Sure-footed and evenhanded.
An impressive debut chronicling the brief life of the young man dubbed “the forgotten prince.”
Edward VI was the long-awaited heir of Henry VIII and his third wife, the dutiful Jane Seymour. Only nine when his father died, the boy could have been swamped in the complex postmortem court intrigues, lucidly delineated by Oxford-educated Skidmore. Instead, Edward carried the day against those who sought to proscribe his powers, and even the most casual gossipmongers were punished swiftly and decisively during his short era of primacy. The author sorts through the many attempts at sedition, treachery and treasonous activities (some real, some imagined) that characterized this period of English history, collecting disparate accounts and correspondences (some carried on in secret) to form a slow accretion of detail that provides a highly entertaining read. Skidmore is faithful to the mood of the day, careful to recreate the atmosphere of a society in which only the sovereign’s life had much value. “One man,” he notes, “had his ear nailed to the pillory for [erroneously] declaring Edward dead,” while another citizen had both ears cut off before being forced to wear a paper hat decrying his crimes: “LEWD AND SEDITIOUS WORDS TOUCHING THE KING’S MAJESTY AND THE STATE.” Gravely ill with consumption and cognizant that his own death was close at hand, young Edward made a series of decisions that would have lasting ramifications for the monarchs who followed in his wake. He nearly provoked civil war with his attempt to defy Henry’s will and pass the throne to another committed Protestant rather than his Catholic sister Mary. Skidmore occasionally lapses into lamentably stilted prose: “gone to victual” is employed with nary a trace of irony, and “whilst” is almost comically overused throughout. Still, the author’s access to a wide collection of royal papers and period sources ultimately renders this biography of an underexamined and important link in the Tudor dynasty an unqualified success.
Sure-footed and evenhanded.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-0-312-35142-7
Page Count: 384
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2007
An exhaustive and exhausting marriage of Austen's Pride and a modern reader’s analysis of it.
A mammoth edition, including the novel, illustrations, maps, a chronology, and bibliography, but mostly thousands of annotations that run the gamut from revealing to ridiculous.
New editions of revered works usually exist either to dumb down or to illuminate the original. Since its appearance in 1813, Austen's most famous work has spawned numerous illustrated and abridged versions geared toward younger readers, as well as critical editions for the scholarly crowd. One would think that this three-pounder would fall squarely in the latter camp based on heft alone. But for various other reasons, Shapard's edition is not so easily boxed. Where Austen's work aimed at a wide spectrum of the 19th-century reading audience, Shapard's seems geared solely toward young lit students. No doubt conceived with the notion of highlighting Austen's brilliance, the 2,000-odd annotations–printed throughout on pages facing the novel's text–often end up dwarfing it. This sort of arrangement, which would work extremely well as hypertext, is disconcerting on the printed page. The notes range from helpful glosses of obscure terms to sprawling expositions on the perils awaiting the character at hand. At times, his comments are so frequent and encyclopedic that one might be tempted to dispense with Austen altogether; in fact, the author's prefatory note under "plot disclosures" kindly suggests that first-time readers might "prefer to read the text of the novel first, and then to read the annotations and introduction." Those with a term paper due in the morning might skip ahead to the eight-page chronology–not of Austen's life, but of the novel's plot–at the back. In the end, Shapard's herculean labor of love comes off as more scholastic than scholarly.
An exhaustive and exhausting marriage of Austen's Pride and a modern reader’s analysis of it.Pub Date: Nov. 1, 2003
ISBN: 0-9745053-0-7
Page Count: -
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 27, 2010
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
At times slow-going, but the riveting period detail and dramatic flair eventually render this tale an animated history...
A murder that transfixed the world and the invention that made possible the chase for its perpetrator combine in this fitfully thrilling real-life mystery.
Using the same formula that propelled Devil in the White City (2003), Larson pairs the story of a groundbreaking advance with a pulpy murder drama to limn the sociological particulars of its pre-WWI setting. While White City featured the Chicago World’s Fair and America’s first serial killer, this combines the fascinating case of Dr. Hawley Crippen with the much less gripping tale of Guglielmo Marconi’s invention of radio. (Larson draws out the twin narratives for a long while before showing how they intersect.) Undeniably brilliant, Marconi came to fame at a young age, during a time when scientific discoveries held mass appeal and were demonstrated before awed crowds with circus-like theatricality. Marconi’s radio sets, with their accompanying explosions of light and noise, were tailor-made for such showcases. By the early-20th century, however, the Italian was fighting with rival wireless companies to maintain his competitive edge. The event that would bring his invention back into the limelight was the first great crime story of the century. A mild-mannered doctor from Michigan who had married a tempestuously demanding actress and moved to London, Crippen became the eye of a media storm in 1910 when, after his wife’s “disappearance” (he had buried her body in the basement), he set off with a younger woman on an ocean-liner bound for America. The ship’s captain, who soon discerned the couple’s identity, updated Scotland Yard (and the world) on the ship’s progress—by wireless. The chase that ends this story makes up for some tedious early stretches regarding Marconi’s business struggles.
At times slow-going, but the riveting period detail and dramatic flair eventually render this tale an animated history lesson.Pub Date: Oct. 24, 2006
ISBN: 1-4000-8066-5
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Crown
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 1, 2006
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