to explore, explore and explore so many untested avenues and, in doing so, strengthened her own confidence in pushing even further. At one point she said that she was determined to take on one new challenge every year. She tends to defy the odds--pervailing all along. She climbed in Nepal, ran a marathon while not really in great shape, overcame her fears regarding being in leadership positions, etc., etc. To this point, her life gives me an inspiration that I have not gained from any other reading. I can't recommend it enough. I anticipate reading the section dealing with her diplomatic career. I was at the high end of my mid level employement at the State Department during that period. I am curious to see how we agree, or not, with situations at that time.
One of the Most Revealing Autobiographies You Will Ever Read.......2007-01-06
"Swanee Hunt has taken a phenomenal journey through life and written all about it in her new book and autobiography called 'Half-Life of a Zealot.' I found this book one of the most revealing autobiographies I have ever read. It takes an incredible amount of courage to strip herself bare the way she did so much of the time in this book, and I value that because I really felt I had an opportunity to get to know her. It was not just some kind of political exercise and that's rare -- particularly in politics." -- Barry Gordon on the progressive talk radio show "Barry Gordon From Left Field" (for which I am the producer)
Fabulous book!.......2007-01-03
I thoroughly enjoyed this book and can't rave enough about it! Swanee, through her life's work, is an incredible inspiration.
Loung Ung.......2006-12-12
Half-Life of a Zealot is a remarkable book, and Swanee Hunt is a remarkable person. In her introduction, the author quotes Jill Ker Conway who wrote: "The woman autobiographer...cannot depart too dramatically from popularly accepted stereotypes, which affirm the man of action and the suffering or redemptive female. To do so is to risk losing persuasive power." A statement Ms. Hunt agrees with, but; she writes, "rather than feel reluctant about showing my vulnerability, I've wondered if it's safe to show strength." In those two sentences, Ms. Hunt beautifully sets the book's tone of the dualities of her life, one that was lived in isolation, and the other in public; one where love was given freely by her gentle mother, the other often held at bay by her powerful, famous father. With razor sharp intellect, openness, and candor, Ms. Hunt weaves her many lives as politician, daughter, sister, wife, mother, and peace maker into a wonderfully complex tapestry that pulls readers in deeper with each flip of the page. For even with her family's enormous wealth, Half-Life is a universal tale of a child's longings for family, love, and acceptance; and a triumphant story of a woman who grew into her own power and self-worth. Written in a casual and easy to read narrative, Half-Life is filled with unforgettable characters, fascinating events, and enough twists and turns that both mend and break the hearts to make it an engaging read.
The Remarkable Life of an Extraordinary Woman.......2006-11-27
Every person has multiple life themes, but few have so many, in such extreme form, so publicly exposed, and over time so effectively integrated into a life of service and beauty; fewer still are able to tell their story with such candor, vulnerability, generosity and hope.
The externals of Swanee Hunt's life are worthy topics for a library of works: growing up in a family which merged great wealth, religious conservatism, and anti-communist fervor; finding her own gifts as a theologian, composer, philanthropist, civic leader, author and diplomat; learning to trust her instincts and voice to shape a life of radical compassion; engaging the full range of her gifts and resources to lift up the needs and tremendous capabilities of women throughout the world. These stories are well-told and compelling and would be an exceptional work if they were told in the third person.
But this book is at its core the story of one woman's life journey as she has come to terms with those externals and with the joys and challenges of her own complex inner life, with family relations and responsibilities, with her loneliness and love, and with a deep awareness of her own strengths and searching. By revealing the inner and outer complexities of her life so boldly and honestly, Ambassador Hunt has created a work which will resonate deeply in the lives of many others.
I believe this work will have a lasting value, as the expression of a remarkable life, and as a witness and invitation to all who read it to live with similar passion and intentionality for a better world. By sharing her life, Swanee Hunt has helped blaze a pathway for countless other women and men. We can be very grateful for her wisdom and courage.
Book Description
She was the most famous woman in England–the beautiful model for society painters Joshua Reynolds and George Romney, an icon of fashion, the wife of an ambassador, and the mistress of naval hero Horatio Nelson. But Emma Hamilton had been born to the poverty of a coal-mining town and spent her teenage years working as a prostitute. From the brothels of London to the glittering court of Naples and the pretentious country estate of the most powerful admiral in England, British debut historian Kate Williams captures the life of Emma Hamilton with all its glamour and heartbreak.
In lucid, engaging prose, Williams brings to life a complex and intelligent woman. Emma is sensuous, generous, artistic, at once shamelessly seductive and recklessly ambitious. Willing to do anything for love and fame, she sets out to make herself a star–and she succeeds beyond even her wildest dreams. By the age of twenty-six, she leaves behind the precarious life of a courtesan to become Lady Hamilton, wife of Sir William Hamilton–the aging, besotted, and probably impotent British ambassador to the court of Naples.
But everything changes when Lord Nelson steams into Naples harbor fresh from his triumph at the Battle of the Nile and literally falls into Emma’s adoring arms. Their all-consuming romance–conducted amid the bloody tumult of the Napoleonic Wars–makes Emma an international celebrity, especially when she returns to England pregnant with Nelson’s baby.
With a novelist’s flair and an historian’s eye for detail, Williams conjures up the world that Emma Hamilton conquered by the sheer force of her charisma. All but inventing the art of publicity, Emma turned herself into a kind of flesh-and-blood goddess–celebrated by wits and artists, adored by thousands, and, for a time, very rich. Yet Emma was willing to throw it all away for the man she adored.
After four years of archival research and making use of hundreds of previously undiscovered letters and documents, Kate Williams sets the record straight on one of the most fascinating and ravishing women in history. England’s Mistress captures the relentless drive, the innovative style, and the burning passion of a true heroine.
Customer Reviews:
What a woman!.......2007-08-22
I must say at once that I'm very impressed with Kate William's writing. She writes in a modern style but with no discordant notes to take away from the period to which she is transporting the reader. Emma was born to an impoverished family in England in 1765. After a hard battle just to survive as a child, she spent a short stint as a domestic before following her natural bent as a theatrical, eventually ending for a short period, as a "woman of ill-fame". She then was taken up by dissolute aristocrat, Charles Greville, who used her casually and tried to pass her off to one of his relatives when she became pregnant. Luckily for Emma, the relative was Sir William Hamilton, a rich diplomat in his late sixties who lived in Naples and who, recognising her theatrical talents, honed her dancing and singing skills with excellent teachers so that she soon became a favourite at the Court of the King and Queen of Naples. Hamilton married her after a few years, much to the chagrin of his family who resented the potential loss of his fortune. Their marriage was a happy one, even though he was unable to give her a much wanted child, as she nursed him devotedly through bouts of ill health and generally made his life happy and contented. In 1793, the renowned Admiral of the British fleet, Horatio Nelson, sailed into the harbour at Naples and the rest is history. They fell passionately in love to such an extent that even Sir William bowed to the inevitable and, rather than lose Emma, agreed to live in a menage a trois and accept parentage of their daughter, Horatia. After Nelson's death, Emma's so-called friends who had been only too willing to accept her hospitality and generosity, now totally shunned her, leaving poor Emma ill, penniless and alone, to die in great pain in Calais. Like another reviewer, Michael Schuyler, this book left me feeling melancholic and very bitter towards grasping predators who use and abuse the famous and perhaps naive.
enjoyable .......2007-07-06
I saw the film "That Hamilton Woman" as a teenager, and was curious about the real Emma. After reading mixed reviews about previous biographical works on Emma, I decided to wait it out, and I'm glad that I did. This book is wonderful, and I think that many people of all ages and backgrounds can identify with Emma's plight. I agree with the previous review that mentions some of the maybes, what ifs, and other uncertainties that are discussed in the book, particularly with Emma's early life. That said, I think that the author tried to put Emma's life in a context, giving the reader a picture of what typical life was for someone in her circumstances. Many of the specifics of Emma's early life are long buried, it's nice to have a glimpse of what life in Hawarden was like for a working class family, etc.
This book is a wonderful read; I found myself fretting over her ordeals, because the book is written in a way that really connects with the reader. If you like historical biographies, you'll probably enjoy this one. I consumed both Marie Antoinette and Georgiana very quickly, and this one was no different!
Interesting!!!.......2007-04-18
I was looking forward to reading a life of Lady Hamilton. The work was relatively well done; I did have some problems with statements made in the opening chapters.
`Henry probably had to'. "... and like most men in Ness he drank and probably beat his wife." "It is possible that Henry killed himself in a fit of drunken despair."
Why speculate? No one knows how Henry died or what type of man he was so why engage in this conjecture? It takes away from the work.
Other characters revealed.......2007-03-06
There are several excellent reviews above. I shall not endeavor to repeat them. I just finished the book this morning, and I came away from it kind of melancholic. What a sad death for someone who had given so much to her country. She died an agonizing slow death at age 49 in France, of all places, ignored by the government, ignored by many of her so-called friends, and brutally ignored by Nelson's family. Nelson himself comes off not quite as heroic as his reputation would suggest and one obviously seeking glory and fame and Emma, for that matter, all for himself. His brother ignored the terms of his will and Emma as well, leaving her destitute, but with the facade of living well. Even her husband, Sir Hamilton, though he comes across as stoic and remarkably accepting of "the situation" between Emma and Nelson, lays the groundwork for her financial demise by claiming credit for the intelligence she provided to the British government. Everyone, it seems, was at her doorstep with their hands out, yet no one helped her when she needed it. I think she had some of her own issues. She wasn't terribly organized and was somewhat self-indulgent, but this was part of her overall charitable nature: She just couldn't say no, to herself or others. I've come away with a lot of respect for Emma Hamilton, and not much for anyone else who knew her, and even less respect for the press, which acted then as they do today, with no responsibility for what they say. An excellent read, (and good writing by Williams as well) even if it leaves you feeling a little bleak toward the end.
Emma Hamilton: The 18th Century British ~It Girl~.......2007-02-17
I agree...a very well written biography. A real-page turner if you are a fan of Emma Hamilton and/or late 18th century British history. Highly recommend this book.
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Sketches from a Life
Present at the Creation: My Years in the State Department
George F. Kennan and the Origins of Containment, 1944-1946: The Kennan-Lukacs Correspondence
American Diplomacy (Walgreen Foundation Lectures)
