History: Fiction or Science? (Chronology, No. 1)

Book Description

Recorded history is a finely-woven magic fabric of intricate lies about events predating the sixteenth century. There is not a single piece of evidence that can be reliably and independently traced back earlier than the eleventh century. This book details events that are substantiated by hard facts and logic, and validated by new astronomical research and statistical analysis of ancient sources.

Customer Reviews:

Calculations are only as good as your numbers.......2007-08-03

Yes, we can all agree that mainstream history is nearly 100% BS due to politics, economics, ego, problems with dating techniques, and various conspiracies. Agreed. But, I've been researching the distinct possibility that human history (in terms of civilizations) are much more ancient than we've been told, so coming across this book was very interesting to me. I wondered how Fomenko could be wrong (if at all) because he is very persuasive in his presentations. Then it dawned on me. If at previous times in prehistory, due to the various catastrophies that are well documented (comets, asteroids, planetary disruptions, plasma discharge, pole reversals, etc) the Earth was in a different position in relation to the sun, different tilt on its axis, different orbit, different rotation (in terms of velocity and DIRECTION), and the continents were in different positions, then would this not cause the ancients to see the sky (constellations) differently? In other words, is Fomenko making erronious assumptions about the physics of the Earth in pre-history, which then corrupt his data with regards to dating the relevant astrology? The last event to seriously disrupt our planet occured roughly 3500 years ago, according to other good researchers, so is it possible Fomenko has been confused by this? The vastly different physics of our planet in the not so distant past may explain this confusion, which is not to say the "mainstream" version of history is correct; on the contrary. I am not an expert in these fields, but wanted to see if this idea could spark discussion.

Pants on fire?.......2007-07-19

Will people ever read before spamming? Yes, Jesuits could not rewrite world history alone, they had help. Anyway, Dr Prof Acad A.Fomenko does not point to jesuits as the driving force of world wide history manipulation in published volumes 1,2,3;, actually he barely mentions the poor devils. Check it with 'Search inside' feature, please. China is rarely mentioned either, in fact, Dr Fomenko is completely eurocentric. Right, his theory contradicts all mainstream schools of history, because in their actual state they are all built on blatantly erroneus chronology. You don't need a mysterious cabal (conspiracy) to falsify history, the falsification is its modus operandi. It is inherent to history(ians) to falsify (distort) events, as it is inherent to humans to boast as it is inherent to power (authority) to legimize itself by referrring to glorious past made to its own order. Dr Prof Fomenko and team have identified scores of instances of such manipulation in Russian, European, etc.. history, and delivered valid statistical proof thereof. His own 'reconstruction' is completely another story. Forget c14 as a valid method of dating. W.Libby has initially discovered a brilliant method of INDEPENDENT dating. Too bad, c14 method has become a joke after a forced marrige with dendrochronology with consensual chronological scale inbuilt. Radiocarbon method can't stand blind tests, but is so very productive as a rubberstamp.

Accepted History & Chronology Must Be Changed. .......2007-04-09

There is no doubt that history as most know it is a sham, & institution's version of History both University & Church is fradulent & inaccurate. Everything was established with an agenda, The real "Dark Ages" are now when we have access to incredible amounts of information past authorities & more important 'common folk' didn't have but our institutions & educators are slow to evolve because of what has ignorantly & arrogantly been taught for too long. This is on many subjects not just Chronology.

For anyone to question "Why would a Mathematician have anything credible to say of History?" The answer is from Dr. Fomenko's preface in the book: "It would be worthwhile to remind the reader that in the XVI-XVII century Chronology was considered to be a subdivision of Mathematics." These volumes could possibly be some of the most important works to date & should be read by everyone with an interest in History, especially professors & educators who have a duty to the public. I have read both books & must say that 'Chronology 1' has some very eye opening & revolutionary information. Even if these volumes are part true the implications are profound & opens the doors to further investigations & questions which must be done. I speak several different lanquages & must say the logic Dr. Fomenko uses with "inflection" of words & words being read from left to right in one region & right to left in another then written backwards, the removal of vowels & get down to basics of words, or different cities & locations having the same name etc. is correct. Vowel usage has always been optional & varied, actually complicating linquistics & study. The first thing one has to understand is that words never had a fixed spelling in history like we do now, the spelling of words was mutable & regional, as well as names & titles of people were vast, varied & changed, NOTHING WAS FIXED or understood linear. Matters of Life & Death as well as financial profiteering yesterday & today were & are made with ignorant, illogical & conspiratorial views of history & reality, it's time people get closer to the Truth & society collectively grow up.

Very Interesting.......2007-03-07

It is a good proposal and I believe it will mature into something even better in the future. I think it deserves to be read.

History as Science Fiction.......2007-01-10

Anatoly Fomenko has written a very intriguing book, full of pictures, charts, and computer 'proof' of his thesis: backwards of AD900 we don't really know what happened or when. Between AD900 and AD1600 there is more certainty, but there is still a lot of fuzzy ground, and things don't get reliable until we get past the 1600's where the printing press made it very difficult for the perpetrators of this timeline manipulation to change anything that had been committed to print. The Dark Ages did not happen. Books were burned for a reason. One organization has doubled the actual length of its existence by expanding the real chronology. Read why.

I had always wondered why Christ died about AD33 and yet men waited until the 11th century to form the Knights Templar, the Cathars, etc and go after the Holy Land by force. Why the 1000 year gap? Turns out there wasn't more than a 10-12 year gap and he proves it using astronomy. This also implies that the planet is not as old as we have been told, and current Christian and other creationist scientists are already championing that idea without being aware of Fomenko's book. The two groups, creationist scientists and the Russian mathematical analysts corroborate each other. Fascinating.

Of course, all this flies in the face of what we have been told traditionally is the 'proper' chronology of western civilization, and most readers will experience 'cognitive dissonance' in reading this book. It means that our history going backwards from AD1600 becomes progressively more incorrect and unreliable until it cannot be trusted at all... in the space of 700-800 years.

Naturally, the curious, open-minded reader will want to know WHO did this, WHY, and did any of the events we think of as really ancient ever happen?
Dr. Fomenko is a respected scientist/mathematician at Moscow State University who has already answered these questions to the satisfaction of his initially skeptical colleagues. Most of them are now believers, a few still refuse to believe (the usual diehards), and of course the western press has ignored Fomenko's work -- for obvious reasons when you read the book. The ones who perpetrated this chronology ruse have a lot to answer for. They are still with us. That's why this book is a well-kept secret.

I gave the book a 4-star rating because I was unable to check out some of his claims; those I checked were as he said. But if even 1/3 of his claims are true, this punches a big hole in what we think is our history, the meaning of western civilization, our educational process (for repeating the ruse as gospel), and the trustworthiness of the organization that perpetrated this ruse, well-intentioned or not.

This book relates to current research into a Young Earth paradigm, to John Keel's discoveries about our planet, and Fr Malachi Martin's insights (in his now out-of-print books). We are indeed sheep who are manipulated and kept ignorant -- for a reason. While knowing what these men have to say may be the "booby prize" (as in: 'what can you do with this knowledge?'), it will provide interesting reading. Didn't someone say: "...and the Truth will set you free."?? For you to judge if this book contains the truth.

The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj

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Anachronistic Scholarship
There's A Rat In My Bed
Good Passages of India
Interesting read on ICS officers
Interesting perspectives on the Raj

The Ruling Caste: Imperial Lives in the Victorian Raj
David Gilmour
Manufacturer: Farrar, Straus and Giroux
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0374283540
Release Date: 2006-02-07

Book Description

A sparkling, provocative history of the English in South Asia during Queen Victoria's reign

Between 1837 and 1901, less than 100,000 Britons at any one time managed an empire of 300 million people spread over the vast area that now includes India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Burma. How was this possible, and what were these people like? The British administration in India took pride in its efficiency and broad-mindedness, its devotion to duty and its sense of imperial grandeur, but it has become fashionable to deprecate it for its arrogance and ignorance. In this balanced, witty, and multi-faceted history, David Gilmour goes far to explain the paradoxes of the "Anglo-Indians," showing us what they hoped to achieve and what sort of society they thought they were helping to build.

The Ruling Caste principally concerns the officers of the legendary India Civil Service--each of whom to perform as magistrate, settlement officer, sanitation inspector, public-health officer, and more for the million or so people in his charge. Gilmour extends his study to every level of the administration and to the officers' women and children, so often ignored in previous works.

The Ruling Caste is the best book yet on the real trials and triumphs of an imperial ruling class; on the dangerous temptations that an empire's power encourages; on relations between governor and governed, between European and Asian. No one interested in politics and social history can afford to miss this book.

Customer Reviews:

Anachronistic Scholarship.......2007-10-16

This book is for you if you are reading books for amusement and fill your brain with trivia. Instead, if your interest is to get a better understanding of the history, society and the government in India during the late nineteenth century, you are better off to look elsewhere.

The author happens to be stuck in the late nineteenth century mindset and racial outlook. He has not realized that we are living in the twenty-first century and this kind of scholarship of glorifying the British while demeaning the Indians (labeled by the author as natives) based on the words of selected few people is a Eurocentric cliché which is no more in fashion.

My fundamental criticism of the book is that it is a collection of excerpts from memoirs, letters and other reports from the British ICS officers who were in service of the government. The author presents their words as the absolute fact and made no efforts objectively evaluate those words. The truth is that there were two parties to the process, the rulers and the ruled. Author made no effort to present the views and opinions of the peasants, workers, farmers, traders and educated intelligentsia of India. At best the book is a biased scholarship and at its worst it is racist diatribe.

It is stated a many times that the civilians "loved India". What they loved in reality was their power to rule over the destinies of millions of Indians whose culture and beliefs they would never understand or appreciate. They were bent upon imposing their will on an unwilling but helpless population. It was a power with no accountability and backed by a military machine and terror. Myth of a "benevolent" government cracks open when you learn that the government survived solely on taxes on people and over half the revenues were spent on army and a third was spent on the administrative machinery leaving practically nothing for people's welfare (page 109).

Trying to understand the nineteenth century India through this book will be analogous to learning about slavery through the journals of the slave traders and plantation owners. That says it all.

There's A Rat In My Bed.......2007-09-24

So said the wife of a British Civil Servant shortly after their arrival in India.

When author Gilmore first mentioned to his friends that he was contemplating writing a book on the Civil Service I wonder if they looked at him with stunned incomprehension. I mean who wants to read a book on the life of Civil Servants? Well I, for one, got pretty engrossed in reading the results of his inspiration. I admit that before I picked up this book I was a bit uncertain about reading it. After all aren't civil servants people who sit in cubicles with tons of paper to process and file away? Well I found out that members of the Indian Civil Service (ICS) were the folks who ruled India. Called "Civilians" they oversaw the governance of India, collected tax revenues, kept the Maharajahs of the princely states (those areas not directly governed by Britain) from ruining their domains, served as magistrates and judges, and generally just kept things running.

It was a harsh, unpleasant climate for the Brits working there. When a new group of Civilians arrived in India you could expect one third of them to be dead within twenty years. They frequently became ill with cholera, typhoid, or malaria, and in some instances they were killed by tigers or cheetahs. But look at the bright side: after 8 years of service they were given a two year furlough back to England.

Gilmour describes them all: the ambitious, the lazy, the renegades, the sportsmen and the scholars. The British put a lot of emphasis on sportsmanship. If you wanted to join the ICS it helped if you were good at cricket and polo. After all if you were sent to supervise a princely state you had to be able to play polo with the Maharajah.

Some reviewers found this book to be a bit dry. Considering the subject matter I think the author produced a tremendously interesting book. The only thing I found that could be classified as dry were some seemingly unending examples of a topic. For instance when retirement was discussed we learned that Smythe went to Folkstone, Blythe went to Southampton and worked as a shopkeeper, etc. These folks have all sunk into historical oblivion, and the reader won't remember any of them once finished with the book. It was amusing to read, though, how many of them returned to England and became world class bores, telling India stories to everyone that they bumped into.

The book focuses on the nineteenth century. The only aspect of the life that could have been discussed more would be the relations between Civilians and the Indians. The Indians, being very class conscious would, on occasion, unconsciously insult a Civilian. Invited to dinner at an Indian home the host would shake the Civilian's hand, and then immediately plunge his hands into a bowl of water and wash them. After the Civilian left the plates and eating utensils that he used were discarded in the trash.

Gilmour is not very judgmental about the British Raj. He says, for instance, that famine duty brought out the best in the Civilians. They were energetic in helping the hungry Indians. He does not mention that within the first three years of the new national government of India formed in 1947 three huge dams were constructed by the Indians to eliminate floods, provide power, and insure sufficient water for irrigation farming. The British never seemed to consider doing something like that.

I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the history of India, and the Raj. I'd even consider it mandatory for such readers. It covers an aspect of British/Indian life that you will not find in any other book (that I know of anyway).

Good Passages of India.......2007-07-14

Unlike India for much of the year, this read can be a bit on the dry side. My only real gripe is Gilmour's failure to adequately address the motivations of those who chose to spend the better part of their lives (often shortened by the decision, at that) in a distant and mostly inhospitable land. The money was good, and undoubtedly the sense of adventure alluring, but there had to be more to it than that. If there were, Gilmour doesn't venture to tell us. Nonetheless, if you are interested in the daily routines and functions of the never-to-be-repeated Indian Civil Service, I doubt that there's a better treatment available.

Interesting read on ICS officers.......2007-01-27

I found this book fascinating but as noted in one of the editorials it lacks a central theme that makes the book disconnected - more a collection of different events. It is fascinating to get into the daily lives of ICS officers of those days and draw a parallel with today's IAS/IPS officers of India (not much has changed!). I, myself, being grown up in that kind of environment, probably makes me a little biased towards this book.

Interesting perspectives on the Raj.......2007-01-03

An account of the Indian Civil Service under the Raj. It provides a mixture of structural analysis and anecdotal accounts of specific individuals. The author makes a good case that the Civilians in the service were hard working and genuinely interested in providing a good and just administration. They were notably incorruptible. They served as a tiny, isolated elite in a vast sub-continent.

The seeds of their fall were always present. They wanted to help India and to raise an educated forward-looking Indian middle class. But how could that class, raised to respect justice and democracy, not ultimately reject its mentors?

The book is occasionally slow, but generally moves along well and carries it weight.

Churchill: The Unexpected Hero (Lives and Legacies Series)

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Brief primer on genius "with feet of clay"
The Expected Hero
Good Addition To Sir Winston's Understanding
Excellent introduction to Churchill's life and career

Churchill: The Unexpected Hero (Lives and Legacies Series)
Paul Addison
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0199279349

Book Description

During the Second World War, Winston Churchill won two resounding victories. The first was a victory over Nazi Germany, the second a victory over the legion of sceptics who had derided his judgement, denied his claims to greatness, and excluded him from high office on the grounds that he was sure to be a danger to King and Country. Churchill was the only British politician of the twentieth century to become an enduring national hero. The curious thing is that it happened at the age of 65, at a time when he was considered to be a spent force, with a track-record of disastrous decisions. All but the most hostile of his adversaries conceded that he possessed great abilities, remarkable eloquence, and a streak of genius. But it was almost universally agreed that he was a shameless egotist, an opportunist without principles or convictions, an unreliable colleague, an erratic policy-maker who lacked judgement, and a reckless amateur strategist with a dangerous passion for war and bloodshed. At one time or another in his career, he had offended every party and faction in the land, yet despite this he became the embodiment of national unity, an uncrowned king who threatened to eclipse the monarchy. In this incisive new biography, Paul Addison tells the story of Churchill's life in parallel with the history of his reputation. He seeks to explain why Churchill was transformed into a national hero, and why his heroic status has endured ever since in spite of the attempts of iconoclasts to debunk him. He argues that we are now in a position to reach beyond the mythology - both positive and negative - to see the real Winston Churchill, a warrior-statesman whose qualities were remarkably consistent through all the vicissitudes of his career.

Customer Reviews:

Brief primer on genius "with feet of clay".......2005-12-04

Addison knows that Churchill's life has received almost as many words as Churchill wrote himself, as one of the most prodigous authors of the twentieth century, known and admired by many as the greatest figure of his time, "saving the world" from Nazi Germany, the right man at the right place at the right time.

But Addison is not so sure. Churchill was maddeningly erratic, not only changing political parties twice but also inflaming deep hatred during his long, varied career as a military figure, prison escapee, politician, cabinet member, and prime minister. Much of the peculiarities about Winston we can attribute to his relationship with his parents, an American debutant and a half-crazed father who died young. Lacking their affections, and wanting to make a name for himself, Churchill took on risks and positions with abandon.

Addison has done a thorough study, more remarkable for its brevity when describing a man whose life has been chronicled many times before in thousands of pages. While leading England during World War II, Winston came to symbolize the twentieth century but he was in many ways a man of the nineteenth or even eighteenth century, believing in the Empire and being more of an egoist than an egotist. Yes, he was a racist in today's terms, with his contempt for what we would today call "developing countries" and their peoples, but for his time Churchill was not out of step. He was, at times, indecisive and, yes, out of step with popular feelings. His writings were often efforts to cast himself in the best possible light. This was especially true when he wrote his memoirs of World War II, right after he was thrown from office at his moment of triumph. This cathartic and somewhat self-serving post-war writing process regained him 10 Downing Street, it also left him as the primary arbiter of his reputation from the war -- the leader of the victorious nations gets to write history.

He was a fickle, spoiled, epicurean of sorts who seemed to love a good fight -- even a good war -- if it helped him get ahead and helped England stay ahead or stay alive. Loved or hated, he deserves to be admired for what he got right, not for what he got wrong. Addison is critical yet quite balanced in this treatment of this great yet flawed figure. And for those who want the concise Churchill story, this is it.

The Expected Hero.......2005-04-11

Paul Addison has written a competent introduction to a life more interesting, in the sense of history, than any other of the twentieth century. His book is enlivened by many vivid quotes from a broad assortment of people who had reason to know Winston Churchill. However, I think the author, in an excessive attempt at balance, bends too far over backward in making use of certain highly negative assessments-- such as one offered by Evelyn Waugh at the time of Churchill's death.

While he may have had feet of clay, his name remains remembered in Westminister Abby--and elsewhere over the globe.

Good Addition To Sir Winston's Understanding.......2005-04-02

I've waited the past two months to receive a copy of this short biography on Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill. Reading this book does not disappoint.

This short work, though fair and favorable to Sir Winston, also discusses the controversies of his career. Not everyone in Britain was a fan of Churchill, with some disliking him, with others fearing he would ever have any part of the government. In spite of his monumental contributions to the World War II years, some never lost their mistrust nor dislike of the man.

As an American, I see him as the beacon of hope for war-torn Britain. The best possible man to lead the country during those years, an uncrowned king giving the British people the hope and stamina needed to go on, day by day, overcoming all the suffering World War II brought them. Should he not have been the best, surely there existed no one better. When one thinks today of World War II Britain, one must think of Winston Churchill. They have become intertwined and inseparable.

Even from his earliest years, Churchill always felt he was a person of destiny; so was able to equally accept and act in that role. One must wonder what England would have been without him. Prior to the war he was seen as too strident and hawkish, once the war began however his views and demeanor coincided exactly to the needs of the time. Once the war was over, most of the country turned their backs to him at the polls, feeling he was not up to running a tamer, peacetime government.

Being neither British, nor ignoring his earlier government service prior to World War II (he was 65 in 1940 at time of his becoming Prime Minister with many years of government service behind him), I cannot agree with their post war thinking. And as discussed in this slim volume, I agree with the author that the mistrust and distrust of earlier Liberal versus Tory episode was ever overcome. Too many felt they just could not count on, nor place their full trust in this man.

Winston Churchill is my 'cup of tea'. One of the few 20th Century men of both character and leadership. True, he had both great flaws and great abilities as well; and this book fairly shows both.

Recommended reading.

Semper Fi.

Excellent introduction to Churchill's life and career.......2005-01-16

Though Winston Churchill has never wanted for biographers, over the past few years the publication of brief studies of his life have come into vogue. Written by some of the leading historians of the period - John Keegan, Geoffrey Best, Stuart Ball - they offer an accessible (if condensed) examination of one of the dominant figures of the twentieth century. Paul Addison's book is the latest addition to their ranks, and one that deserves to be ranked as among the best of these efforts.

Addison argues that the heroic status that Churchill enjoys today belies much of his career. Considered an irresponsible genius by his contemporaries, he was a polarizing figure who was never completely trusted by any side of the political divide. Yet as prime minister during the Second World War he went on to become "the embodiment of national unity," a symbol of Britain's determination to defeat Nazi Germany. Addison provides a more nuanced view of Churchill's career, noting his ideological consistency in a politically turbulent age. When war came, the man and the moment were ideally matched; indeed, many of the traits that his opponents deplored - his enthusiasm for war, his advocacy of impossible ideas, even the fact that he was half American - became assets in the conflict and were keys to his successful leadership.

Developed from his entry on Churchill for the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Addison succeeds in providing an insightful introduction to the life of one of the dominant figures of the twentieth century. Though hardly a hagiographical account - he freely acknowledges such faults as Churchill's massive egotism - his portrait is a sympathetic one, depicting the prime minister as "a hero with feet of clay." The result is a good read and a great starting point for anyone seeking to learn more about this fascinating figure.

Two Early Tudor Lives: The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey by George Cavendish; The Life of Sir Thomas More by William Roper

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Two Early Tudor Lives: The Life and Death of Cardinal Wolsey by George Cavendish; The Life of Sir Thomas More by William Roper
George Cavendish , and William Roper
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0300002394

Scotland's Kings and Queens: Their Lives and Times (Discovering Historic Scotland Series)

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Scotland's Kings and Queens: Their Lives and Times (Discovering Historic Scotland Series)
Richard Oram
Manufacturer: Mercat Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0114957835

Book Description

This volume looks at the monarchs who ruled Scotland form the earliest kings of the Picts and the Scots to James VI and the time of the union with England. It follows the expansion of their domain and the fluctuating relations with the monarchs to the south, and explores the role of their households and the Church in support of their power. A look at their leisure pursuits rounds off this picture of just what it meant to be a monarch of the Scottish realm.

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John Wilkes: The Lives of a Libertine
John Sainsbury
Manufacturer: Ashgate Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0754656268

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Superb analysis of Gladstone's early years

Gladstone 1809-1874 (Oxford Lives)
H. C. G. Matthew
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Book Description

William Ewart Gladstone (1809-1898) was both the most characteristic and the most extraordinary of Victorians. His huge public career - in and out of office from 1834 to 1894 and four times Prime Minister - was consistently controversial and dramatic. His private life was a most curious blend of happiness and temptation. His Christian faith held the extremes of his character in sufficient harmony to avoid disintegration and to produce one of the most powerful political personalities in British history. The book describes Gladstone's early years as a Tory, the great transformation of his political position in the 1840s, his lengthy period as Chancellor of the Exchequer with its long-lasting implications for British financial policy, and his spectacular first administration from 1868 to 1874. It sets in context the remarkable private drama of sexual temptation and moral crisis which from the 1840s onwards accompanied these public developments. The account ends in December 1874, with Gladstone's formal retirement from leadership of the Liberal Party - the move which he intended as his farewell to party politics. Gladstone was perhaps the most influential political leader of modern Britain, and this book is a major contribution to our understanding of his character, his life, and his role in the Victorian political arena.

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Superb analysis of Gladstone's early years.......2003-12-15

William Ewart Gladstone is one of the giants of nineteenth century British politics. First elected to House of Commons in 1832, he went on to serve in a number of offices, most notably as prime minister for an unprecedented four times over a 26-year period. The leader of the Liberals, he left an indelible stamp on the party which spent a generation emerging from underneath his long shadow.

There are few more qualified to study Gladstone's life than H. C. G. Matthew. An accomplished historian, he was co-editor of the third and fourth volumes of the published edition of Gladstone's diaries and lead editor for the remainder of the series. This project forms the basis of his book; taken from the introductions to the third through the eight volumes of the series (with two original chapters added to cover Gladstone's early years), they offer a penetrating examination into the man in the context of his times.

Born in Liverpool in 1809, Gladstone was the fifth child in an Evangelical household. The son of a wealthy merchant, he attended Eton and Oxford, where he excelled academically. Matthew details Gladstone's intellectual and social development during this period, examining both his studies and the circle of friends he had in school. It was the father of one of these friends, the Duke of Newcastle, who offered Gladstone a seat in Parliament from a pocket borough, thus launching the young man on the political career he sought.

Matthew notes that at the start of his career Gladstone was a Tory and a staunch opponent of many of the reform measures being introduced by the Whig governments of the era. Yet while deemed by many to be "the Tories' best hope" for the future, Gladstone's politics were still evolving. Matthew sees the decade from 1841 to 1851 as the crucial period of Gladstone's political development, as he broke from the Conservatives on the issue of free trade and completed his separation with his attack on Disraeli's budget in 1852. Yet as Matthew shows, the decade that followed proved to be the most personally complex period of Gladstone's career. Like most Peelites, Gladstone had no great attachment to the Liberals; in fact, throughout the 1850s his personal inclinations continued to lay more with the Conservatives than with Palmerston. Cooperation ultimately foundered on the social implications of Gladstone's taxing schemes and Disraeli's presence - in the end, Matthew states, Gladstone became a Liberal by process of elimination.

At the same time as he was building his political career Gladstone was also starting a family, marrying Catherine Glynne in 1839 and presiding over a steadily growing household. Matthew provides an insightful examination of Gladstone's private life, particularly with regards to his faith. Embracing Tractarianism after Oxford, he was usually in attendance at church on a daily basis and in many of his writings he attempted to reconcile Christianity to modern civilization. His faith also found expression in an unusual form in his "rescue work" with London prostitutes. Matthew's analysis of this aspect of Gladstone's life is one of the most sophisticated in the book, interpreting his involvement as motivated in part by Gladstone's acknowledgement of (...) the need to confront and overcome temptation - a process that sometimes included self-scourging. In spite of the appearance of this work, though, Matthew concludes that Gladstone ultimately remained within contemporary social conventions and was never unfaithful to his wife.

In 1852 Gladstone joined the Aberdeen coalition as Chancellor of the Exchequer, serving in that office - with a four-year gap between 1855 and 1859 - until July 1866. Matthew considers this the most successful ministerial period of Gladstone's career, as well as the most satisfying on a personal level. Embracing the Liberal ethos of limited government, Gladstone strove throughout his tenure to reduce its role in the economy by minimizing expenditures and shifting finances from tariffs towards a mixture of direct and indirect taxes. Matthew's account of such an intricate and inherently dull subject is excellent, clear in its analysis and straightforward in its explanation of how these policies fit into Gladstone's vision of government and society. This period also saw Gladstone's emergence as a national politician, the unquestioned heir to the Liberal leadership after Palmerston's death in 1865 and Lord John Russell's retirement in 1867.

The final three chapters cover Gladstone during his first ministry. In the aftermath of the 1868 election the administration existed on a foundation of sand. Lacking a counterpart to John Gorst, the Liberals failed to build a party organization in the country, as Gladstone relied on his considerable political skills to maintain his government. Here Matthew concentrates on the issues the prime minister dealt with himself; the broader achievements of his administration, in such areas as education and army reform, are addressed in passing, as Matthew focuses on foreign policy and Gladstone's "mission" to pacify Ireland by addressing discontent over religion, land, and education. The failure of the Irish Universities Bill in March 1873 prompted the resignation of the cabinet; Disraeli's refusal to form a Conservative government forced its return, exhausted and fatally weakened by scandal. When Gladstone decided on dissolution the next year, the result was a Conservative victory and his retirement from politics. Though two more decades remained in political career, at this point he had already left a considerable legacy, one that Matthew has analyzed with an ability and expertise that is unlikely to be bettered.

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I fight to live
Robert John Graham Boothby
Manufacturer: V. Gollancz
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Lord Salisbury's World: Conservative Environments in Late-Victorian Britain (British Lives)

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Lord Salisbury's World: Conservative Environments in Late-Victorian Britain (British Lives)
Michael Bentley
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 052144506X

Book Description

Lord Salisbury (1830-1903) is now a subject of intense historical attention. But while other scholars have chosen to present biographies of him, this important and accessible new study moves away from the conventional "life" and reconstructs the thought-world of late-Victorian Conservatives for the first time. In doing so it provides a new location within which Victorian politics and Salisbury himself can be evaluated. The book will therefore be essential reading for anyone interested in British political ideas.

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Lord Salisbury (1830-1903) is now a subject of intense historical attention. This important new study moves away from conventional biography and presents an original portrait of the mental world inhabited by late-Victorian Conservatives at the time when their world-view was coming under severe strain. At the centre of the picture is the 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, but Lord Salisbury's World does not simply tell the story of his life and politics. Instead, it asks sensitive questions about how the political, intellectual and religious environments of the late-Victorian period seemed to one of its sharpest intellects, and it situates Salisbury and his immediate entourage in a wide landscape of relationships, perceptions and problems. Professor Bentley takes the reader into Conservative assumptions about time and space, property and society, religion and the state, and the past and the future - the very language in which they expressed themselves.

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For scholars only ...

Pitt the Elder (British Lives)
Jeremy Black
Manufacturer: Cambridge University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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This book offers a readable yet scholarly account of the life of one of the greatest statesmen of empire, William Pitt the Elder, First Earl of Chatham (1708-78). Chatham is seen as a political outsider who rose to direct British policy in the Seven Years War, the crucial struggle that gave Canada to Britain. A critic of domestic corruption, he was subsequently a champion of American liberties. Chatham's achievement was all the more remarkable for a politician who was dogged for much of his life by poor physical health and considerable mental stress. His position as an outsider was crucial: it helped make his reputation, and to make him an unsettling figure. It also caused problems when he gained office, but it ensured Chatham was and seemed, 'different'. He was a man with whom the national interest could be associated, not simply because he made the claim himself, but also because he seemed apart from the world of court and connection.

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For scholars only ..........2003-08-08

Anyone interested in rigorously researched late XVIII century English politics will probably enjoy (and learn) from Mr. Black's book. His work about William Pitt, after just a brief, usual part of a chapter on his parents, grandparents etc., dips immediately into maneuvers, conter maneuvers and consequences of ever shifting moods within the parliament.

Unfortunately the reader is presumed to know everything about the Seven Year War, the beginnings of America's revolution etc., as well as about England's major political parties and politicians at that time. The reader is supposed to be looking just for how Mr. Pitt and his opponents politicians handled these issues. So quite important historical events pass by as faint backgrounds.

Although this is somewhat intended to be a biography of William Pitt, and not the history of England in the 1700's, one would look for such a towering individual as a wonderful way to see big world events through England's government eyes. Instead we get a vey narrow perspective of these events. Probably that is the way most politicians see things nowadays ...

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