Stewart Desmond
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PREMIUM
Hotel Florida: Truth, Love, and Death in the Spanish Civil War
The kind of history that readers will say "reads like a novel." It is bound to be popular with general readers of 20th-century history. [See Prepub Alert, 11/1/13.]
PREMIUM
On Paper: The Everything of Its Two-Thousand-Year History
An unhurried book that will be enjoyed not only by bibliophiles, librarians, and archivists but by many readers engaged by the study of the past and present.
PREMIUM
British royal history buffs will want to read this thorough biography of a long underestimated monarch.
Queen Anne: The Politics of Passion
British royal history buffs will want to read this thorough biography of a long underestimated monarch.
PREMIUM
1808: The Flight of the Emperor; How a Weak Prince, a Mad Queen, and the British Navy Tricked Napoleon and Changed the New World
Unfortunately, this book is not nearly as much fun as it should be. Gomes's work (translated awkwardly by Nevins) takes a surprisingly Eurocentric view of the royal family's time in Brazil. The author argues that the presence of the Portuguese court propelled backward Brazil toward improved education, scientific exploration, and independence. Readers might mistakenly think no Brazilian culture existed before the royals arrived. Nonetheless, this book could make good airline reading on your next flight to Rio.
PREMIUM
The Marquess of Queensberry: Wilde's Nemesis
This prolonged look at the unappealing and combative Douglas does nothing to overturn the traditional view. The book would have benefited from a "life and times" approach, particularly in the area of homosexuality, since few people then really understood what a "somdomite" did. (Q himself had learned much having come of age in the navy.) This book is only for committed Wildeans.
PREMIUM
Life and Death in Pompeii and Herculaneum
For its focus on palatial residences and lavish possessions, the book might better be called "Herculaneum and Pompeii: The One Percent." Roberts discussions of slaves and common folk generally concern their role in enabling the lives of the well-to-do. Dip into this book for a look at the belongings of the wealthier folk buried by the egalitarian Vesuvius. Collections with other major illustrated works on Pompeii should consider this one optional.
PREMIUM
Dividing the Spoils
Waterfield efficiently traces the endlessly shifting military and marital alliances among the great successor families. His spare account manages to serve both as a military and as a cultural history of a great age of transition. Recommended for anybody interested in the classical era.
PREMIUM
Mightier Than the Sword
While this book may prove to be heavy going for the general reader, all serious students of 19th-century American literature and culture will want to read it.—Stewart Desmond, New York
PREMIUM
A Most Dangerous Book
Whoever pimped out this worthy academic monograph about the creation of a German past as if it were The Raiders of the Lost Ark did Krebs no favors. Recommended for serious readers on the merits of its scholarly contents.
