Publication date: 2003-06-09
RRP: £14.99
Price: £2.97
Review Living History / Headline:As with most books written by politicians while in office (or at least aiming for one), Living History is, first and foremost, safe. There are interesting observations and anecdotes, the writing is engaging and there is enough inside scoop to appeal to those looking for a bit of gossip, but there are no bombshells here and it is doubtful the book will change many minds about this polarising figure. This does not mean the work is without merit, however, for Hillary Clinton has much to say about her experience as first lady, which is the primary focus of the book. Those interested in these experiences and her commentary on them will find the book worth reading; those looking for revelations will be disappointed. Beginning with a brief outline of her childhood, college years, introduction to politics and courtship with Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton covers a wide variety of topics: life on the campaign trail, her troubled tenure as leader of the President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform, meetings with foreign leaders and her work on human rights, to name a few. By necessity, she also addresses the various scandals that plagued the administration, from Travelgate to Whitewater to impeachment, though she does not go into great detail about each one; rather, she seems content to simply state her case and move on without trying to settle too many old scores. Along the way, she offers many apologies, though perhaps not the kind some would expect. She does not shy away from her "vast right-wing conspiracy" comment, for instance, though she does wish that she had expressed herself differently. Regarding the Monica Lewinsky scandal, she maintains that her husband initially lied to her, as he did the rest of the country, and did not come clean until two days prior to his grand jury testimony. Calling his betrayal "the most devastating, shocking and hurtful experience of my life", she explains what the aftermath was like personally and why she has elected to stand by her man. [+]In all, Living History is an informative book that goes a long way towards humanising one of the most recognisable and controversial women of our age. -Shawn Carkonen, Amazon. com As with most books written by politicians while in office (or at least aiming for one), Living History is, first and foremost, safe. There are interesting observations and anecdotes, the writing is engaging and there is enough inside scoop to appeal to those looking for a bit of gossip, but there are no bombshells here and it is doubtful the book will change many minds about this polarising figure. This does not mean the work is without merit, however, for Hillary Clinton has much to say about her experience as first lady, which is the primary focus of the book. Those interested in these experiences and her commentary on them will find the book worth reading; those looking for revelations will be disappointed. Beginning with a brief outline of her childhood, college years, introduction to politics and courtship with Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton covers a wide variety of topics: life on the campaign trail, her troubled tenure as leader of the President's Task Force on National Health Care Reform, meeting with foreign leaders and her work on human rights, to name a few. By necessity, she also addresses the various scandals that plagued the administration, from Travelgate to Whitewater to impeachment, though she does not go into great detail about each one; rather, she seems content to simply state her case and move on without trying to settle too many old scores. Along the way, she offers many apologies, though perhaps not the kind some would expect. She does not shy away from her "vast right-wing conspiracy" comment, for instance, though she does wish that she had expressed herself differently. Regarding the Monica Lewinsky scandal, she maintains that her husband initially lied to her, as he did the rest of the country, and did not come clean until two days prior to his grand jury testimony. Calling his betrayal "the most devastating, shocking and hurtful experience of my life", she explains what the aftermath was like personally and why she has elected to stand by her man. In all, Living History is an informative book that goes a long way towards humanising one of the most recognisable and controversial women of our age. -Shawn Carkonen This review refers to the print edition of this book.
Authors
- Imperial War Museum
- Max Arthur
- Carolyn Fry
Dewey code: 355
RRP: £10.99
Price: £6.08
Review Forgotten Voices of the Second World War: D-Day and Beyond (Forgotten Voices) / Random House Audiobooks:
Authors
- Joel Hurstfield
- A.G.R. Smith
RRP: £12.93
Price: £14.92
Review Elizabethan England / Sussex Publications:
Creator: Avril Clark
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1998-03
RRP: £28.95
Price: £28.95
Review Wood Smoke and Pigeon Pie: Complete & Unabridged (Reminiscence) / ISIS Audio Books:
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 1998-08-28
RRP: £9.50
Price: £11.49
Review The Pantry Under the Stairs / Living History, Leicester City Libraries, Leiceste:
Creator: Diana Bishop
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1998-03
RRP: £34.95
Price: £34.97
Review We Remember the Home Guard: Almost 100 Personal Stories: Complete & Unabridged (Reminisence) / ISIS Audio Books:
Publication date: 1999-01-06
Dewey code: 709
RRP: £9.99
Price: £9.99
Review Remembering Grandma Moses / Images from the Past,U.S.:
Creator: Martyn Read
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1999-05
Price: £16.95
Review Winston Churchill: Complete & Unabridged (Pocket Biographies) / ISIS Audio Books:
Creator: Malcolm Ruthven
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1993-07
Dewey code: 508
RRP: £37.95
Price: £29.96
Review Life on Earth: Complete & Unabridged / ISIS Audio Books:
Authors
- Sawyer Peter
- Peter Sawyer
- Frank Barlow
RRP: £12.93
Price: £11.89
Review Norman Conquest / Sussex Publications:
Creator: Bill Wallis
Publication date: 2004-01
RRP: £36.95
Price: £36.95
Review The War and Uncle Walter: The Diary of an Eccentric / Chivers Audio Books:
Authors
- Julie Thompson
- Brownie Macintosh
Edition: Pap/Cas
Publication date: 1999-12-09
Dewey code: 910.45
Price: £8.78
Review Pirate Story / Charlesbridge Publishing,U.S.:
Creator: Serena Gordon
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 1999-02-15
RRP: £10.99
Price: £9.95
Review Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox, 1750-1832 / HarperCollins Audio:Alive with the details of upper-class life in the 1700s, and sparkling with extracts from the letters of Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox and their offspring, Aristocrats: The Illustrated Companion to the Television Series takes the reader on a Grand Tour of their 18th-century experience. Stella Tillyard's completely new text (the series Aristocrats is based on her highly acclaimed book of the same name), breathes intelligence and accessibility. Divided into themed chapters: Beginnings and Marriages; Town Life; Country Life; Travel and Endings, Aristocrats is gorgeously illustrated with informatively captioned paintings, photos of artefacts and stills from the television series. Helpfully, the book kicks off with a Dramatis Personae section, which explains who everyone is, tells us how they relate to each other, what they were like and fits them snugly into their context like the elegant, idiosyncratic pieces of a lavish three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle. Throughout, Tillyard's affectionately vivid prose combines with the stunning illustrations to recreate the opulence in which the Lennox sisters lived, loved, married, took lovers, raised children, survived scandals, played at architecture and design, and lived high politics. A book which combines gossip, art and history to terrific effect. Buy it even if you've read Tillyard's original book. Actually-buy two copies. Keep one and give one to someone you love as a present. -Lisa Gee.
Creator: Nicolette McKenzie
Publication date: 2002-03
RRP: £47.95
Price: £49.94
Review The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa's Wildlife: Complete & Unabridged / Soundings:
Creator: William Hootkins
Edition: Abridged Ed
Publication date: 2000-05-02
Dewey code: 796
RRP: £10.99
Price: £4.99
Review In the Heart of the Sea: The Epic True Story That Inspired "Moby Dick" / HarperCollins Audio:The appeal of Dava Sobel's Longitude was that it illuminated a little-known piece of history through a series of captivating incidents and engaging personalities. Nathaniel Philbrick's In The Heart of the Sea certainly covers the same area, by examining the 19th-century Pacific whaling industry through the arc of the sinking of the whaleship Essex by a boisterous sperm whale. The story which inspired Herman Melville's classic, Moby Dick, has a lot going for it-derring-do, cannibalism, rescue-and Philbrick proves an amiable and well-informed narrator, providing both context and detail. We learn about the importance and mechanics of blubber production-a vital source of oil-and we get the nuts and bolts of harpooning and life onboard whalers. Neither are we spared the nitty gritty of the open boats and sucking human bones dry. By sticking to the tried and tested Longitude formula, Philbrick has missed a slight trick or two. The epicentre of the whaling industry was Nantucket, a small island off Cape Cod; most of the whales were in the Pacific, a huge journey around the southernmost tip of America. We never learn the reason for this distance and why no one ever tried to create an alternative whaling capital somewhere nearer. Similarly, Philbrick tells us that the story of the Essex was well known to Americans for decades but he never explores how such legends fade from our consciousness. Philbrick would no doubt reply that such questions were beyond his remit and you can't exactly accuse him of skimping on his research; 50 pages of footnotes is impressive by any standards and to give him his credit he wears his learning light. [+]Unlike many academics, he doesn't get bogged down in turgid detail and the narrative rattles along at a nice pace. And when the story line is as good as this, you can't really ask for more. -John Crace.
Creator: Martyn Read
Edition: Unabridged
Publication date: 1999-02
RRP: £16.95
Price: £31.48
Review Alexander the Great: Complete & Unabridged (Pocket Biographies) / ISIS Audio Books:
Creator: Anna Massey
Publication date: 2002-03-04
Dewey code: 900
RRP: £11.00
Price: £9.77
Review This Sceptred Isle: Dynasties: Britain's Most Powerful Families Vol 4 (BBC Radio Collection) / BBC Audiobooks Ltd:
Publication date: 2002-09-29
RRP: £34.95
Price: £36.94
Review The Wreck at Sharpnose Point / ISIS Audio Books:
Publication date: 1995-02
Dewey code: 920
Price: £28.95
Review The Way of a Boy: Memoir of Java: Complete & Unabridged (Isis Series) / ISIS Audio Books:
Authors
- A.J.P. Taylor
- Geoffrey Barraclough
RRP: £12.93
Price: £14.92
Review Bismarck and Germany / Sussex Publications:
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Models & Brands:
Living History, Forgotten Voices of the Second World War: D-Day and Beyond (Forgotten Voices), Elizabethan England, Wood Smoke and Pigeon Pie: Complete & Unabridged (Reminiscence), The Pantry Under the Stairs, We Remember the Home Guard: Almost 100 Personal Stories: Complete & Unabridged (Reminisence), Remembering Grandma Moses, Winston Churchill: Complete & Unabridged (Pocket Biographies), Life on Earth: Complete & Unabridged, Norman Conquest, The War and Uncle Walter: The Diary of an Eccentric, Pirate Story, Aristocrats: Caroline, Emily, Louisa and Sarah Lennox, 1750-1832, The Wilderness Family: At Home with Africa's Wildlife: Complete & Unabridged, In the Heart of the Sea: The Epic True Story That Inspired "Moby Dick", Alexander the Great: Complete & Unabridged (Pocket Biographies), This Sceptred Isle: Dynasties: Britain's Most Powerful Families Vol 4 (BBC Radio Collection), The Wreck at Sharpnose Point, The Way of a Boy: Memoir of Java: Complete & Unabridged (Isis Series), Bismarck and Germany |
