Diana Preston

This is a colourful and very readable account of the life of Prince Charles Stuart, the Young Pretender, and his doomed attempt in 1745-6 to recapture the throne from the unpopular Hanoverian king George II. Charles was born in Italy and had never visited the country over which he claimed sovereignty at that time. While Charles Stuart was almost the epitome of a romantic leader whose followers would die for him, he lacked the necessary grasp of strategy and tactics to execute a successful show more invasion. He made a number of key misjudgements: relying on French support which was never forthcoming (though that was not truly his fault); underestimating the military strength of the British government, as he appears to have assumed many British soldiers would not fight him as they would recognise him as their rightful king; and overestimating the willingness and capacity of both Scottish Lowlanders and English Jacobites to rise up in his favour. More generally, while the country didn't much like the Hanoverian rulers, the economy was expanding and the country was richer, and simply too many people had too much of a stake in this society to risk supporting a Jacobite invasion and rebellion, even if they may have sympathised with Charles Stuart's cause.

All this said, he did attract considerable early success, winning a military victory at Prestonpans, capturing Edinburgh and later, after crossing into England, easily capturing Carlisle and famously marching as far south as Derby. But it was not sustainable, and the government, after being initially caught on the hop, had amassed considerable forces to oppose the Young Pretender. The idealistic Charles was frequently at loggerheads with his more hardheaded chiefs who realised the advance could not be sustained and the support for his challenge just not wide or deep enough. The last few chapters tell the bloody story of the battle of Culloden itself, a battle that lasted only 30 minutes but which presaged the bloody suppression of the Highlanders and their whole way of life, including breaking up the clan system and even banning tartans, plaids and kilts for decades. And, of course, Charles's retreat and wanderings through the Hebrides and the role of Flora Macdonald. After he eventually slipped away from Scotland, eluding his pursuers, he spent the remaining 40 plus years of his life (he was only 25/26 at the time of the invasion), bitterly regretting his failures and turning increasingly to alcohol. His is a fascinating and colourful and tragic story though. show less

I've read that there's a difference between buccaneer vs pirate vs privateer. But what if someone has been all three?! After serving in the Royal Navy, he made his way to Port Royal, joined loggers in the Bay of Campeachy, survived a hurricane, and joined a group of buccaneers in Hispaniola, all before the age of 30! In 1678 he arrived back in England, married a lady-in-waiting named Judith but set out a year later to seek his fortune. It's not very clear what drove Dampier's wandering ways, show more but what certainly sets him apart is his skill as a naturalist. He diligently kept a journal and later wrote an autobiography, in which he describes native culture, the weather, animals etc. He was the first to describe an avocado in English! His first circumnavigation began in Virginia with privateer John Cook and ended in England via the Cape of Good Hope. His second from Ireland to Panama and round again from 1704-1707, during which he was arrested as a pirate. Finally, he joined Woodes Rogers, later Gov. of the Bahamas, to Cape Horn to Batavia and back again! His story is incredible! Blackbeard and Kidd have nothing on Dampier!

Honestly there are no complaints for this one. It's a thorough, well constructed biography of William Dampier! Even though Dampier spent a considerable amount of time in South America, I'm glad the author didn't decide to skip any significant portions in the timeline. It's all about the journey you know? Between understandably hostile natives, severe malnutrition and thirst, exhaustion, the Spaniards, and natural dangers, there's not one part that is truly boring. It was fascinating to see Dampier evolve from crewman to navigator to commander!. The authors have an engaging narrative style that isn't simply reciting his memoir, and they didn't romanticize him either. I'll be reading his memoir later and this is a useful guide! show less

Once I started reading Diana Preston's The Dark Defile: Britain's Catastrophic Invasion of Afghanistan, 1839-1842 (Walker & Company, 2012) over the weekend, I had a terrible time putting it down again. I quickly discovered that I was utterly and completely in the dark about the details of the First Anglo-Afghan War, and Preston offers a vivid narrative history of the conflict's origins, events, and aftermath.

Drawing on published and unpublished documents (government reports and dispatches, show more letters and diaries, &c.), as well as on Afghan oral traditions and other sources, Preston has done a masterful job. It is, at times, not an easy book to read: the whole tale reads like something of a slow-motion train wreck, frankly, as misstep piles on misunderstanding, political and military blunders come fast and furious, and duplicitous acts on both sides lead to disastrous consequences and long-term regional instability.

Preston mostly refrains from making overt comparisons with the First Anglo-Afghan War to more current events, but the implications are clear. There were and are lessons to be learned from this conflict, and as she points out in the epilogue, some Afghan memories of this long-ago war are still surprisingly fresh (I don't want to spoil the book by recounting one particular anecdote, but it struck me quite strongly as I read).

Highly recommended.

http://philobiblos.blogspot.com/2012/04/book-review-dark-defile.html show less

1915 - the year when everyone was in competition to see who could build the biggest, the fastest, the safest, the most stylish luxury ocean liner on the Atlantic. In the meantime, war was underway so another group was trying to build the fastest, the safest, the most stealthy and deadly underwater vessel called a U-boat. On May 7th, 1915 these two ocean vehicles would come together and make controversial history and spark one of World War I's biggest mysteries. In 1915 the British vessel the show more Lusitania was the fastest passenger liner on the ocean. It was rumored to be able to outrun any U-boat enemy. However, what is fascinating about Diana Preston's version of events is the amount of suspense she builds in the telling. I found myself questioning what I would do if I was set to board a British passenger ship, knowing full well its country was at war and the enemy had just issued a warning to passengers (to me!) stating they would attack my mode of transportation. In addition, I had options. There were neutral American boats going the same way.
I enjoyed Preston's Lusitania so much I sought out documentaries about the May 7th, 1915 sinking to learn more. show less