Curatina

The making of an intelligent woman into a romance novel heroine.

Revisado: 06-17-24

I had hoped for more about Stanhope’s later life. Much of this book was fanciful and muddled characters. It’s more a romance novel than an historical novel.

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Fighting for Relevance

Revisado: 11-30-23

Fabulous wealth and no desire to expend it for the welfare of their subjects. Instead they wage publicity wars. At heart, Charles and William are the same. They owe their positions to chance and not merit. They are reduced to the petty tabloid machinations because they have no real power. This book gives us a glimpse into how the future may unfold based on what has already been done. Charles because of his personality was a more meek heir in waiting and had prince Phillip to control him. William has no senior royal to check his ambitions. Sadly, neither seems to understand how their petty sniping undermines the outdated institution . But then again the institution is all about glitzy show without real substance.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

Fun!

Revisado: 02-27-20

It’s serious history with speculation specifically labeled so, yet it’s written and read in a style of telling the story to girlfriends with a few glasses of wine. Maybe more than a few. Spicy language included.

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esto le resultó útil a 9 personas

The Reality Behind The Myth

Revisado: 02-17-20

This deeply researched book tells a story of how white women were economically and socially empowered through carefully crafted documents that gave them sole ownership of property that could not be touched by a husband or his creditors and how the women fought it the courts to retain their sole ownership.
HOWEVER this property was HUMAN and the empowerment came from exercising supremacy over these humans and deeming them to have lesser feelings of pain, sorrow, and love.
This book opened my eyes and filled in some of the questions I had about how white women lived and operated in the brutal world of slavery. They were part and parcel of all aspects of brutal race based slavery.
It made me understand how the women’s fierce defense of their property rights was part of their radical support of the confederacy and their later participation robbing black citizens of their ability to thrive and participate as white citizens and in sometimes being the instruments for rationalizing mob murders of black people.
White women were responsible for writing many of the letters and commentary that insisted that slavery was a good thing for black people and a burden for whites people. This was the fairy tale that was promulgated and believed while all along the truth of buying and selling, brutal punishments and murder lurked in court documents, records of sales, and interviews with former slaves.
I recommend the book to everyone.

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esto le resultó útil a 10 personas

Good History; Poor Narrator

Revisado: 10-02-16

Others have noted the narrator's odd pronunciations of place names, but what galled me was that he put a southern accent on Pemberton's words. It is unfair, but the narrator's ignorance reflects on the author and undermines his very good analysis of Grant and his rightful place in U.S. Civil War history.

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Enthralling

Revisado: 04-12-15

This is a much better book than most historical novels. It seems to be fully researched and has finely drawn psychological portraits of many historical characters which casts them in a new more nuanced light.

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Excellent

Revisado: 06-15-14

This is an excellent biography of a difficult subject who still remains opaque when one tries to view him as a person. Perhaps that is the ultimate triumph of will.

I have only two slight complaints. The first is my own lack of judgment. I chose to listen to this book instead of the several volume work in the interest if economy. I regret that decision because this version does seem a bit truncated and I fear I missed some details I would have liked. Perhaps this will only be a problem for those who have read extensively in this era if history. I do urge people who love indulging in the details of history to listen to the other books.

The second is the narrarator who overall is excellent. He brutally mispronounces many German words. Naturally, being British, he does it with a savior faire that almost convinces one that he must be correct, but when he constantly says "Liebensraum" instead of "Lebensraum," my ears protest. Surely the producer of the audiobook should have noticed. This is not merely a mispronunciation but the substitution of one word for another and an entirely different concept!

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esto le resultó útil a 15 personas

A Glimpse Into Another World

Revisado: 02-14-13

I listened to this book quite a while ago, and loved it. I was surprised to see reviews complaining that there were too many unnecessary details. I felt this was a bit like saying there were too many notes in a symphony.

I liked the book because it was essentially the story about people I don't know and don't see in America. It was compelling because it is the story of a woman to converted to Islam on her on accord and then later met and married an Islamic man. These are people I would never meet except through a book like this. I didn't find the story of their lives at all boring. Perhaps it is because I am a woman. Women and families are as interesting to me as big events and crisis.

Then there is the horror of Katrina and Zeitoun's disappearance. I did not know things like this happened during Katrina. I did not know that American citizens could be subjected to this treatment. What was inspiring to me was Zeitoun's wife. Her love, her determination, her refusal to be passive inspired me.

This is a good book. It's on sale right now. Buy it!

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Horrible Narration & Missing Part of the Book.

Revisado: 07-05-12

I wonder if the Audible people even read these comments. First this Roy Dotrice whose narration was acceptable if not good in the first books, is chewing the scenery so much in this book that it???s difficult to hear the story. I had to turn the volume down sometimes because he was shouting so unpleasantly. His voice is rather rough when he speaks normally, and I think it makes it difficult for him to do a voice effectively for a young beautiful woman, but that???s no excuse for making these women sound like old harridans. Everyone else has commented on the horrible voices, and I agree with all they say.

I must add that I am not overly picky about narration. I can survive almost any narrator, but this was just too much. People who gave him two stars are being generous.

I absolutely agree that the book should be redone. There???s one segment of the story, and I can???t tell you what it was because I blocked it out the voice was so awful, but it???s some religious fellow who is preaching his religion. The book begins with this segment. I seriously could not follow any of it. And I???m a person who generally listens to non-fiction history and science. I???m used to following intricate material.

BUT ??? here???s the kicker. The fourth part of the book cut off at 2 hours, 33 minutes, and 9 seconds right in the middle of a sentence. It???s not even there. I tried downloading it again, and it still wasn???t there. I didn???t find this mentioned in any other review, so it is apparently a glitch in my version.

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esto le resultó útil a 2 personas

A Sweet Romantic Tale

Revisado: 11-23-11

This is a romance in the Victorian style. The characters are rather stylized and in the case of the protagonist, idealized.

Nevertheless it is a sweet tale that drew me in and made me care about the two main characters. The goodness of the heroine might put off some listeners, but if you allow yourself to be pulled in and love her, the rest of the story will keep you in suspense and entertain you.

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esto le resultó útil a 24 personas