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Rowboat in a Hurricane: My Amazing Journey Across a Changing Atlantic Ocean
by Julie AngusAn intrepid scientist and her fiancé—National Geographic's 2007 Adventurers of the Year—observe the changing ocean while rowing across the Atlantic. In 2005-06, Julie Angus and her fiancé Colin rowed 10,000 kilometers across the Atlantic Ocean—from Lisbon to Costa Rica—making Angus the first woman in the world to travel from mainland to mainland in a rowboat. The 145-day journey gave Angus, a trained biologist, a unique perspective on the ocean. The slow-moving boat became an ecosystem unto itself, attracting barnacles, dorado fish, trigger fish, turtles, sharks, whales, birds, and more, which she was able to observe and document. Angus also saw unmistakable signs of the ocean&’s devastation, with far more plastic bottles, wrappers, toys, and bags than sharks or other once-common sea life. Four cyclones, including two hurricanes, hammered the small boat so intensely that Angus and her companion weren't sure they would survive. Rowboat in a Hurricane records this amazing journey in meticulous, dramatic detail, in the process offering a personal record of an awe-inspiring ecosystem, its fascinating denizens, and the mounting threats to its existence.
Rowdy: The Roddy Piper Story
by Colt Baird Toombs Ariel Teal ToombsThe biggest pro wrestling bio since Bret Hart's Hitman: legendary Rowdy Roddy Piper's unfinished autobiography, re-conceived and completed by his children, actress/musician Ariel Teal Toombs and wrestler Colt Baird Toombs.In early 2015, Roderick Toombs, aka Rowdy Roddy Piper, began researching his own autobiography with a trip through Western Canada. He was re-discovering his youth, a part of his life he never discussed during his 61 years, many spent as one of the greatest talents in the history of pro wrestling. Following his death due to a heart attack that July, two of his children took on the job of telling Roddy's story, separating fact from fiction in the extraordinary life of their father. Already an accomplished wrestler before Wrestlemania in 1985, Roddy Piper could infuriate a crowd like no "heel" before him. The principal antagonist to all-American champion Hulk Hogan, Piper used his quick wit, explosive ring style and fearless baiting of audiences to push pro wrestling to unprecedented success. Wrestling was suddenly pop culture's main event. An actor with over 50 screen credits, including the lead in John Carpenter's #1 cult classic, They Live, Piper knew how to keep fans hungry, just as he'd kept them wishing for a complete portrait of his most unusual life. He wanted to write this book for his family; now they have written it for him.From the Hardcover edition.
Rowing Without Oars: A Memoir of Living and Dying
by Ulla-Carin Lindquist Margaret MyersIn the tradition of The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, the extraordinary account of a woman’s illness and her struggle to come to terms with death <P> Ulla-Carin Lindquist was happily married with four adoring children and a successful career as a newscaster. All of that changed when, as her fiftieth birthday drew near, she began to notice small failures of strength and strange numbing sensations in her hands and arms. As she set out to understand her illness, she began a journal recounting her failing health. Soon the diagnosis became terribly clear: she was suffering from ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease. In the face of this incurable, degenerative disease, Ulla continued to chronicle her life not only for her children’s sake but also to cope with her impending death. From the moments we ordinarily take for granted—phone calls with her daughters, afternoons spent with her husband and sons— through the extraordinarily painful and pervasive decline of her abilities, Ulla’s unflinching account reminds us of how precious life really is. Her courage through her final days is evident in her clear and lucid prose. As powerful and moving as books like Autobiography of a Face and Tuesdays with Morrie, Rowing without Oars is an unforgettable work that explores the terror, embarrassment, and pain of illness as well as the universal themes of life, death, love, and the enduring importance of family.
Rowing for My Life: Two Oceans, Two Lives, One Journey
by Kathleen SavilleIn the tradition of Cheryl Strayed's Wild, one's woman's transformational journey rowing across the savage sea-twice.Just out of college, newly wed, and set up with her husband Curt in a small town in New York, Kathleen Saville quickly realized that an ordinary life working for a better used car and a home with a mortgage would never satisfy her thirst for freedom and adventure. The year before, she and Curt had retraced Henry David Thoreau's canoe journey through the Maine Woods, and both were veteran rowers. Inspired, she suggested that they row across the Atlantic Ocean. Returning to her hometown, living on a shoestring, they built their own twenty-five-foot ocean rowboat. They set out from Morocco and, tested by adverse currents, gales, and their own inexperience, accomplished the near impossible.Three years later, while they attempted to row across the Pacific, Curt was washed overboard and lost their sextant-their only means of navigation. Now, besides confronting fatigue, storms, sharks, and deadly reefs, they had to find a way to avoid becoming lost at sea and succumbing to starvation. Their ordeal in completing their crossing exposed the fissures in their marriage, and in this and subsequent adventures, Kathleen was forced to confront the difference between courage and foolhardiness. Cinematic, suspenseful, heartbreaking, and ultimately triumphant, her story of an unraveling marriage is also the account of finding her true self amid the life-and-death challenges at sea."It is easier to sail many thousand miles through cold and storm and cannibals, in a government ship, with five hundred men and boys to assist one, than it is to explore the private sea, the Atlantic and Pacific Ocean of one's being alone.”-Henry David Thoreau
Rowing the Atlantic
by Roz SavageStuck in a corporate job rut and an unraveling marriage, Roz Savage realized that if she carried on as she was, she wasn't going to end up with the life she wanted. So she turned her back on an eleven-year career as a management consultant to reinvent herself as a woman of adventure. She invested her life's savings in an ocean rowboat and became the first solo woman ever to enter the Atlantic Rowing Race. Flashing back to key moments from her life before rowing, she describes the bolt from the blue that first inspired her to row across oceans, and how this crazy idea evolved from a dream into a tendonitis-inducing reality. Savage discovers in the rough waters of the Atlantic the kind of happiness we all hope to find.ts are nourished by yet another freeze-dried meal. When her gloves wear through to her blistered hands. When her headlamp is the only light on a pitch-black night ocean that extends indefinitely in all directions. When, one by one, all four of her oars break. When her satellite communication fails. Stroke by stroke, Savage discovers there is so much more to life than a fancy sports car and a power-suit job. Flashing back to key moments from her life before rowing, she describes the bolt from the blue that first inspired her to row across oceans and how this crazy idea evolved from a dream into a tendinitis-inducing reality. And finally, Savage discovers in the rough waters of the Atlantic the kind of happiness we all hope to find.
Rowing the Pacific: 7,000 Miles from Japan to San Francisco
by Mick DawsonStorms, fatigue, equipment failure, intense hunger, and lack of water are just a few of the challenges that ocean rower Mick Dawson endured whilst attempting to complete one of the World's 'Last Great Firsts'.In this nail-biting true story of man versus nature, former Royal Marine commando Dawson, a Guinness World Record-holder for ocean-rowing and high-seas adventurer takes on the Atlantic and ultimately the North Pacific.It took Dawson three attempts and a back-breaking voyage of over six months to finally cross the mighty North Pacific for the first time. Dawson and his rowing partner Chris Martin spent 189 days, 10 hours and 55 minutes rowing around the clock, facing the destruction of their small boat and near-certain death every mile of the way, before finally reaching the iconic span of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Dawson's thrilling account of his epic adventure details how he and Chris propelled their fragile craft, stroke by stroke for thousands of miles across some of the most dangerous expanses of ocean, overcoming failure, personal tragedy and everything that nature could throw at him along the way.
Rowing the Pacific: 7,000 Miles from Japan to San Francisco
by Mick Dawson'If you love thrilling adventure books that'll keep you on the edge of your seat, then you're going to love this one' - Naomi Dunbar, Adventure Travel'I am an ocean rower, and have read a lot of books by fellow ocean rowers, and enjoyed them, BUT, this one beats them all. It was brilliant, so gripping that once started I could not put it down, read it in one go, neglecting all my work and chores. This man is brave. This man can row but most of all THIS MAN CAN WRITE.' Ocean Rower'Mick's account of the gruelling journey is compelling. You'll feel that you're there with them, through the near-death experiences and the equipment failures, battling extreme fatigue, frightening storms and an ocean the consistency of liquid cement' Lifeboat MagazineStorms, fatigue, equipment failure, intense hunger, and lack of water are just a few of the challenges that ocean rower Mick Dawson endured whilst attempting to complete one of the World's 'Last Great Firsts'.In this nail-biting true story of man versus nature, former Royal Marine commando Dawson, a Guinness World Record-holder for ocean-rowing and high-seas adventurer takes on the Atlantic and ultimately the North Pacific.It took Dawson three attempts and a back-breaking voyage of over six months to finally cross the mighty North Pacific for the first time. Dawson and his rowing partner Chris Martin spent 189 days, 10 hours and 55 minutes rowing around the clock, facing the destruction of their small boat and near-certain death every mile of the way, before finally reaching the iconic span of San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge. Dawson's thrilling account of his epic adventure details how he and Chris propelled their fragile craft, stroke by stroke for thousands of miles across some of the most dangerous expanses of ocean, overcoming failure, personal tragedy and everything that nature could throw at him along the way.
Rowing to Latitude: Journeys Along the Arctic’s Edge
by Jill FredstonTwo by sea: A couple rows the wild coasts of the far north. Jill Fredston has traveled more than twenty thousand miles of the Arctic and sub-Arctic-backwards. With her ocean-going rowing shell and her husband, Doug Fesler, in a small boat of his own, she has disappeared every summer for years, exploring the rugged shorelines of Alaska, Canada, Greenland, Spitsbergen, and Norway. Carrying what they need to be self-sufficient, the two of them have battled mountainous seas and hurricane-force winds, dragged their boats across jumbles of ice, fended off grizzlies and polar bears, been serenaded by humpback whales and scrutinized by puffins, and reveled in moments of calm. As Fredston writes, these trips are "neither a vacation nor an escape, they are a way of life." Rowing to Latitude is a lyrical, vivid celebration of these northern journeys and the insights they inspired. It is a passionate testimonial to the extraordinary grace and fragility of wild places, the power of companionship, the harsh but liberating reality of risk, the lure of discovery, and the challenges and joys of living an unconventional life.
Rowntrees: The Early History
by Paul ChrystalThe Rowntree family, especially Henry and the younger Joseph Rowntree are, along with the Fry’s, Cadbury’s, Mars and Terry’s, synonymous with the birth and growth of the chocolate industry in Britain. Between them, they were the chocolate industry in Britain. This book charts the fascinating story behind the birth and development of the chocolate empire that was Rowntrees. Background information to this astonishing business comes by way of chapters on the early history of the Rowntrees, contemporary York, the relationship between Quakers and chocolate, and the Tuke family – without whom there would have been no Rowntrees, and no Kit Kats. Henry, it is usually forgotten, was the founder of Rowntree’s – he made the momentous decision to sign the deal with the Tukes and we join him in those very early days of the fledgling company and watch how he helped it through some very dark, and sometimes humorous, times in what was then a very shambolic set up – cash strapped and making it up as the company lurched from crisis to crisis. Joseph, his elder brother, it was, who became the driving force to eventual global success, mixing his hectic business life with acts of compassion and a benevolent management model, all of which paved the way for decent wages, pensions, insurance and mutual respect in the workplace. Charity work extended beyond the factories to lift workers and others out of the slums of York to a life in a healthy model village, to provide a good social life, an extensive park, swimming pool and education for children and adults. More context is given with chapters on Joseph’s relentless industrial espionage, the advancements in chocolate production and 20th century rivals in the domestic and export markets, and mergers and acquisitions. Rowntree’s role in the two world wars is also covered along with the struggle Joseph Rowntree had accepting the importance of advertising. Altogether this book gives two fascinating biographies of two exceptional and driven brothers who came together to form one of our greatest companies - producing some of our best loved confectionery products.
Roy & Me: This Is Not a Memoir
by Maurice YacowarMaurice Yacowar challenges genre and form in Roy & Me, a cross between memoir and fiction, truth and distortion. It is the exploration of Yacowar’s relationship with Roy Farran—soldier, politician, author, mentor—and his conflict with Farran’s anti-Semitic past.Best known for his service with the British Special Air Service during World War II, Roy Farran served as a politician in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta for Premier Peter Lougheed. During his time in Israel as a soldier, Farran allegedly kidnapped and murdered a sixteen-year-old member of the Lehi group, also known as the Stern Gang.Roy & Me is a memoir that edges toward fiction by venturing into Roy Farran’s thoughts, drawing simultaneously on his writings and Yacowar’s own imagination.
Roy Bean: Law West of the Pecos
by C. L. SonnichsenPhantly Roy Bean, Jr. (1825-1903), self-styled “Law West of the Pecos,” was an eccentric American saloon-keeper and Justice of the Peace in Val Verde County, Texas. According to legend, he held court in his saloon along the Rio Grande on a desolate stretch of the Chihuahuan Desert of southwest Texas.Southwestern historian and folklorist, C. L. Sonnichsen, lived near Judge Bean’s house for several years and decided to pen this biography, first published in 1943, owing to his belief that it was “high time for somebody to look into his history and see how a Roy Bean ever came to be at all.” Roy Bean: Law West of the Pecos examines Judge Bean’s legendary, as well as factual background and makes for a fascinating read.
Roy D. Chapin: The Man Behind the Hudson Motor Car Company
by Charles K. Hyde J. C. Long"John Cuthbert Long's Roy D. Chapin is a thorough and detailed biography of a remarkable, but little-known Detroit automobile industry pioneer. Historians should include Roy Dikeman Chapin (February 23, 1880-February 16, 1936) in any listing of significant American auto industry pioneers, along with the Duryea brothers, Ransom E. Olds, Henry Leland, Henry Ford, William C. Durant, and the Dodge brothers. Outside the cloister of automotive historians, Roy Chapin is an unknown. This is in part because no company or car bore his name. Unlike many contemporary auto pioneers, Roy Chapin was a modest man who did not promote himself. Even Long's superb biography of Chapin is not well-known because it was privately printed in 1945 with a small press run. In reprinting this volume, Wayne State University Press is making an important contribution to automotive history."--From the introduction by Charles K. Hyde, Department of History, Wayne State University
Roy Lichtenstein: How Modern Art Was Saved by Donald Duck (Penguin Specials)
by Alastair SookeA Penguin Special on Roy Lichtenstein by Alastair Sooke - read in 2 hours or less'Why, Brad darling, this painting is a masterpiece! My, soon you'll have all of New York clamoring for your work!' Roy Lichtenstein - architect of Pop art, connoisseur of the comic strip, master of irony and prophet of popular culture. From exhilarating images of ice-cool jet pilots in dog fights, to blue-haired Barbie dolls drowning in scenes of domestic heartache, Lichtenstein's instantly recognisable paintings, with their Ben-Day dots and witty one-liners, defined the art of a generation. But how did a jobbing, unassuming painter of the Fifties become a world-famous Pop artist whose work today sells for millions? What do his paintings really tell us? And what is his legacy?This book, by art critic and broadcaster Alastair Sooke, is a perfect introduction to the artist and his work. Spanning Lichtenstein's career, and explaining his unique style, it is a journey through the life of one of the twentieth century's greatest artists.Published in time for a major new retrospective of the work of Roy Lichtenstein.'Sooke is an immensely engaging character. He has none of the weighty self-regard that often afflicts art experts and critics; rather he approaches his subjects with a questioning, open, exploratory attitude' Sarah Vine, The Times'His shows are excellent - clever, lively, scholarly, but not too lecturey; he's very good at linking his painters with the world outside the studio, and at how these artists have affected the world today' Sam Wollaston reviewing 'Modern Masters', GuardianAlastair Sooke is deputy art critic of the Daily Telegraph. He has written and presented documentaries on television and radio for the BBC, including Modern Masters, an acclaimed BBC One series that chronicled modern art in the twentieth century. Since 2009 he has reported regularly for The Culture Show on BBC Two. He was educated at Christ Church, Oxford, and at the Courtauld Institute of Art, London.
Roy of the Rovers: The Official Autobiography of Roy of the Rovers
by Roy RaceTen league titles. Eleven FA Cups. Three European Cups. 481 goals across a 38-year playing career. A surprisingly high number of kidnappings. An assassination attempt. Not one, but two narrow escapes from earthquakes. A career-ending helicopter crash.My name is Roy Race. You know me as Roy of the Rovers. This is my story. From the five terrifying kidnappings that threatened to blight his playing career to the stomach-churning murder attempt in 1980, which left Roy in a life-threatening coma; from the sickening car bomb attack that tragically killed eight of Roy's team-mates while on a pre-season tour of Basran to the horrific helicopter crash in 1993 that resulted in the amputation of Roy's legendary left foot: this is the shocking tell-all autobiography of one of England's greatest ever sportsmen.Candid, emotional, optimistic, strangely repetitive, full of crushing lows and dizzying highs, and bearing an inexplicable resemblance to the plot structure of old comic strips, Roy's autobiography shines as brightly as the Melchester Rovers legend himself. Sit down, kick back, and treat yourself to the greatest football fairytale story of all time.**except for Leicester
Royal Audience: 70 Years, 13 Presidents--One Queen's Special Relationship with America
by David Charter70 years on the throne. 13 American presidents. One extraordinary queen.From the moment she first enchanted the world as a youthful princess, Queen Elizabeth II found a unique place in American hearts—and she also played an unprecedented role in forging transatlantic ties. Over her seventy-year reign, she developed extraordinary and varied personal bonds with thirteen U.S. presidents—Truman, Eisenhower, Kennedy, Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan, both Bush Sr. and Jr., Clinton, Obama, Trump, and Biden—that other diplomats and leaders could only dream of.A fascinating, in-depth look at international relations and interpersonal intrigue, Royal Audience peels back the curtain on the &“special relationship&” between the U.S. and the U.K. as embodied by the Queen herself—charting Elizabeth II&’s distinctive brand of one-to-one diplomacy through the eyes of those who experienced it firsthand. From horse-riding with Ronald Reagan, to sharing her recipe for scones with Dwight D. Eisenhower, to striking up a kinship with the Bushes and the Obamas, the Queen&’s interactions with her U.S. counterparts often acted as a restorative tonic for relations between two nations, even when political tensions ran high. Not all royal encounters with U.S. presidents went smoothly, though. Between Jackie Kennedy&’s complaints about Elizabeth and the Queen Mother&’s shock at being kissed on the lips by Jimmy Carter, there was never a dull moment.Throughout the years, Queen Elizabeth II&’s sense of duty and service remained steadfast, and her iconic legacy is unlikely to be repeated.
Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty
by Karl ShawAn uproarious, eye-opening history of Europe's notorious royal houses that leaves no throne unturned and will make you glad you live in a democracy.Do you want to know which queen has the unique distinction of being the only known royal kleptomaniac? Or which empress kept her dirty underwear under lock and key? Or which czar, upon discovering his wife's infidelity, had her lover decapitated and the head, pickled in a jar, placed at her bedside?Royally dishing on hundreds of years of dubious behavior, Royal Babylon chronicles the manifold appalling antics of Europe's famous families, behavior that rivals the characters in an Aaron Spelling television series. Here, then, are the insane kings of Spain, one of whom liked to wear sixteen pairs of gloves at one time; the psychopathic Prussian soverigns who included Frederick William and his 102-inch waist; sex-fixated French rulers such as Philip Duke D'Oreleans cavorting with more than a hundred mistresses; and, of course, the delightfully drunken and debauched Russian czars - Czar Paul, for example, who to make his soldiers goose-step without bending their legs had steel plates strapped to their knees. But whether Romanov or Windsor, Habsburg or Hanover, these extravagant lifestyles, financed as they were by the royals' badgered subjects, bred the most wonderfully offbeat and disturbingly unbelievable tales - and Karl Shaw has collected them all in this hysterically funny and compulsively readable book. Royal Babylon is history, but not as they teach it in school, and it underlines in side-splitting fashion Queen Victoria's famous warning that it is unwise to look too deeply into the royal houses of Europe.
Royal Charles: Charles II and the Restoration
by Antonia FraserHere is Charles II himself, witty and lovable, courageous and resilient, who surrounded himself with a "merry gang," irreverent young wits who loved a high-spirited frolic and otherwise diverted themselves with poetry and plays and literature.
Royal Children
by Ingrid SewardFocusing on the British Royal Family, a look at the psychological consequences of being raised by a nanny.
Royal Harlot
by Susan Holloway ScottLondon, 1660: Ready to throw off a generation of Puritan rule, all England rejoices when Charles Stuart returns to reclaim the throne. Among those welcoming him is young Barbara Villiers Palmer, a breathtaking Royalist beauty whose sensuality and clever wit instantly captivate the handsome, jaded king. Though each is promised to another, Barbara soon becomes Charles's mistress and closest friend, and the uncrowned queen of his bawdy Restoration court. Rewarded with titles, land, and jewels, she is the most envied and desired woman in England--and the most powerful. But the role of royal mistress is a precarious one, and Barbara's enemies and rivals are everywhere in the palace.
Royal Murders: Hatred, Revenge and the Seizing of Power
by Dulcie M AshdownThis book examines the motives, means and consequences of the murders among members of Europe's ruling families over the last 1,000 years. Plucking true stories due to their historical significance and sheer intrigue, this book relates violent deaths amid royal splendour and the overthrow of tyrants by oppressed populations. Methods vary from sword and arrow, to bomb and bullet, to alleged witchcraft. Settings range from Russia to Portugal; British examples include the involvement Mary Queen of Scots may have had in her second husband's murder and a search for the facts behind Shakespeare's portrayal of the murderous usurpers Macbeth and Richard III. But in European history there has been no royal murder to rival Russia's Tsar Ivan the Terrible, a homicidal maniac responsible for thousands of deaths, whose dramatic killing sprees are examined here. Dulcie M. Ashdown takes on a journey through the dark and tragic side of royal history: from Richard III through to the recent controversy surrounding the death of Diana, Princess of Wales.
Royal Mysteries of the Anglo-Saxons and Early Britain (Royal Mysteries Ser.)
by Timothy VenningRoyal mysteries never fail to intrigue readers and TV viewers. The 'mysteries', unravelled and analysed, are of enduring fascination and full of tragedy, suffering and pathos but also heroism and romance. The text is based on deep research in original sources including rare documents, archaeological and DNA evidence, latest historiography and academic research but is essentially accessible history. These are the 'Dark Ages' but Anglo-Saxon enlightenment is emphasised. The Heptarchy, with seven Anglo-Saxon states is examined and Alfred's victory over the Vikings and emergence of the English kingdom. But mystery surrounds all aspects of dynastic, political and military history. The story includes the surviving British and Welsh kingdoms when 'Welsh' meant 'foreigner, the Gaelic kingdoms in what became Scotland, the survival of lowland 'Britons' under the Germanic Anglo-Saxon radar - a new interpretation of early English society in its shadowy forms with the half-mythical founders of the early English kingdoms like Hengist of Kent or Cerdic of Wessex, up to William duke of Normandy - did he have any legitimate claim to justify his 'power-grab'? Some episodes have dropped out of history like the murder the teen-age King Edward the 'Martyr', but here is a re-telling of early mysteries based on close analysis of the myriad sources while stimulating romantic fascination.
Royal Mysteries: The Medieval Period (Royal Mysteries Ser.)
by Timothy VenningRoyal murder mysteries never fail to intrigue readers and TV viewers. Here are some of the most haunting and even horrific episodes from the middle ages, based on latest historical research and historiography, and authentic and rare sources, including archaeology and DNA evidence, uncovering wonderful tales of pathos, tragedy, suffering and romance. This is history for specialists and general readers - and sceptics - given the intense media coverage, including TV, and interest in exciting and accessible popular history. The famous and also less well-known mysteries, which may be new to readers, surrounding British Royalty, are included from around the 11th to the 15th centuries. The murder mysteries show personal and individual tragedy but are also a vehicle for historical analysis. William II - William Rufus - was he murdered or killed accidentally by a 'stray arrow', allowing brother Henry to seize the throne, or was it God's punishment for William's irreligious living and persecution of the church? Or was Edward II murdered at the instigation of Queen Isabella - 'she-wolf of France' - and her lover, Roger Mortimer. who assumed the throne? Did he survive to live peaceably in Italy? Richard II resembled Edward II, as a rather inadequate figure, and was deposed by his rival, Henry IV. Did he die, and if so, was it murder or suicide? Was Edward IV a bigamist? Mystery, if not murder, but wrapped in dynastic rivalry and sex scandal, and usurpation of the throne. The 'Princes in the Tower' and who who killed them if anyone? A beguiling mystery for over 500 years with their usurping uncle Richard III's guilt contested by 'Ricardians'.
Royal Navy and the Peruvian-Chilean War 1879–1881: Rudolf de Lisle's Diaries and Watercolors
by Gerard de LisleThis beautifully presented book captures the spirit of a little known war where the Royal Navy played a peripheral but crucial role. The power of the British Empire was at its height, thanks to the reach of the Royal Navy and officers from that service who often found themselves far from home and in positions of power way beyond their rank.
Royal Panoply: Brief Lives of the English Monarchs
by Carolly EricksonStephen, nephew of William the Conqueror, was said to be a fine knight but a fool as a king. Henry V did not live long enough to fulfill his potential. James I did, which was to drink himself to death. In this collection of nicely chatty anecdotes, Erickson provides the general reader with some of the better-known "inside facts" about the 39 kings and queens of England. She includes a number of portraits, including one of Queen Anne that is remarkable for its portrayal of her as a relatively svelte matron and Edward VIII as a pug-lover. Erickson is careful to remain objective about the long succession of a remarkable small number of families, and provides uncomplicated versions of major events of the monarchs' lives and times. Annotation ©2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Royal Panoply: Brief Lives of the English Monarchs
by Carolly EricksonFrom medieval conqueror to Renaissance autocrat to Victorian Empress to modern melodrama, Royal Panoply is the story of some of the most fascinating people in world history.With her trademark blend of probing scholarship, lively prose, and psychological insight, Carolly Erickson focuses on each monarch's entire life---from the puny, socially awkward Charles I, to the choleric, violent William the Conqueror, to the well-meaning, deeply affectionate Queen Anne, who was so heavy she had to be carried to her coronation. Royal Panoply recaptures the event-filled, often dangerous, always engaging lives of England's kings and queens, set against the backdrop of a thousand years of Britain's past.