Sam

Absolute Adulation

Revisado: 04-25-25

This book was quite interesting, especially the WW2 part. The author did a good job of research but once again became so enamored of the persona that balance was missing. I learned a good deal about British aristocracy and the fortunes of the democratic party in the US in the 80's and 90's. Pam Harriman clearly was a valuable financial resource and succeeded as many wealthy people have done to buy an Ambassadorship. As a student of history however I had to throw my BS flag many times during the reading. Some of the most egregious BS flag recipients: Sonia repeatedly overstated Pam's importance in WW2 and later even asserts Pam "...sowed the seeds to the eventual end of the cold war".

Blaming "advisors" for blowing the Harriman fortune rings hollow. According to this author, she was superbly good at management of just about everything.

I've not read any of the anti-Pam books but I don't feel I need to. Reading this one gives me the clear opinion that she shamelessly traded on her acquisition of the the Churchill name (even 40 years later) and the name and fortune of Averell Harriman. Perhaps the book should have been titled "The Name Merchant".

Just as an aside, in Purnell's bio of Clementine Churchill she said Winston would have failed without Clementine. It's clear that Pam could not have possibly done any of this if she had not married Randolph Churchill whom this author so thoroughly demonized.

To end on a positive note - there were certainly a lot of important people at her memorial service!

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Excellent Read

Revisado: 03-18-25

Having read many books on Winston Churchill, and his predecessors. I found this one to be well-researched and accurate though necessary summarization of wartime events may leave some with misperceptions in a few cases. My only objection is that Purcell seems to have fallen victim to idolization of her subject going so far as to say Winston would have failed completely had he not had Clementine.
Nevertheless a truly worthwhile read. I hope my next Sonia Purcell read - Pamela Churchill - turns out as good though the first few chapters rabidly demonize Pamela's husband Randolph. We'll see.

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Hyperbole

Revisado: 07-09-24

I'm glad the 2 reviewers who got this for free liked it. However, I quit after 2 hrs when the author was just starting on the siege of 1453. The book is light on facts but is full of overstatement. It seems as if the goal of the writer was to cram as many adjectives as possible into each sentence and as many metaphors as possible into every paragraph. Listen to the sample, though that will not give a true view. I returned the title for credit.

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Redundant and Revisionist

Revisado: 04-09-24

There are a lot of great reviews for this title. I don't understand why. The history is shallow as might be expected in a short book such as this but redundancy is a waste of time. At least half a dozen times the author uses the same phrases to describe the population surge of the gold rush and how that allowed statehood. It is revisionist in that the author applies 21st century cultural standards to settlers and citizens of bygone centuries rather than just reporting the facts e.g. missionary efforts "enslaved" much of the population and provided nothing good. I had to quit halfway through the book. The author described this response to the San Francisco earthquake: Rich San Francisco men banded together and built substandard, inadequate and therefore discriminatory housing for the poor. That was the breaking point for me. Leave current liberal value judgements out of history. Please!

Audible - you can do better. I've searched for a straight history of San Francisco and found nothing here without an agenda.

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Excellent

Revisado: 05-10-23

I’ve read a great deal of English history and especially about World War2. Biographies of people give a better picture of history than scholastic historians in my opinion. This book was especially good in that it provided a great deal of color and detail, but without invention and without becoming boring.

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Beguiled

Revisado: 05-04-23

Please note that I've only listened to the abridged, 6-hour version, not the 22-hour complete book but I've read a great deal of history of the British Isles. I think the book is excellent and well worth reading but there seems to be flaws. 1. As happens to many dedicated researchers and historians, the author has been beguiled by the personality of his subject. He explains away her faults and mistakes using any convenient cover unless she herself convicts herself in her own words, which she was very, very careful not to do. 2. I think the author badly underestimates the strength and power of the protestant reformation - often ascribing it as a religion of convenience for Mary's detractors while portraying her as a truly dedicated Catholic. The depth of feeling on both sides in those years is almost incomprehensible to our atheistic world of today.
Mary: "Innocent of all the charges against me." John Guy:"Martyr for the Catholic faith". Both assertions are highly questionable in my opinion.

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Not Recommended

Revisado: 01-28-23

It’s a shame that Audible doesn’t have better books on Scottish history. This is the 3rd I’ve downloaded and none of them are concise or interesting.

This one is a disjointed account of the highlanders with seemingly no direction or pattern.

The narration is clear but the material has no transitions. One topic abruptly stops and without a pause the next begins leaving the listener to wonder what they missed- which was nothing.

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Very Good

Revisado: 09-13-22

Worthwhile exposition of some of the major historical events and figures of Los Angeles. Storylines keep it interesting and the narrator is fine.

I highly recommend it.

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Nope

Revisado: 02-12-22

I kept wading through the book hoping I would find some gems, but alas, there were none.

Neiberg seems to be an eminent scholar but must subscribe to the theory that historic figures lie profusely in their memoirs and those close to them go along. This book simply does not square with the many books I've read on Churchill and Truman.
I started a list of inconsistencies but it is too long. Examples - Truman was an ignorant bumpkin, Uncle Joe was the "good cop" at Potsdam, "only 25 minutes spent on Poland at conference". I think the book grossly misrepresents the US and Truman's position and efforts on behalf of Poland - per Truman's memoirs and published diplomatic cables. I'll quit there.

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Okay

Revisado: 11-09-21

Basically an unclassified unit history naming commanders and timelines.
There are a few interesting stories.

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