Customer Reviews

The Elizabeth Icon, 1603-2003

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

With so many big books on the market about the most amazing
queen (and she was also a great king) in history, why should a reader
buy this one? Because it is simply the best one out there. Innovative,
detailed, witty, and the best book jacket image of Elizabeth EVER.
This is the best book to be published on Elizabeth in the last twenty years
and if like me you have scarce financial resources, this should be your
splurge.

If you like drinking tea and watching Masterpiece Theater, this one is for you -- hey, and it would be so cute to read it by the light of those real beeswax candles. Walker is a real true-blue Anglophile -- which means that there's lots of stuff about Britain in this book, lots of which you won't understand, but then she admits she doesn't too some of the time. Book that vacation to BuckingHam Palace and take this book along.

An artful and insightful investigation into the phenomenon of the iconography of one of England's most co-opted historical figures. Meticulously researched and documented, Dr. Walker's study of the evolution of the Gloriana icon and the deliberate revisionism surrounding her role in the English consciousness from the moment of her death into current pop culture flips the traditional Elizabeth I scholarship on its head. *And there was much rejoicing*

One of the book's greatest strengths is the masterly interspersion of snatches of wry humor and dry wit throughout the formidable scholarly passages. The analysis is lively because the author succeeds so effortlessly at animating her argument with the kind of surprising cleverness that makes an academic text both entertaining and credible.

`The Elizabeth Icon' revisits an oft-studied era in English history with a different perspective and reveals important facets previously disregarded as insignificant or overlooked as immaterial. It goes on to offer new insight into why and how successors, politicians, and citizens conceptualize public figures and national identity.

This kind of study is particularly interesting in an America where the current administration is often accused of distorting

This is a wonderfully written and fascinating book about Elizabeth I's iconic appearance in the popular imagination. It surveys everything from high art portraiture to twentieth-century teapots, and reveals a great deal about how English-speaking culture manipulates its reception of a powerful woman. Good scholarship, and good general reading.

My opinion is that this is a badly researched and written book. There are so many smart things written about Queen Elizabeth these days, that I wouldn't waste my time with this book. I thought it was trash. It's easy to understand why it's so low on the Amazon rankings. My impression: an academic book trying to be popular and not doing a good job at it. Not worth buying, I would say.