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Type of bind: Audio Cassette
EAN num: 9780736648820
ISBN number: 0736648828
Label: Books on Tape, Ltd.
Manufacturer: Books on Tape, Ltd.
Printing Date: January 12, 2000
Publishing house: Books on Tape, Ltd.
Studio: Books on Tape, Ltd.
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Product Description:
Part Two Of Two Parts
This complete biography of England's Queen Victoria from the dramatic prelude to her birth in 1819 to her death in the very first month of the twentieth century provides new details and illuminates her life as never before. High drama is everywhere. Fatherless at eight months, ignored at very first by her royal uncles, kept virtually under house arrest by her mother's confidant, Victoria survived rivals, plots and intimidation. Tragedy and disaster stalked her constantly - deaths of loved ones, rumors of treason, later allegations about a Scottish lover, and near fatal illness. She also escaped seven assassination attempts. Victoria, with all her complexities and stubborn vitality, never leaves the center of her vast stage as she becomes the dominant figure of her time.
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Rated by buyers -
The term "An Intimate Biography" which is the subtitle of this work by Stanley Weintraub is very accurate. This is the bio of Queen Victoria at home. From the race to the successor of the Enlish throne upon the death of the Princess of Wales, to her reign as an eighteen-year old, her happy marriage and numerous offspring, to the fat and stodgy old Empress who gave her name to an era, this is a view of Victoria we seldom see in history accounts.
The best part of the book is about her marriage to Saxe-Coburg Prince Albert, who was "hired" by Victoria as her consort but found himself in love with the diminutive German-English queen. They exchanged paintings (Victoria loved male nudes and was always smitten by male beauty), they read novels and poetry outloud to each other. Victoria handed over a key to the dispatch boxes wherein lay the documents of State, and the unpopular German prince soon was an invaluable right-hand man and man behind the throne.
Sadly, Prince Albert died (whether from exhaustion after his successful staging of the Crystal Palace exhibition) or from stomach cancer) and Victoria plunged the Throne into interminable mourning. Afterward, her role in the affairs of state, even with important events such as the Sepoy Rebellion and the Boer War, seemed less intense.
The biography focuses on the domestic Victoria, less so on her children, especially the wastrel Edward (Bertie) and strives to keep history as a backdrop to Victoria's life. In this, the biography succeeds admirably, but those interested in English history will want to read other accounts to fill in the events and political intricacies that are only sketched out here.
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