Customer Reviews

The Private Passions of Bonnie Prince Charlie

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I only finished this book through my own interest in its subject. Its appalling writing - which could have come right out of a school essay by a not particularly good student - should be enough to discourage any reader, but to that there must be added a serious lack of real scholarship, and a complete carelessness and naiveté in jumping to conclusions (whether these be about factual, psychological or historical issues), which became more and more vexing as I plodded through the book.

As if this weren't enough, there are contradictions galore, even in regard to the author's own opinions. For example, Mr. Douglas asserts, on page 170, that "Charles Stuart in love might consider himself a prince, but he certainly was no gentleman". An unremarkable comment in itself, if it weren't for the fact that later on, on page 285, the author tells us that "as a lover, Prince Charlie could be a gentleman, but a gentleman with a sinister, dark side" (???).

There is at least one blatant error of grammatical interpretation, as when, on the first line of page 263, Mr. Douglas explains the word "anyways" as meaning "anyone's", which certainly cannot be the word's meaning on line 7 of the same page. My opinion is that the word means simply "in any way", but that's not the explanation given in the book (wouldn't it have been easier to leave it unexplained, rather than adding that embarrassing little clarification in brackets?).

All in all, a disappointment, and a complete waste of money. I only hope there are better books on Prince Charlie around!!!