Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire
4 journalers for this copy...
This is a biography of Georgiana Duchess of Devonshire and I found it very interesting. The author really succeeds in bringing the late 1700's among the British aristocracy alive for us. The book she has created from letters and diaries that have survived is many-layered and fascinating. It is a whole new look at a period that seemed very removed and dry when I studied it in history class.
Georgiana was such a public figure; as a Duchess, as the leader of the fashionable and socially sought out within the aristocratic, as a politically astute and active woman. She had great capability and energy and was a beloved public personality. But we also get to see her personal side; her marriage, her drinking, her gambling, her children, her scientific interests, and her affairs. It seems like every aristocrat of the time was committing adultery, it even seems accepted as long there is no accompanying scandal. It was like reading about modern day movie stars; all the drinking, drug use, gambling, affairs, all in a very lavish, wealthy setting. It is history but it reads easily. I learned a great deal about the politics of the time. It is so nice when some author makes history live for us as this author does. It is like she has succeeded in compressing time so that we can be closer to the late 1700's and have a greater understanding of what was going on.
Georgiana was such a public figure; as a Duchess, as the leader of the fashionable and socially sought out within the aristocratic, as a politically astute and active woman. She had great capability and energy and was a beloved public personality. But we also get to see her personal side; her marriage, her drinking, her gambling, her children, her scientific interests, and her affairs. It seems like every aristocrat of the time was committing adultery, it even seems accepted as long there is no accompanying scandal. It was like reading about modern day movie stars; all the drinking, drug use, gambling, affairs, all in a very lavish, wealthy setting. It is history but it reads easily. I learned a great deal about the politics of the time. It is so nice when some author makes history live for us as this author does. It is like she has succeeded in compressing time so that we can be closer to the late 1700's and have a greater understanding of what was going on.
This book has been added to the bio VBB.
Caught for my: Virtual Biography/Auto-Biography/Humor Bookbox.
Book Description: Georgiana Spencer was, in a sense, an 18th-century It Girl. She came from one of England's richest and most landed families (the late Princess Diana was a Spencer too) and married into another. She was beautiful, sensitive, and extravagant--drugs, drink, high-profile love affairs, and even gambling counted among her favorite leisure-time activities. Nonetheless, she quickly moved from a world dominated by social parties to one focused on political parties. The duchess was an intimate of ministers and princes, and she canvassed assiduously for the Whig cause, most famously in the Westminster election of 1784. By turns she was caricatured and fawned on by the press, and she provided the inspiration for the character of Lady Teazle in Richard Sheridan's famous play The School for Scandal. But her weaknesses marked the last part of her life. By 1784, for one, Georgiana owed "many, many, many thousands," and her creditors dogged her until her death.
Biographer Amanda Foreman describes astutely the mess that surrounded the personal relationships of the aristocratic subculture (Georgiana and the duke engaged for many years in a ménage à trois with Lady Elizabeth Fraser, who inveigled her way into the duke's bed and the duchess's heart). Foreman is, by her own admission, a little in love with her subject, which can lead to occasional lapses of perspective, but generally it adds zest to a narrative built on, rather than burdened by, scholarship, that is at once accessible and learned. An impressive debut, in every sense.
Book Description: Georgiana Spencer was, in a sense, an 18th-century It Girl. She came from one of England's richest and most landed families (the late Princess Diana was a Spencer too) and married into another. She was beautiful, sensitive, and extravagant--drugs, drink, high-profile love affairs, and even gambling counted among her favorite leisure-time activities. Nonetheless, she quickly moved from a world dominated by social parties to one focused on political parties. The duchess was an intimate of ministers and princes, and she canvassed assiduously for the Whig cause, most famously in the Westminster election of 1784. By turns she was caricatured and fawned on by the press, and she provided the inspiration for the character of Lady Teazle in Richard Sheridan's famous play The School for Scandal. But her weaknesses marked the last part of her life. By 1784, for one, Georgiana owed "many, many, many thousands," and her creditors dogged her until her death.
Biographer Amanda Foreman describes astutely the mess that surrounded the personal relationships of the aristocratic subculture (Georgiana and the duke engaged for many years in a ménage à trois with Lady Elizabeth Fraser, who inveigled her way into the duke's bed and the duchess's heart). Foreman is, by her own admission, a little in love with her subject, which can lead to occasional lapses of perspective, but generally it adds zest to a narrative built on, rather than burdened by, scholarship, that is at once accessible and learned. An impressive debut, in every sense.
Sending to JudySlump612 from the Virtual Biography/Auto-Biography/Humor Bookbox Enjoy the books!
Arrived here safely this afternoon, and it looks just luscious!
Wow, this was terrific! Although we're only in early March, I have a hunch this may be the best book I'll read in 2012.
Oliviapoolside already expressed a lot of my comments. If we're taught history as a set of dates (George III reigned from 1760 to 1820, blah blah blah) we miss all the fun, especially the struggles over the Regency. Georgiana was smart, active, observant, and a terrific letter writer. Foreman makes the point that a lot of what we know now about that time comes from her letters.
You can tell from the almost seventy pages of notes, bibliography and index how hard Foreman worked to ground this in the facts, but she also is such a good writer that Georgiana becomes very human and real to us. I loved that Foreman brought in lots of information about that period, to build a context. For example, her section on the Cavendish family's "interest" in Parliament was a great eye-opener about the implications of "rotten" boroughs. The political work was what fascinated me the most, but I also enjoyed the details on how Georgiana worked to prepare her daughters for that most elegant of British mysteries, presentation at court.
This is way too good for a wild release. I'll be offering it tomorrow to the other Twin Cities BX'ers, but it they're not enthusiastic, it may go into the Permanent Collection for safekeeping.
Oliviapoolside already expressed a lot of my comments. If we're taught history as a set of dates (George III reigned from 1760 to 1820, blah blah blah) we miss all the fun, especially the struggles over the Regency. Georgiana was smart, active, observant, and a terrific letter writer. Foreman makes the point that a lot of what we know now about that time comes from her letters.
You can tell from the almost seventy pages of notes, bibliography and index how hard Foreman worked to ground this in the facts, but she also is such a good writer that Georgiana becomes very human and real to us. I loved that Foreman brought in lots of information about that period, to build a context. For example, her section on the Cavendish family's "interest" in Parliament was a great eye-opener about the implications of "rotten" boroughs. The political work was what fascinated me the most, but I also enjoyed the details on how Georgiana worked to prepare her daughters for that most elegant of British mysteries, presentation at court.
This is way too good for a wild release. I'll be offering it tomorrow to the other Twin Cities BX'ers, but it they're not enthusiastic, it may go into the Permanent Collection for safekeeping.
The one person at the meetup whose eyes lit up seeing this had already read it. So I'll keep it for a while, as a special treat for a deserving reader.
Journal Entry 8 by JudySlump612 at A fellow BookCrosser, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases on Sunday, July 22, 2012
Released 11 yrs ago (7/22/2012 UTC) at A fellow BookCrosser, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases
CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:
For bookstogive for organizing so many great bookboxes. Actually, the book on your wish list appears to be a movie tie-in with a different cover, but I doubt very much that Amanda Foreman sat down and wrote another 400-page history just for the movie. I loved this book, and I hope you will like it too.
I received this Fantastic book today in the mail along with 2 others, thanks so much for the 3 wonderful books! These are just the type I love and I can't wait to read them. They are jumping onto the top of MTR and I know they will be calling me :)
