Biography Books > Antonia Fraser Biography Books

A most misunderstood queen

Advantages: Very readable, interesting, informative
Disadvantages: Sometimes lacking in detail, descriptions of executions

Marie Antoinette is a widely known historical personnage - infamous for her callousness towards the starving peasants ("Let them eat cake!") and for having her head chopped off during the French Revolution, a victim of the guillotine, yet few attempts have ever been made to go beyond the stereotypes and actually investigate the character of this celebrity queen. Noted historian Antonia Fraser aims to correct this, and has largely succeeded in a very ...
...reputed sexual insatiability (in truth Marie was quite sexually inexperienced even after marriage and quite pious as well, the allegations deeply upset and shocked her), and of her legendary arrogance, spending inordinate sums of money even as the people of France starved (while she did spend lavishly, even the Royal Family trimmed their expenses in the time of need!) My main criticism is that in its focus of Marie Antoinette alone, the book fails ...

mystikchick17 17.07.2006 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Marie Antoinette - Antonia Fraser

Excellent book!

Advantages: Amazingly rich in detail, easily accessible
Disadvantages: Ever so slightly Henry dominated

...has to be one of the best biographies I've ever read on Henry VIII's wives. Antonia Fraser takes them out of their conventional stereotypes and re-creates them for a new generation of readers as individual women in their own right. The language is easily accessible to all who care to pick up the book and read it, and is rich is descriptions of the times in which these women lived. The book explores the women's personalities, as well as their relationship ...

thalionahaiel 01.06.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of The Six Wives of Henry VIII - Antonia Fraser

The Life of Marie Antoinette by Antonia Fraser

Advantages: Well Written, A Great Story of the Life of Marie Antoinette
Disadvantages: Can be Quiet Complex in Places, Gets Confusing with the Politics and Names

...have read many books on Marie Antoinette from her life, her fashion and even fictional interpretations of her, but this book has the facts, gory intimate details and makes sense of the many rumors that surrounded the teenage Queens life from her famous line "Let Them Eat Cake" to her wild love affairs within the French court. This book portrays the true aspects of the lonely life that Marie was subject to at Versailles, coming from Austria into a ...
...read and helped to increase my own knowledge of life and Versailles and the French Queen. This book was a great read, if you are interested in royalty, French history, fashion, politics, The French Revolution the palace of Versailles or Marie Antoinette then this book is a must read. ...

becky_tredget 02.02.2007 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful
Review of Marie Antoinette (film tie-in) - Antonia Fraser

Story of A Dream

Advantages: Interesting , Honest
Disadvantages: None!

Leona Lewis is probably my favourite singer. To me , she stands out from the rest because she is real ; she is a 'popstar' because she has the voice , and not just the looks like some artists who are good looking but can't sing! I am really excited , because yesterday , I booked tickets to see Leona on her tour next year! I cannot wait. Leona Louise Lewis was born on April 3rd 1985 (she is currently twenty four years old) in Islington , London. ...
..., Italia Coni Academy and The Brit School. In 2006 , Leona auditioned for the British television programme ' The X Factor' , which sets out to 'find the next biggest star' ; popular throughout the show , Leona went on to win the series. To date Leona has eight singles (A Moment Like This , Bleeding Love , Better In Time/Footprints In The Sand , Forgive Me , Run , I Will Be , Happy and I Got You) and two albums (Spirit (which went to number one in ...

xdonzx 18.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of Leona: Dreams - Leona Lewis, Dean Freeman

High and mighty

Advantages: Fascinating look at a man whose achievements are little remembered
Disadvantages: Perhaps not the most inviting or 'nice' subject for a book (but life's not always nice!)

Sometimes, the title of a book is so uninviting at first glance that you are compelled to investigate further. Such is the case with this work, a biography-cum-history of a man who was rightly feted as one of the great benefactors of his age but has since been almost forgotten. Born in London in 1819 of French extraction, Joseph Bazalgette was not only one of London's greatest builders, but his engineering and sanitation schemes are said by some ...
...than either. In the mid-19th century, two million people were pouring their sewage directly into the river, where it was carried to and fro by the tides. Crunch time came in the sweltering summer of 1858, when 'the Great Stink', as it was called by The Times, drove Members of Parliament from the chamber of the House of Commons. As Chief Engineer to the Metropolitan Board of Works, London's first metropolitan government, from 1856 to 1889, Bazalgette ...

JOHNV 18.12.2009 · Read full review
Ciao members have rated this review on average: very helpful
Review of The Great Stink of London - Stephen Halliday