The King and Mrs. Simpson: The True Story of the Commoner Who Captured the Heart of a King

History, as it is taught in most of our schools, is an exhaustive myriad of dates, names and events, and then, sadly, the events to be forever forgotten by 90% of our students. When all that is happening today and all that will shape our future is directly related to our past, the subject of "history" is unfortunately still dull and uninspiring to most. I am 60 years old and still trying to find a history book that isn't a prescription sleep aid replacement.
I get Ms. Schulz’s mission and what she has successfully accomplished in this little gem that she calls “Beach History”. I am not a writer nor an educator, but I can appreciate how monumental a task it must be to recreate an historical event in 160 pages and keep it show more interesting and entertaining to the new student of history.. I took this book with me on a two hour flight and couldn't put it down once I started reading. At last!.. a book of historical fact that ties in people,places and dates while making for a very enjoyable read.
As a child, I had heard about the abdication of King Edward VIII in order to marry a commoner, Wallis Simpson, but knew absolutely nothing more than just that. Ms. Schulz took me on a romantic journey into the lives of King Edward VIII and Wallis Simpson, while giving me insight into British society in the 1930's and providing a real connection to events taking place around the globe, events that have influenced the world we live in today.
I loved the layout of the book, with its short chapters and crisp, clean sentences; it gets you where you want to be quickly, and that is, captivated by the people and the story. I would have enjoyed seeing more pictures of Wallis and Edward, but I realize that “The King and Mrs. Simpson” is not a picture book so I went right to the Internet, where I found many pictures to view.
If you are a hard core historian, or even a history buff, this book is not for you. But, if you are a novice like me, you are sure to love it. I can picture this book on the summer reading list for the high school or college student, or just great beach reading for everyone. Ms. Schulz has motivated me to find out more about the Windsors, and to try to read more biographies and historical books. I am anxiously awaiting her next in the Beach History series. show less

I really like the idea of a "beach history": A snapshot of the past as this book is called. The story of King Edward VIII and Mrs. Simpson is told in little short snippets that are almost like reading a collection of newspaper clippings. The snippets reveal the story of their lives up to the time of the Kings abducation from the throne so that he could marry his love. Even in the short chapters you can get a feel of the love story and the struggle that went on between them and the people trying to keep them apart.
I really liked this story but I also want to know more.

What a fun little delight!

This book, which is a strange (but in a good way strange) hybridization of recent history and children's fairy tale, is a quick read. Many, if not all, readers will speed through it in one sitting.

But the time you spend with The King and Mrs. Simpson is still very much worth it. This true tale of a king who abdicated in order to marry the woman he loved is recounted simply and economically, with chapters that are often just less than a page in length. However, this fairy tale style very much suits this modern-day Cinderella tale, even in spite of the story's grown-up elements (such as political maneuvering, domestic violence and adultery).

A very nice book for adults to be tucked-in with.

This book is primarily aimed at readers who want a ‘snapshot of history’ and I can see that this book would be extremely attractive to a reader who wanted to learn a little about Edward and Mrs Simpson as it is an extremely fast and, as it focuses in on the love story, rather than the politics, accessible read. But, for a book written by someone who has a baccalaureate in history and a postgraduate degree in International Relations, there are some astounding errors. Particularly annoying to a British reader is the writer’s use of ‘England’ when she means ‘Britain’ or the ‘UK’, as in ‘France and England divided the Middle East between them’ and when it is implied that following the accession Edward’s official show more title was ‘King of England and the Dominions beyond’. Whilst I agree with the reviewer who seems to be a member of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor Society, that this is a story that should be told, as it still has resonance today, this is sadly not a book I can recommend to newcomers to the story, as the inaccuracies combined with the simplistic prose make what should be an epic and engaging read, flat and uninspiring. show less

Oh Dear. If I didn't have to write more than 20 words for this to qualify as a review, the Oh Dear would just sum it up.
This purports to be a 'serious' book on the topic but if you crossed Mills & Boon with Barbra Cartland you wouldn't be too far adrift.
It is an unbelievably facile attempt at biography which would have most biographers spinning in the proverbial. The saccharine content here is at nausea inducing levels.
I did manage to finish this but, for anyone else thinking about reading it, life's too short. It is the literary equivalent of stuffing a mushroom.

The King and Mrs. Simpson is the story of one of the 20th century’s greatest love stories—a prince’s abdication of the English throne in favor of marriage to an American divorcee.

This short book opens in 1936 on the eve of the abdication, and jumps back in time to certain events in Edward and Wallis’s pasts. Although this book had promise, it fell short of my expectations. The prose is over-simplistic, written like a high schooler’s history paper, and the chapters aren’t really chapters, just floating paragraphs that get their own pages. I understand that Schulz is trying to present the material in a way that will interest people new to the story of the Windsors, and that this book is not in any way a definitive biography of show more them, but I thought that she talked down to her reader a little bit, and that was a major turn-off for me. In addition, I was dismayed to find that there’s only one reproduction of a photograph of Wallis and Edward in this book.

That said, however, I thoroughly enjoyed the story itself, and I liked how the author tied the story of Edward and Wallis back in to the larger events of the period. Since Schulz bases her facts and dialogue on the memoirs of Edward and Wallis (or WE, as they called themselves), she tells the story from the point of view of the couple. It’s a highly romanticized view, yes, but enjoyable nonetheless. This is the kind of book I’d recommend to people who are new to the story of the Windsors, but not to hardcore Anglophiles like myself. show less

The King and Mrs Simpson by Erin Frances Schulz does not claim to be a biography, or a history, but simply “the story of a love affair”. However, without the politics and the historical context of the King's abdication, the book is not much more than a superficial account of part of the story. The format of the book also jars; a series of one or two page “chapters”, more like a set of notes on 3x5 cards, and an incomplete set at that.
From today’s perspective, when a politician can pose naked on the cover of a magazine and then be elected to the Senate, it is difficult to see what all the fuss was about. But Britain in 1936 was a different place, and abdication was unthinkable. The Monarch as Head of State was still a revered show more person, who knew the rules of the game and the limits of his power, and whose foibles were well hidden from the public.
Erin Schulz summarises the story well in the two pages of the Prologue, but it is a shame that she does not then go on to explain the full picture in more detail. The perspective is that of a romantic affair between an innocent American and a King who gave everything up for love. There was much more to it than that. Among the missing elements are the constitutional crisis that the affair caused, and the adverse public reaction to it; the effect of the abdication on the public perception of the monarchy, and the flavour of British politics in the years in the run up to the War. Along with many of his subjects, the King was not hostile to Germany, and Mrs Simpson shared his views. After the abdication they both visited Hitler, in what now would no doubt be seen as “palling around with terrorists”.
Also missing from the book is an account of the years following the abdication; the exile to the Bahamas, and the aimless years spent in France after the War.
In an end note, the author explains that her book is meant to be “a snapshot of the past and a way to read history without the burden of a lengthy text”. But the book is much too short and does not do justice to the subject. show less