Customer Reviews

Georgiana: Duchess of Devonshire

5 star:		(47)
4 star:		(26)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I bought this book because it had such a glowing review in the New Yorker, but frankly I was a little dubious about its obscure subject. However, once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. Think money, sex, adultery, lesbianism, aristocracy, drug addiction, gambling, politics, scandals, betrayals, blackmail, fashion, theater, and the French Revolution, and you have just some of the potent elements in this book. Foreman writes with great clarity and verve. The book reads more like a novel than a work of history. And yet it is full of fascinating insights and historical information. Georgiana seems more like a modern woman with thoroughly modern neuroses than an eighteenth-century character. I couldn't help but root for her all the way along. The evil Bess, on the other hand, is a character straight from the movie Single White Female - a classic evil best friend who cannot completely disguise her intentions. I recommend this book to all readers.

Georgianna deserves to find an American audience as proportionately big as its British audience. Georgiana was a smash over there in England, a country fond of behind-the-scenes stories of aristocratic ladies in the past. (And in the present, too: much has been made of the connections between the Duchess of Devonshire and her descendent, Diana, Princess of Wales.) Yet Amanda Foreman's Georgiana is much more than one of those ersatz popular biographies full of pillow talk and emotions that result more from the biographer's imagination than real research. The book is written in an unpretentious, straightforward style that values clarity above everything. You don't have to be a Masterpiece-Theater-watching anglophile to appreciate its glamour, wit, and intrigue, and you don't have to be a professional historian to grasp its many provocative implications about history and the birth of mass political campaigning. Amanda Foreman must thank heaven every day that such a brilliant subject came her way, and she serves it well. Still, it would be hard to write an uninteresting book about the Duchess of Devonshire. She is a wonderfully paradoxical figure whose meaning seductively eludes the reader's grasp: was she a dilettante or a genuine, energetic talent frustrated by the sexism of her time? Was she merely acting out of the privilege of her class (really, she was above class) or was she genuinely driven ? The ladies of Stella Tillyard's Aristocrats come across as pampered pawns who infrequently lucked into a little free will. Foreman's Georgiana, in contrast, proves that at least one late-18th-century Englishwoman was capable of acting upon her will-even if she made more than one life-altering whopper of a bad decision. Foreman clearly loves her subject, but she does not leave out the flaws and weaknesses in Georgianna's character--all her indulgence, dishonesy, and self-interestedness are on display here. Still, one of Georgianna's greatest charms was learning from her mistakes, and thus her life-narrative has the arc of a good novel. One problem: it's hard for the non-historian to judge Foreman's claim that the duchess's political success represented a general involvement of women in politics of the time greater than is usually acknowledged. What woman other than Georgiana, so unlike anyone else, enjoyed her kind of power and how many were so advantageously poised, by birth and marriage, to find or create that power? Still, Georgianna's story, in Foreman's skillful telling of it, points to the truth of her claim that "the propensity of women's historians to ignore high politics, and of political historians to ignore women, has resulted in a profound misunderstanding of one of the most sexually integrated periods of British history."

That this book was The Whitbread Award Winner, and a tremendous success in The Duchess Of Devonshire's own country, is no surprise. However as an avid reader of History I was pleasantly surprised at the book's popularity here.

This book was published when the Authoress Foreman was 30 years old, and was produced while she was even younger. To me this makes this Biography of Georgiana all the more impressive, as it can, and will stand with historical works by other writers twice her age and more.

I also believe Ms. Foreman's youth allowed her to bring The Duchess to us as her peer in age, which allowed more objectivity, and a candid portrayal that was brutally honest but never derogatory for it's own sake. That this is the first work of Ms. Foreman's is simply amazing.

History has great moments, but even the most interesting periods of time, or the life of one extraordinary life can be numbing to read. The Biographies go on forever in tedious detail that leaves the reader exhausted. Ms. Foreman writes what is necessary, she uses the space she needs, and the result is a remarkable amount of information related, in an efficient manner. Not only do we learn about The Duchess, for additionally Ms. Foreman fills her story with all manner of events surrounding the Duchess and Europe at large, to convey even more information.

The life of The Duchess must be read to be appreciated. This woman filled her relatively short life with more accomplishments, and amassed more influence, that today her life is as enjoyable and impressive to experience as a reader, as it must have been exciting to witness 200 years ago.

The word Renaissance is used to describe an individual of multiple talents at which they excel. The word has no more appropriate person to attach itself to. The Duchess, was there, did everything, created and set the tenor of society, and did it all to the absolute extreme. She was not perfect, but she was remarkable. Her exploits of 2 centuries ago make those of today's public figures rather pale.

An excellent read, a remarkable debut, and hopefully the first in a string of work that Ms. Foreman will relate.

The only bad thing about this book is that it's inevitably going to end. If you love superbly written and beautifully researched biographies and have ANY interest whatsoever in history, you'll want to add this one to your library. The author, Amanda Foreman, is a former freelance journalist, which probably goes very far in explaining why the story is so incredibly absorbing. It reads like a novel. Typically, I actually knit while I read. With this book, I finally put my knitting aside because it was slowing down my reading! I admit to minoring in history in college, with a focus on British history, but I've learned all kinds of information that I never fully understood before. (The author also has a PhD from Oxford.) The only other biography I've read that comes close to this one was also written by another Amanda ... Amanda Vaill's Everybody was So Young. If you appreciated that one, you'll probably love reading about Amanda Foreman's Georgiana.

I am a novice at historical biographies and this one prooves an amazing read! After the first page the colourful lives of the Duchesses,the Dukes,the Ladies and the Lords became irrisitable.Imagine being a fly on the wall in this extraordinary regency yarn. The book is so well reserched and constructed by the author that it is wholly believable.It is a fascinating insight into the decadence of the ton,the enormously wealthy and titled set with little to do but enjoy themselves by every possible means,sex gambling,drugs and politics are just a few of the diversion.A must read book!

Amanda Foreman's stunning portrayal of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire is riveting! The author's meticulous research and excellent writing bring this vibrant, fascinating woman to life. An icon of Whig politics, entertaining, fashion, science and popular literature (not to mention gambling and intriguing social escapades), Georgiana accomplished more in her short lifetime than a dozen women combined. This historical biography reads like a novel, and Foreman's lively, three-dimensional depiction of her subject will cause you to bond with Georgiana before you finish the first chapter. In addition to the wonderful insight Foreman provides on Georgian's life, the book is also an excellent source of 18th century British political and social commentary. A wonderful, informative read!

This is one of the best books I've read in ages. I totally loved the way Ms Foreman manages to make the period come alive and it reads like a modern story with a completely authentic old feel. I'd much rather read this lively, energetic and amusing writing than the strangely successful Angelas Ashes

What better material can you start with than the most well-known menage a trois in English history - involving one of the wealthiest men of his age, and Duke at that, his wife the most popular and influential woman of her age, Georgiana, the Duchess of Devonshire - and their best friend?

With a story like this Amanda Foreman would have been hard pressed to fail in a book on Georgiana, 5th Duchess of Devonshire. But Foreman doesn't falter in the tale though, and neither does she pore with salacious enjoyment over the detail. She does a great job in presenting the Duchess throughout her life and in all her colours and shades; as a young girl, rejected wife, desperate gambler, impetuous campaigner, caring mother and always- good friend.

Georgiana was born in 1757 and died in 1806 so this book is set against the excesses and massive changes of the latter half of the eighteenth century. The rise of the industrial revolution, the rise in England's population - and most espeically the rise in the population of England's few cities. This was also the age of enoblement with the King raising many men to new peerages in order to stack the Government in his favour. Change was rife, fashion extreme and politics were a game that many noble women could play - Georgiana led them all.

I like the way Foreman is sparing in her conclusions but presents the detail for us to interpret. We get to see all sides of Georgiana and her life. This is truly a book about a woman and the influence she had on her era.

There have been a number of books on her over the years, the publication of her letters to Lady Elizabeth Foster. In the last 30 years Both Arthur Calder-Marshall and Brian Masters have written good biographies of the Duchess of Devonshire also. If you are looking for further reading on Georgiana, I think Brian Masters book is excellent and still in print.

Amanda Foreman who received the prestigious Whitbread Prize for Biography for this book, makes reading history as painless as eating a dish of raspberry ice cream. That is not to say the book lacks scholarship and research, but Ms. Foreman presents her material in such a witty, well-written way; the reader is beguiled.

Georgianna was most of all, a very lovable woman. She was beautiful, stylish, lively, witty and unfailingly kind. She was a natural politician and was passionately involved her entire life. Her charisma, cleverness and organization in the political arena bring to mind FDR, JFK and Britain's present Prime Minister Tony Blair. She used all of her advantages of great wealth and high birth to maximum advantage.

Georgianna's never-curbed mania for gambling caused her a lifetime of anxiety and misery. At one time, in today's dollars, she was $6 million in debt! She was never free of demanding creditors, and was ever fearful of confessing her great indebtedness to the Duke whom she dreaded would divorce her if he knew the extent of her losses. She was too loyal in her friendships and distinctly untidy in her love life.

I noted one reviewer, in comparing Georgianna with her great (four times) niece, Diana, reported the Duchess never knew the joys of motherhood. This is incorrect. Her two daughters and son adored her. At the time of Georgianna's death, her eldest daughter wrote: "Oh my beloved, my adored departed mother, are you indeed forever parted from me? Shall I see no more that angelic countenance or hear that blessed voice? You whom I loved with such tenderness, you who were the best of mothers? Adieu---I wanted to strew violets over her dying bed as she strewed sweets over my life, but they would not let me." What parent could want a more loving tribute?

"Georgianna, Duchess of Devonshire" is a compelling biography, not only of the subject, but life and times in Georgian England. Highly recommended.

why is this the best book i've read in ages? besides foreman's great style and subject matter, here is the opportunity to connect with a unique woman who flaunts all of our weaknesses and excesses and still remains true to herself. This is one of those life changing books that makes you examine yr own life in a different (maybe kinder) way. It's fascinating to ponder how much Foreman's obvious love for her subject has affected her portrait - but what emerges is a beautiful canvas, and a rigorous political examination of the times, regardless. If you like Georgiana, you ought to read Susan Sontag's The Volcano Lover. I thot she'd made most of that up until i read this book. We westerners have come a long way politically, but what we've made up for in decorum we've managed to lose in pure human interest. and i finally understand the british tabloid affair with royalty. Vive la reine!