The Duchess comes to life, 27 Oct 2008
The book is simply amazing. The letters that the Duchess exchanged with others bring her character and her peers back to life. Despite the high rank and society Georgiana belonged to, she was just a woman whose ambitions moved her forward, whose love-life could not be more difficult and restrained her from being loved in return. The film adaptation is a far cry from the books original text.

what a disappointment, 13 Oct 2008
I was so looking forward to a good historical novel but what a let down. It was more like text book. Dreadfully hard going - I didn't finish it.

Very readable and loved it!, 09 Oct 2008
I was very pleased that I was able to get into this book and I remember it as if it was a story! It is so well done and gave me the information I would want from any historical biography without the boredom! The film is good but isn't the tiniest patch on the book!

Loved it, 08 Oct 2008
When I picked the book up I wasn't really sure what to make of it. But the more I read the more I came to admire this women. She was so foolish and at times downright dangerous but she has such a down to earth quality about her I couldn't help but read on.
A truly remarkable women. A book not to be missed!

A good biography, 21 Sep 2008
I picked up the book as I wanted to watch the film. I always feel it is better to read a book then watch the movie to compare.

From the start I was drawn into the book. It is very easy to read and the details are just perfect. There are references to politics but thats a good break. Any intellect should be able to comprehend what is being described. The duchess valued politics so naturally the book should make references to it. There are references to political figures but they are refered to through out the book and you feel like you know them as well as the duchess and her family.

At times, I felt real sad for the duchess but at times I felt rather cross with her and her naivety; her gambling ways and her willingness to live with her husband's mistress. Even that in a way is very sad. She had to put up with it or she would have been forced to separate from her husband. In those days, the children remained with the father and his family if a couple separated or divorced. This meant, if Georgiana had separated from the duke, she would have been separated from the children too.

I could not put the book down once I had started. It was very good. I even thought about calling in sick at work to finish the book. I love my work so for a book to keep me away from my work says a lot about the book itself.

I would highly recommend it to anyone. A perfect biography.

Georgiana Spencer was, in a sense, an 18th-century "It Girl". She came from one of England's richest and most landed families, and married into another. She was, beautiful, sensitive and extravagant. Acquainted fairly young with Charles James Fox, her move from parties to Parties led her to become the intimate of ministers and princes, and she canvassed assiduously for the Whig cause, most famously in the Westminster election of 1784. By turns she was caricatured and fawned on by the press, and she provided the inspiration for Lady Teazle in Sheridan's School For Scandal. But, luckily for her biographer, she also had weaknesses that were to taint her life. As gin gripped the masses, so gambling enthralled the aristocracy. By 1784 Georgiana owed "many, many, many thousands", and the creditors she acquired dogged her until her death, but the sterility of her marriage meant that she never came close to disclosing the magnitude of her debts. Amanda Foreman describes astutely the mess that was personal relationships for the aristocratic subculture (Georgiana and the Duke engaged for many years in a ménage à trois with Lady Elizabeth Fraser, who inveigled her way into his bed and her heart). She is, by her own admission, a little in love with her subject, which can lead to occasional lapses of perspective, but generally it adds zest to a narrative built on, rather than burdened by, scholarship, that is at once accessible and learned. An impressive debut, in every sense. --David Vincent

The Duchess comes to life, 27 Oct 2008
The book is simply amazing. The letters that the Duchess exchanged with others bring her character and her peers back to life. Despite the high rank and society Georgiana belonged to, she was just a woman whose ambitions moved her forward, whose love-life could not be more difficult and restrained her from being loved in return. The film adaptation is a far cry from the books original text.

what a disappointment, 13 Oct 2008
I was so looking forward to a good historical novel but what a let down. It was more like text book. Dreadfully hard going - I didn't finish it.

Very readable and loved it!, 09 Oct 2008
I was very pleased that I was able to get into this book and I remember it as if it was a story! It is so well done and gave me the information I would want from any historical biography without the boredom! The film is good but isn't the tiniest patch on the book!

Loved it, 08 Oct 2008
When I picked the book up I wasn't really sure what to make of it. But the more I read the more I came to admire this women. She was so foolish and at times downright dangerous but she has such a down to earth quality about her I couldn't help but read on.
A truly remarkable women. A book not to be missed!

A good biography, 21 Sep 2008
I picked up the book as I wanted to watch the film. I always feel it is better to read a book then watch the movie to compare.

From the start I was drawn into the book. It is very easy to read and the details are just perfect. There are references to politics but thats a good break. Any intellect should be able to comprehend what is being described. The duchess valued politics so naturally the book should make references to it. There are references to political figures but they are refered to through out the book and you feel like you know them as well as the duchess and her family.

At times, I felt real sad for the duchess but at times I felt rather cross with her and her naivety; her gambling ways and her willingness to live with her husband's mistress. Even that in a way is very sad. She had to put up with it or she would have been forced to separate from her husband. In those days, the children remained with the father and his family if a couple separated or divorced. This meant, if Georgiana had separated from the duke, she would have been separated from the children too.

I could not put the book down once I had started. It was very good. I even thought about calling in sick at work to finish the book. I love my work so for a book to keep me away from my work says a lot about the book itself.

I would highly recommend it to anyone. A perfect biography.

A great disappointment, 12 Aug 2008
Although 'Georgiana' is competently written and well-researched, I am frankly amazed that it has achieved such massive success and popularity since its first publication ten years ago. As other reviewers have pointed out, it perhaps fulfills a useful purpose in putting women back in the 'front-line' of the eighteenth-century political scene but, speaking for myself, I found the exhaustive discussion of the ups-and-downs of the Whigs and Tories tedious in the extreme and an almost total turn-off. This was doubly disappointing, since the rave reviews had led me to expect so much more.

Strangely enough, the most engaging part of the book was the introduction, in which the author writes with real verve and enthusiasm of how she was first 'introduced' to the duchess and how her sympathy and interest grew to such an extent that a full-length biography seemed to be the natural and inevitable conclusion. Would that this enthusiasm had percolated through to the rest of her work which I found to be both turgid and dull. Comparisons have already been drawn to the infinitely warmer, livelier and more approachable biographies of Flora Fraser, Claire Tomalin and Stella Tillyard. Being very familar with the writing of all these authors, and a great fan to boot, I am left to wonder why THIS work should be so celebrated, so well-regarded - and, sad to say, so completely over-hyped.

Engaging, 07 May 2008
I have given this review 5 stars because I think the book is well researched and an engaging read. It easily moves through the early life of the duchess (who originates in the Spencer family) and her movement through 'the ton'. The author clearly highlights the role of a women in the regency type period - feminism was unheard of and yet here we have a woman influencing politics and refusing to be constrained by her gender. The only negative comment I can make (and this is not a reflection on the book at all) is that I am not sure that I would like Georgiana very much and whilst I have sympathy for her loveless marriage, I find it hard to find empathy for a woman who lived in to such excess when many women of the era would have been grateful for a fragment of the fortune she had.

A brilliant read, but a bit over political, 03 May 2007
I found this book absorbing from the minute I picked it up. Amanda Foreman managed to mix the political elaments with the more social side of her life, to keep it interesting and to keep our attention. Even though I had been warned that it was heavily political, I still found it managable. However, as the book came towards the end, I felt that maybe Amanda Foreman was being pressed by her publishers to get it finished or maybe she was restricted to a limited word count. It seemed to become very rushed, brushing over elements in her life that I felt should have been covered, such as 'Little G's' wedding, both daughters' period of being debutante's and her sister Harriet's affairs, which saw her baring more illegitimate children, instead of only focusing on her political attributes. Maybe it was simply due to the fact that there are little surviving sources, but the fact that the last chapters are only appromimatly 10 pages long stays alot! Overall, It's a good read and I do recommend it, but be prepared to read alot about 18th Century politics.

An exhaustively researched yet highly accessible book, 09 Jan 2005
I found this absolutely compelling; I simply couldn't put it down. I found the politcal angle paticularly absorbing; the extra juice was just an added bonus! I also loved how Foreman points the reader to the ironies which pepper Georgina's life.It's really got me hooked on 18thc social and political history. I'm lucky enough to have a history degree, but this book is so accessible you don't need one; Foreman just guides through giving you all extra info without sounding patronising. This has to be the best researched biography I've read... if only my academic reading was as fun.

a well-crafted, sympathetic and vivid portrayal, 21 Dec 2001
Clearly well-researched, this biography of one of the eighteenth century's most enigmatic figures conveys vividly the tumultous world of eighteenth century politics alongside that of Georgiana's private life. A pioneer in women's involvement in politics, her role as a campaigner and society hostess placed her in the centre of the Whig party throughout its years of opposition; prominent men instinctively sought her advice. As well as highlighting G's pivotal political role, Foreman succeeds in capturing the moral ambiguity of the age in the private dilemmas her heroine faces: a hopeless addiction to gaming, her husband's mistress being her best friend, forcing to choose between her lover and her children etc. Although from an age difficult to empathise with, Foreman never the less makes G and her world instantly accessible. An Interesting and insightful read.

The Duchess comes to life, 27 Oct 2008
The book is simply amazing. The letters that the Duchess exchanged with others bring her character and her peers back to life. Despite the high rank and society Georgiana belonged to, she was just a woman whose ambitions moved her forward, whose love-life could not be more difficult and restrained her from being loved in return. The film adaptation is a far cry from the books original text.

what a disappointment, 13 Oct 2008
I was so looking forward to a good historical novel but what a let down. It was more like text book. Dreadfully hard going - I didn't finish it.

Very readable and loved it!, 09 Oct 2008
I was very pleased that I was able to get into this book and I remember it as if it was a story! It is so well done and gave me the information I would want from any historical biography without the boredom! The film is good but isn't the tiniest patch on the book!

Loved it, 08 Oct 2008
When I picked the book up I wasn't really sure what to make of it. But the more I read the more I came to admire this women. She was so foolish and at times downright dangerous but she has such a down to earth quality about her I couldn't help but read on.
A truly remarkable women. A book not to be missed!

A good biography, 21 Sep 2008
I picked up the book as I wanted to watch the film. I always feel it is better to read a book then watch the movie to compare.

From the start I was drawn into the book. It is very easy to read and the details are just perfect. There are references to politics but thats a good break. Any intellect should be able to comprehend what is being described. The duchess valued politics so naturally the book should make references to it. There are references to political figures but they are refered to through out the book and you feel like you know them as well as the duchess and her family.

At times, I felt real sad for the duchess but at times I felt rather cross with her and her naivety; her gambling ways and her willingness to live with her husband's mistress. Even that in a way is very sad. She had to put up with it or she would have been forced to separate from her husband. In those days, the children remained with the father and his family if a couple separated or divorced. This meant, if Georgiana had separated from the duke, she would have been separated from the children too.

I could not put the book down once I had started. It was very good. I even thought about calling in sick at work to finish the book. I love my work so for a book to keep me away from my work says a lot about the book itself.

I would highly recommend it to anyone. A perfect biography.

A great disappointment, 12 Aug 2008
Although 'Georgiana' is competently written and well-researched, I am frankly amazed that it has achieved such massive success and popularity since its first publication ten years ago. As other reviewers have pointed out, it perhaps fulfills a useful purpose in putting women back in the 'front-line' of the eighteenth-century political scene but, speaking for myself, I found the exhaustive discussion of the ups-and-downs of the Whigs and Tories tedious in the extreme and an almost total turn-off. This was doubly disappointing, since the rave reviews had led me to expect so much more.

Strangely enough, the most engaging part of the book was the introduction, in which the author writes with real verve and enthusiasm of how she was first 'introduced' to the duchess and how her sympathy and interest grew to such an extent that a full-length biography seemed to be the natural and inevitable conclusion. Would that this enthusiasm had percolated through to the rest of her work which I found to be both turgid and dull. Comparisons have already been drawn to the infinitely warmer, livelier and more approachable biographies of Flora Fraser, Claire Tomalin and Stella Tillyard. Being very familar with the writing of all these authors, and a great fan to boot, I am left to wonder why THIS work should be so celebrated, so well-regarded - and, sad to say, so completely over-hyped.

Engaging, 07 May 2008
I have given this review 5 stars because I think the book is well researched and an engaging read. It easily moves through the early life of the duchess (who originates in the Spencer family) and her movement through 'the ton'. The author clearly highlights the role of a women in the regency type period - feminism was unheard of and yet here we have a woman influencing politics and refusing to be constrained by her gender. The only negative comment I can make (and this is not a reflection on the book at all) is that I am not sure that I would like Georgiana very much and whilst I have sympathy for her loveless marriage, I find it hard to find empathy for a woman who lived in to such excess when many women of the era would have been grateful for a fragment of the fortune she had.

A brilliant read, but a bit over political, 03 May 2007
I found this book absorbing from the minute I picked it up. Amanda Foreman managed to mix the political elaments with the more social side of her life, to keep it interesting and to keep our attention. Even though I had been warned that it was heavily political, I still found it managable. However, as the book came towards the end, I felt that maybe Amanda Foreman was being pressed by her publishers to get it finished or maybe she was restricted to a limited word count. It seemed to become very rushed, brushing over elements in her life that I felt should have been covered, such as 'Little G's' wedding, both daughters' period of being debutante's and her sister Harriet's affairs, which saw her baring more illegitimate children, instead of only focusing on her political attributes. Maybe it was simply due to the fact that there are little surviving sources, but the fact that the last chapters are only appromimatly 10 pages long stays alot! Overall, It's a good read and I do recommend it, but be prepared to read alot about 18th Century politics.

An exhaustively researched yet highly accessible book, 09 Jan 2005
I found this absolutely compelling; I simply couldn't put it down. I found the politcal angle paticularly absorbing; the extra juice was just an added bonus! I also loved how Foreman points the reader to the ironies which pepper Georgina's life.It's really got me hooked on 18thc social and political history. I'm lucky enough to have a history degree, but this book is so accessible you don't need one; Foreman just guides through giving you all extra info without sounding patronising. This has to be the best researched biography I've read... if only my academic reading was as fun.

a well-crafted, sympathetic and vivid portrayal, 21 Dec 2001
Clearly well-researched, this biography of one of the eighteenth century's most enigmatic figures conveys vividly the tumultous world of eighteenth century politics alongside that of Georgiana's private life. A pioneer in women's involvement in politics, her role as a campaigner and society hostess placed her in the centre of the Whig party throughout its years of opposition; prominent men instinctively sought her advice. As well as highlighting G's pivotal political role, Foreman succeeds in capturing the moral ambiguity of the age in the private dilemmas her heroine faces: a hopeless addiction to gaming, her husband's mistress being her best friend, forcing to choose between her lover and her children etc. Although from an age difficult to empathise with, Foreman never the less makes G and her world instantly accessible. An Interesting and insightful read.

not a great biography, but a very creditable one, 08 Jul 2008
William Hague points out in the afterword to this book that Margaret Thatcher likened him to Pitt the Younger when he famously took the stage at the Conservative Party Conference aged 16 many years ago. He certainly has a sympathy for his subject but not a slavish one ; he sees weaknesses as well as strengths. It needs to be said that this is a hard-worked book, and Hague's conscientious research is everywhere apparent. He usually avoids the danger of an invisible wood hidden by multitudes of trees - perhaps not quite, or not always - but there is still a lot of information in the book, and it's a long book. Hague also faces a difficulty in the nature of his subject. If you take the politician away from Pitt, there is not much left. Disraeli, Gladstone and Churchill, to name only three, were interesting characters in themselves, never mind their achievements ; Pitt was an unmarried, totally dedicated politician with an enigmatic nature, little in the way of hobbies and few friends. He drank very heavily and no doubt enjoyed the experience, but even that stemmed from medical advice and not what might be thought an interesting recklessness of character. However, the events through which he lived - the American War, attempts at parliamentary reform, the 'madness' of the King (actually probably acute intermittent porphyria), the anti-slavery movement with his friend Wilberforce, the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars - are all important and some are momentous. Hague tells the tale of all these things and his subject's involvement in them pretty well. He writes clearly and articulately and has quite a good sense of structure in his narrative - he is, for example, good at cliff-hangers at section and chapter endings. There are a few entertaining anecdotes (not many). What he fails to do for me is convey the astonishing power of Pitt as a parliamentary orator. Often he writes of a devastating speech, or one which thrilled the Commons with its clarity, logic and intellectual brilliance, but he doesn't really make that come to life in the quotations he chooses, which (admittedly out of context) seem to me wordy and even a little pompous sometimes. But fair's fair - I enjoyed the book, it is a good work of scholarship, it does cast a great deal of light on the subject and his time, and it is rather touching that it has been written by a modern politician who, whatever the similarities, has yet to come within shouting distance of Pitt's achievement in his time - as I am sure Hague would have the realism and humility to acknowledge.

Great introductory piece on a great man!, 07 Jun 2008
I thought this book a wonderful introduction to the life and administration of William Pitt the Younger. Mr Hague manages to, in a relatively short book (compared to Ehrman's) to outline and analyse Pitt's true uniqueness and irregularty as a man. Few men become PM at 24 and even fewer worked the excessive hours Pitt. Pitt's oratory was legendary and his clashes with Fox were too. Hague looks at these two characters in relation to the times with the end of America and the radicalism of Paine & co. Pitt's reactionary nature after the French revolution is analysed well as his economic policy of the 1780's which has become famous for it's originality and audacity. Hagues book isn't in the same league as Jenkins and Ehrman but is a splendid first attempt!

A rounded portrait of a great statesman, 29 Mar 2008
William Hague has a pleasant, straightforward and limpid style in which he can convey not only complex political situations, but a warmth of feeling towards his subject and a sensitive and empathic interpretation of behaviour and background.

He begins with Pitt's extremely precocious childhood. He was tutored at home, in large part by his father (whose loving nature may also be something of a revelation to readers). From earliest childhood young Pitt breathed in politics. Hague speculates that he learnt not only from his father's successes (his oratory, his foreign policy), but also from his failures (going to the Lords in 1766, or leaving the post of First Lord of the Treasury to someone else).

There are exciting accounts of several key episodes in his life: his rise to becoming Prime Minister at the age of 24; the Regency Crisis of 1788/9; his resignation over his disagreement with George III over Catholic Emancipation in 1801 (beautifully analyzed), and his promise, after the King's recovery from his recurring malady, never to raise the matter again; the drifting apart between Pitt and his old friend and nominee Addington during the latter's interregnum.

No minister except Walpole has for so long and so completely dominated the House of Commons. Pitt was universally acclaimed as a great orator, though only a very few passages quoted in this book - foremost among them his speech in 1792 advocating the abolition of the slave trade - make for stirring reading these days. Part of the appeal of his speeches is said to have been the cogency of their logical structure and his mastery of detail, which is not so easily conveyed in a book. He was a brilliant manager of the nation's finances - but his own were often in a ruinous state. He could not be bothered to pay much attention to them, and refused to take sinecure offices (except, at the King's insistence, the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports) or a large donation offered by the merchants of the City of London. He was hugely in debt at the time of his resignation in 1801, but he refused all offers of help, from the King, from Parliament, from his successor Addington in the form of sinecure offices, or from the City. Only through help from a handful of his closest friends was the pressure of debt slightly eased.

For Pitt rightly prided himself on his personal probity. He would accept nothing that might be construed as putting him under an obligation; but, though he was personally bored with appeals for his patronage, he did not scruple to allow his lieutenants to manage patronage and bribery on a massive scale, especially at critical moments of his rule. (Hague mentions only in passing his massive inflation of the peerage.)

His finances and his speeches made him a great war leader, but he was less so in the actual conduct of the wars. He underestimated France in the early days and overestimated Britain's military (as distinct from naval) resources. He made miscalculations of the kind that Chatham probably would not have made (though Chatham, of course, had faced a far less dynamic France). He twice (1796, 1797) sought for peace with France because of the immense drain on Britain's financial resources, but, encouraged by a string of French setbacks in 1798 and 1799, turned down the peace overtures Napoleon made immediately after seizing power in France in 1799. In this latter refusal he was strongly backed by his cousin, the hawkish foreign minister William Grenville.

Hague brings out the importance of Grenville throughout Pitt's career. A staunch ally until Pitt's resignation, he became so impatient with Pitt's early forbearance with regard to Addington that he joined Fox in opposition - which George III could not forgive. So when Pitt returned to office in 1804, he could not give a post to Grenville, who then practically became a Foxite Whig. As a result, Pitt no longer had the mastery of the Commons or even of the Cabinet that he had had before, and it added to the strain in those years of Ulm and Austerlitz. By that time Pitt was a shadow of his former self, increasingly exhausted and in dreadful health.

It is on the human side that Hague excels, and there is not always scope for that in the story. Much of Pitt's work in government - finance, trade, administrative reform, the shuffling of seats around the cabinet table - gives little scope to more than the thoroughly workmanlike treatment it receives here. Even the account of the wars with France are no more than that. For me, the best parts of the book deal with Pitt's character. He has generally been considered cold; but he had many close friends in whose company he was witty and amusing. A fine chapter discusses this contrast and shows Pitt, when Prime Minister, as relaxed and warm with family and real friends. There is a long and moving letter he wrote to Wilberforce when the latter announced his religious conversion in 1785. There is an astonishing scene a couple of years before his death when at one moment he was larking around with his intimates whom he allowed to blacken his face with burnt cork, and a moment later, quickly cleaned up, stiffly received political visitors. Between Pitt and his mother there was great warmth and affection. In his letters to her he always made light of difficulties or his poor health, not just because he was by nature optimistic, but because he wanted to spare her worries.

It is astonishing that Hague should have researched and written this book of 592 pages inside two years. The masterly ten-page summing up at the end is not only balanced in its judgments, but tells us a good deal about Hague himself. It is clear that he not only admires Pitt, but feels a great affection for him; and he will make many readers feel the same.



An interesting biography , 04 Nov 2007
Pitt the Younger by William Hauge is an interesting book dealing with one of the heroes of British politics. It describes the life of a man who devoted his short life to running the country in one of its hours of need. Although it perhaps lacks the analysis you find in some biographies it is all in all a very good book which is easy to read and will increase most reader's knowledge of this quite remarkable man.

Hague on Pitt, 31 Jul 2007
It is easy to see why William Hague reveres the memory of William Pitt the Younger and perhaps seems something of himself in him. Both were recognised as prococious talent early in their political careers, both were possessed of quick wit and intelligence, both dedicated their lives to politics at an early age. Hague hung Pitt's portrait in the Shadow Cabinet, hoping perhaps that some of his hero's skill in winning and maintaining power would rub off on him and his colleagues. When Hague was asked to write his memoirs after resigning as Tory leader in 2001, he dismissed the idea as ridiculous for a 40 year old, and chose instead to write about the prime minister regarded as the father of the Conservative Party.

Hague tells the story of the younger Pitt's short but astonishing life with great skill and lucidity, supplying parallels and contrasts with the modern political age. It is a fascinating account, not only of the life of Pitt, but also of British politics in general in the late eighteenth century. The circumstances in which Pitt became Prime Minister were extraordinary at the time, and would of course be completely impossible now. At this juncture considerable power still remained in the hands of the sovereign, and after the deadweight first two Georges, King George III had an almost Stuart-like determination to fully exercise the powers vested in him. He chose a moment to dismiss a government he did not like, that of Lord North and Charles James Fox, and to install the 24 year old William Pitt.

The story of how this youth managed to hold together a government against an indignant opposition, who still controlled the Commons, for long enough to win over a working majority is fascinating in its own right. Pitt, working with the King, managed gradually to consolidate the new government until the moment was right to dissolve Parliament and use the considerable powers available to incumbent prime ministers to ensure a clear majority in the subsequent House of Commons. He remained in office, with a short break, until his untimely death at 46.

Among the strengths that made Pitt such a political success were his remarkable oratory powers in the Commons, his shrewd use of the powers of patronage available to him and his innovative approaches to solving the nation's financial woes in the wake of the military catastrophe of the American War. It would be incorrect to say he was incorruptable - more accurately he had no regard for his personal financial situation, and died with huge debts. But he was quite comfortable with offering honours or financial incentives to those whom he knew would be motivated by them.

A criticism of Hague's work might be that too little time is spent on conclusions. The reader is left wondering why William Pitt the Younger should be regarded as a "great" prime minister. He was a brilliant speaker and his shrewdness in defending his position from his opponents was legendary. Statistically his position in British history is unassailable, having come to office at such a young age, and served as prime minister for a little short of nineteen years. But these things do not on their own make a great prime minister. Critics can point to his record of internal repression during the long war with revolutionary France and to his failure to legislate on any of the three great liberal causes which he professed to support - Catholic emancipation, parliamentary reform, and the abolition of the slave trade. The fact that the last of these was already accepted in principle by most of the British ruling class, and passed quickly into law after his death makes his tardiness hard to forgive.

The last great criticism of Pitt is his failure to read the military strength of France in 1793 and his consequential willingless to take Britain back to war with her old enemy. Pitt was convinced that France was bankrupt and would not be able to stand for long against a united European coalition. All his good work in paying back the national debt in the 1780s was undone, and if it was not for the newly created wealth of the industrial revolution, Britain would have bled itself to death bribing Austria and Prussia to remain in the field. As it was he was able to bridge the gap with his most enduring innovation - income tax.

Whatever the reader's conclusion about the William Pitt the Younger, Hague has written an excellent first book. One hopes that he will publish more.

The Duchess comes to life, 27 Oct 2008
The book is simply amazing. The letters that the Duchess exchanged with others bring her character and her peers back to life. Despite the high rank and society Georgiana belonged to, she was just a woman whose ambitions moved her forward, whose love-life could not be more difficult and restrained her from being loved in return. The film adaptation is a far cry from the books original text.

what a disappointment, 13 Oct 2008
I was so looking forward to a good historical novel but what a let down. It was more like text book. Dreadfully hard going - I didn't finish it.

Very readable and loved it!, 09 Oct 2008
I was very pleased that I was able to get into this book and I remember it as if it was a story! It is so well done and gave me the information I would want from any historical biography without the boredom! The film is good but isn't the tiniest patch on the book!

Loved it, 08 Oct 2008
When I picked the book up I wasn't really sure what to make of it. But the more I read the more I came to admire this women. She was so foolish and at times downright dangerous but she has such a down to earth quality about her I couldn't help but read on.
A truly remarkable women. A book not to be missed!

A good biography, 21 Sep 2008
I picked up the book as I wanted to watch the film. I always feel it is better to read a book then watch the movie to compare.

From the start I was drawn into the book. It is very easy to read and the details are just perfect. There are references to politics but thats a good break. Any intellect should be able to comprehend what is being described. The duchess valued politics so naturally the book should make references to it. There are references to political figures but they are refered to through out the book and you feel like you know them as well as the duchess and her family.

At times, I felt real sad for the duchess but at times I felt rather cross with her and her naivety; her gambling ways and her willingness to live with her husband's mistress. Even that in a way is very sad. She had to put up with it or she would have been forced to separate from her husband. In those days, the children remained with the father and his family if a couple separated or divorced. This meant, if Georgiana had separated from the duke, she would have been separated from the children too.

I could not put the book down once I had started. It was very good. I even thought about calling in sick at work to finish the book. I love my work so for a book to keep me away from my work says a lot about the book itself.

I would highly recommend it to anyone. A perfect biography.

A great disappointment, 12 Aug 2008
Although 'Georgiana' is competently written and well-researched, I am frankly amazed that it has achieved such massive success and popularity since its first publication ten years ago. As other reviewers have pointed out, it perhaps fulfills a useful purpose in putting women back in the 'front-line' of the eighteenth-century political scene but, speaking for myself, I found the exhaustive discussion of the ups-and-downs of the Whigs and Tories tedious in the extreme and an almost total turn-off. This was doubly disappointing, since the rave reviews had led me to expect so much more.

Strangely enough, the most engaging part of the book was the introduction, in which the author writes with real verve and enthusiasm of how she was first 'introduced' to the duchess and how her sympathy and interest grew to such an extent that a full-length biography seemed to be the natural and inevitable conclusion. Would that this enthusiasm had percolated through to the rest of her work which I found to be both turgid and dull. Comparisons have already been drawn to the infinitely warmer, livelier and more approachable biographies of Flora Fraser, Claire Tomalin and Stella Tillyard. Being very familar with the writing of all these authors, and a great fan to boot, I am left to wonder why THIS work should be so celebrated, so well-regarded - and, sad to say, so completely over-hyped.

Engaging, 07 May 2008
I have given this review 5 stars because I think the book is well researched and an engaging read. It easily moves through the early life of the duchess (who originates in the Spencer family) and her movement through 'the ton'. The author clearly highlights the role of a women in the regency type period - feminism was unheard of and yet here we have a woman influencing politics and refusing to be constrained by her gender. The only negative comment I can make (and this is not a reflection on the book at all) is that I am not sure that I would like Georgiana very much and whilst I have sympathy for her loveless marriage, I find it hard to find empathy for a woman who lived in to such excess when many women of the era would have been grateful for a fragment of the fortune she had.

A brilliant read, but a bit over political, 03 May 2007
I found this book absorbing from the minute I picked it up. Amanda Foreman managed to mix the political elaments with the more social side of her life, to keep it interesting and to keep our attention. Even though I had been warned that it was heavily political, I still found it managable. However, as the book came towards the end, I felt that maybe Amanda Foreman was being pressed by her publishers to get it finished or maybe she was restricted to a limited word count. It seemed to become very rushed, brushing over elements in her life that I felt should have been covered, such as 'Little G's' wedding, both daughters' period of being debutante's and her sister Harriet's affairs, which saw her baring more illegitimate children, instead of only focusing on her political attributes. Maybe it was simply due to the fact that there are little surviving sources, but the fact that the last chapters are only appromimatly 10 pages long stays alot! Overall, It's a good read and I do recommend it, but be prepared to read alot about 18th Century politics.

An exhaustively researched yet highly accessible book, 09 Jan 2005
I found this absolutely compelling; I simply couldn't put it down. I found the politcal angle paticularly absorbing; the extra juice was just an added bonus! I also loved how Foreman points the reader to the ironies which pepper Georgina's life.It's really got me hooked on 18thc social and political history. I'm lucky enough to have a history degree, but this book is so accessible you don't need one; Foreman just guides through giving you all extra info without sounding patronising. This has to be the best researched biography I've read... if only my academic reading was as fun.

a well-crafted, sympathetic and vivid portrayal, 21 Dec 2001
Clearly well-researched, this biography of one of the eighteenth century's most enigmatic figures conveys vividly the tumultous world of eighteenth century politics alongside that of Georgiana's private life. A pioneer in women's involvement in politics, her role as a campaigner and society hostess placed her in the centre of the Whig party throughout its years of opposition; prominent men instinctively sought her advice. As well as highlighting G's pivotal political role, Foreman succeeds in capturing the moral ambiguity of the age in the private dilemmas her heroine faces: a hopeless addiction to gaming, her husband's mistress being her best friend, forcing to choose between her lover and her children etc. Although from an age difficult to empathise with, Foreman never the less makes G and her world instantly accessible. An Interesting and insightful read.

not a great biography, but a very creditable one, 08 Jul 2008
William Hague points out in the afterword to this book that Margaret Thatcher likened him to Pitt the Younger when he famously took the stage at the Conservative Party Conference aged 16 many years ago. He certainly has a sympathy for his subject but not a slavish one ; he sees weaknesses as well as strengths. It needs to be said that this is a hard-worked book, and Hague's conscientious research is everywhere apparent. He usually avoids the danger of an invisible wood hidden by multitudes of trees - perhaps not quite, or not always - but there is still a lot of information in the book, and it's a long book. Hague also faces a difficulty in the nature of his subject. If you take the politician away from Pitt, there is not much left. Disraeli, Gladstone and Churchill, to name only three, were interesting characters in themselves, never mind their achievements ; Pitt was an unmarried, totally dedicated politician with an enigmatic nature, little in the way of hobbies and few friends. He drank very heavily and no doubt enjoyed the experience, but even that stemmed from medical advice and not what might be thought an interesting recklessness of character. However, the events through which he lived - the American War, attempts at parliamentary reform, the 'madness' of the King (actually probably acute intermittent porphyria), the anti-slavery movement with his friend Wilberforce, the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars - are all important and some are momentous. Hague tells the tale of all these things and his subject's involvement in them pretty well. He writes clearly and articulately and has quite a good sense of structure in his narrative - he is, for example, good at cliff-hangers at section and chapter endings. There are a few entertaining anecdotes (not many). What he fails to do for me is convey the astonishing power of Pitt as a parliamentary orator. Often he writes of a devastating speech, or one which thrilled the Commons with its clarity, logic and intellectual brilliance, but he doesn't really make that come to life in the quotations he chooses, which (admittedly out of context) seem to me wordy and even a little pompous sometimes. But fair's fair - I enjoyed the book, it is a good work of scholarship, it does cast a great deal of light on the subject and his time, and it is rather touching that it has been written by a modern politician who, whatever the similarities, has yet to come within shouting distance of Pitt's achievement in his time - as I am sure Hague would have the realism and humility to acknowledge.

Great introductory piece on a great man!, 07 Jun 2008
I thought this book a wonderful introduction to the life and administration of William Pitt the Younger. Mr Hague manages to, in a relatively short book (compared to Ehrman's) to outline and analyse Pitt's true uniqueness and irregularty as a man. Few men become PM at 24 and even fewer worked the excessive hours Pitt. Pitt's oratory was legendary and his clashes with Fox were too. Hague looks at these two characters in relation to the times with the end of America and the radicalism of Paine & co. Pitt's reactionary nature after the French revolution is analysed well as his economic policy of the 1780's which has become famous for it's originality and audacity. Hagues book isn't in the same league as Jenkins and Ehrman but is a splendid first attempt!

A rounded portrait of a great statesman, 29 Mar 2008
William Hague has a pleasant, straightforward and limpid style in which he can convey not only complex political situations, but a warmth of feeling towards his subject and a sensitive and empathic interpretation of behaviour and background.

He begins with Pitt's extremely precocious childhood. He was tutored at home, in large part by his father (whose loving nature may also be something of a revelation to readers). From earliest childhood young Pitt breathed in politics. Hague speculates that he learnt not only from his father's successes (his oratory, his foreign policy), but also from his failures (going to the Lords in 1766, or leaving the post of First Lord of the Treasury to someone else).

There are exciting accounts of several key episodes in his life: his rise to becoming Prime Minister at the age of 24; the Regency Crisis of 1788/9; his resignation over his disagreement with George III over Catholic Emancipation in 1801 (beautifully analyzed), and his promise, after the King's recovery from his recurring malady, never to raise the matter again; the drifting apart between Pitt and his old friend and nominee Addington during the latter's interregnum.

No minister except Walpole has for so long and so completely dominated the House of Commons. Pitt was universally acclaimed as a great orator, though only a very few passages quoted in this book - foremost among them his speech in 1792 advocating the abolition of the slave trade - make for stirring reading these days. Part of the appeal of his speeches is said to have been the cogency of their logical structure and his mastery of detail, which is not so easily conveyed in a book. He was a brilliant manager of the nation's finances - but his own were often in a ruinous state. He could not be bothered to pay much attention to them, and refused to take sinecure offices (except, at the King's insistence, the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports) or a large donation offered by the merchants of the City of London. He was hugely in debt at the time of his resignation in 1801, but he refused all offers of help, from the King, from Parliament, from his successor Addington in the form of sinecure offices, or from the City. Only through help from a handful of his closest friends was the pressure of debt slightly eased.

For Pitt rightly prided himself on his personal probity. He would accept nothing that might be construed as putting him under an obligation; but, though he was personally bored with appeals for his patronage, he did not scruple to allow his lieutenants to manage patronage and bribery on a massive scale, especially at critical moments of his rule. (Hague mentions only in passing his massive inflation of the peerage.)

His finances and his speeches made him a great war leader, but he was less so in the actual conduct of the wars. He underestimated France in the early days and overestimated Britain's military (as distinct from naval) resources. He made miscalculations of the kind that Chatham probably would not have made (though Chatham, of course, had faced a far less dynamic France). He twice (1796, 1797) sought for peace with France because of the immense drain on Britain's financial resources, but, encouraged by a string of French setbacks in 1798 and 1799, turned down the peace overtures Napoleon made immediately after seizing power in France in 1799. In this latter refusal he was strongly backed by his cousin, the hawkish foreign minister William Grenville.

Hague brings out the importance of Grenville throughout Pitt's career. A staunch ally until Pitt's resignation, he became so impatient with Pitt's early forbearance with regard to Addington that he joined Fox in opposition - which George III could not forgive. So when Pitt returned to office in 1804, he could not give a post to Grenville, who then practically became a Foxite Whig. As a result, Pitt no longer had the mastery of the Commons or even of the Cabinet that he had had before, and it added to the strain in those years of Ulm and Austerlitz. By that time Pitt was a shadow of his former self, increasingly exhausted and in dreadful health.

It is on the human side that Hague excels, and there is not always scope for that in the story. Much of Pitt's work in government - finance, trade, administrative reform, the shuffling of seats around the cabinet table - gives little scope to more than the thoroughly workmanlike treatment it receives here. Even the account of the wars with France are no more than that. For me, the best parts of the book deal with Pitt's character. He has generally been considered cold; but he had many close friends in whose company he was witty and amusing. A fine chapter discusses this contrast and shows Pitt, when Prime Minister, as relaxed and warm with family and real friends. There is a long and moving letter he wrote to Wilberforce when the latter announced his religious conversion in 1785. There is an astonishing scene a couple of years before his death when at one moment he was larking around with his intimates whom he allowed to blacken his face with burnt cork, and a moment later, quickly cleaned up, stiffly received political visitors. Between Pitt and his mother there was great warmth and affection. In his letters to her he always made light of difficulties or his poor health, not just because he was by nature optimistic, but because he wanted to spare her worries.

It is astonishing that Hague should have researched and written this book of 592 pages inside two years. The masterly ten-page summing up at the end is not only balanced in its judgments, but tells us a good deal about Hague himself. It is clear that he not only admires Pitt, but feels a great affection for him; and he will make many readers feel the same.



An interesting biography , 04 Nov 2007
Pitt the Younger by William Hauge is an interesting book dealing with one of the heroes of British politics. It describes the life of a man who devoted his short life to running the country in one of its hours of need. Although it perhaps lacks the analysis you find in some biographies it is all in all a very good book which is easy to read and will increase most reader's knowledge of this quite remarkable man.

Hague on Pitt, 31 Jul 2007
It is easy to see why William Hague reveres the memory of William Pitt the Younger and perhaps seems something of himself in him. Both were recognised as prococious talent early in their political careers, both were possessed of quick wit and intelligence, both dedicated their lives to politics at an early age. Hague hung Pitt's portrait in the Shadow Cabinet, hoping perhaps that some of his hero's skill in winning and maintaining power would rub off on him and his colleagues. When Hague was asked to write his memoirs after resigning as Tory leader in 2001, he dismissed the idea as ridiculous for a 40 year old, and chose instead to write about the prime minister regarded as the father of the Conservative Party.

Hague tells the story of the younger Pitt's short but astonishing life with great skill and lucidity, supplying parallels and contrasts with the modern political age. It is a fascinating account, not only of the life of Pitt, but also of British politics in general in the late eighteenth century. The circumstances in which Pitt became Prime Minister were extraordinary at the time, and would of course be completely impossible now. At this juncture considerable power still remained in the hands of the sovereign, and after the deadweight first two Georges, King George III had an almost Stuart-like determination to fully exercise the powers vested in him. He chose a moment to dismiss a government he did not like, that of Lord North and Charles James Fox, and to install the 24 year old William Pitt.

The story of how this youth managed to hold together a government against an indignant opposition, who still controlled the Commons, for long enough to win over a working majority is fascinating in its own right. Pitt, working with the King, managed gradually to consolidate the new government until the moment was right to dissolve Parliament and use the considerable powers available to incumbent prime ministers to ensure a clear majority in the subsequent House of Commons. He remained in office, with a short break, until his untimely death at 46.

Among the strengths that made Pitt such a political success were his remarkable oratory powers in the Commons, his shrewd use of the powers of patronage available to him and his innovative approaches to solving the nation's financial woes in the wake of the military catastrophe of the American War. It would be incorrect to say he was incorruptable - more accurately he had no regard for his personal financial situation, and died with huge debts. But he was quite comfortable with offering honours or financial incentives to those whom he knew would be motivated by them.

A criticism of Hague's work might be that too little time is spent on conclusions. The reader is left wondering why William Pitt the Younger should be regarded as a "great" prime minister. He was a brilliant speaker and his shrewdness in defending his position from his opponents was legendary. Statistically his position in British history is unassailable, having come to office at such a young age, and served as prime minister for a little short of nineteen years. But these things do not on their own make a great prime minister. Critics can point to his record of internal repression during the long war with revolutionary France and to his failure to legislate on any of the three great liberal causes which he professed to support - Catholic emancipation, parliamentary reform, and the abolition of the slave trade. The fact that the last of these was already accepted in principle by most of the British ruling class, and passed quickly into law after his death makes his tardiness hard to forgive.

The last great criticism of Pitt is his failure to read the military strength of France in 1793 and his consequential willingless to take Britain back to war with her old enemy. Pitt was convinced that France was bankrupt and would not be able to stand for long against a united European coalition. All his good work in paying back the national debt in the 1780s was undone, and if it was not for the newly created wealth of the industrial revolution, Britain would have bled itself to death bribing Austria and Prussia to remain in the field. As it was he was able to bridge the gap with his most enduring innovation - income tax.

Whatever the reader's conclusion about the William Pitt the Younger, Hague has written an excellent first book. One hopes that he will publish more.

reading a time in history, 27 Feb 2007
BEING A EDGEWORTH BY BIRTH TO BE ABLE TO READ ABOUT A DIRECT GRANDFATHER WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND I THINK JENNY DID A GREAT JOB GETTING INTO THE MINDS OF HER LIST OF LUNAR CLUB MEMBERS AND DOING THE STORY FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW,,,

Heavy going, 21 Sep 2005
I can pretty much guarantee that this subject matter will be new to almost any reader. It's interesting to find out what all the characters were all up to and the development of early forms of science, but to be honest I found it heavy going. Unless you're particularly interested in the period or the people then you may find yet another description of a new form of carriage a little galling. Buy it if you're looking at the subject specifically, but not if you're just dipping into it.

Return to "o" Level history, 28 Sep 2003
Having studied the Industrial Revolution atboth O and A level in the 1980's, I have fascinated to read this book about many of the major players in this important part of British History. Jenny Uglow has succeeded to writing a very readable book that brings such characters to life at Boulton,Watt, Wedgewood, Priestly, etc although the polymath Erasmus Darwin emerges as the most impressive. Anyone who studied this era of history at school will find much to enjoy.

"O" Level history made human, 28 Sep 2003
Having enjoyed studying the Industrial Revolution at both "o" and "A" level during the 1980's, it was a pleasure to read the human story behind the great names such as Wedgewood, Boulton, Priestly and Watt. Erasmus Darwin emerges as a great polymath and the unlikely hero of the enthralling book by popular historian Jenny Uglow. It would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in this hero as it does more than many more celebrated authors / television presenter's books to explain why this period was so important to the development of Britain. The characters are very much real people and the reader becomes involved in their struggles to overcome corruption and personal trageties. Anyone who studied the same course as myself during the 1980's will want to read this. Recommended unreservedly.

lunatics they were not?, 16 Sep 2002
A truly fascinating book, describing the 'club' formed by five amatuer experimenters from the Midlands in the 1760's. But not any experimenters: James Watt; Josiah Wedgewood; Joseph Priestley; Matthew Boulton; Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles Darwin. Each of these men is famous and all have had biographies written, but this book about the Lunar Society of Birmingham shows their passions and interests vividly. What a fascinating illustration of early modern history and the power of young and optimistic men to create ideas that actually did change the world around them.

The book has much detailed research presented with transparent enthusiasm for the subject. If you bear with the detail, the underlying story is a gem. Oh, and now I know what a 'lunatic' really is!

The Duchess comes to life, 27 Oct 2008
The book is simply amazing. The letters that the Duchess exchanged with others bring her character and her peers back to life. Despite the high rank and society Georgiana belonged to, she was just a woman whose ambitions moved her forward, whose love-life could not be more difficult and restrained her from being loved in return. The film adaptation is a far cry from the books original text.

what a disappointment, 13 Oct 2008
I was so looking forward to a good historical novel but what a let down. It was more like text book. Dreadfully hard going - I didn't finish it.

Very readable and loved it!, 09 Oct 2008
I was very pleased that I was able to get into this book and I remember it as if it was a story! It is so well done and gave me the information I would want from any historical biography without the boredom! The film is good but isn't the tiniest patch on the book!

Loved it, 08 Oct 2008
When I picked the book up I wasn't really sure what to make of it. But the more I read the more I came to admire this women. She was so foolish and at times downright dangerous but she has such a down to earth quality about her I couldn't help but read on.
A truly remarkable women. A book not to be missed!

A good biography, 21 Sep 2008
I picked up the book as I wanted to watch the film. I always feel it is better to read a book then watch the movie to compare.

From the start I was drawn into the book. It is very easy to read and the details are just perfect. There are references to politics but thats a good break. Any intellect should be able to comprehend what is being described. The duchess valued politics so naturally the book should make references to it. There are references to political figures but they are refered to through out the book and you feel like you know them as well as the duchess and her family.

At times, I felt real sad for the duchess but at times I felt rather cross with her and her naivety; her gambling ways and her willingness to live with her husband's mistress. Even that in a way is very sad. She had to put up with it or she would have been forced to separate from her husband. In those days, the children remained with the father and his family if a couple separated or divorced. This meant, if Georgiana had separated from the duke, she would have been separated from the children too.

I could not put the book down once I had started. It was very good. I even thought about calling in sick at work to finish the book. I love my work so for a book to keep me away from my work says a lot about the book itself.

I would highly recommend it to anyone. A perfect biography.

A great disappointment, 12 Aug 2008
Although 'Georgiana' is competently written and well-researched, I am frankly amazed that it has achieved such massive success and popularity since its first publication ten years ago. As other reviewers have pointed out, it perhaps fulfills a useful purpose in putting women back in the 'front-line' of the eighteenth-century political scene but, speaking for myself, I found the exhaustive discussion of the ups-and-downs of the Whigs and Tories tedious in the extreme and an almost total turn-off. This was doubly disappointing, since the rave reviews had led me to expect so much more.

Strangely enough, the most engaging part of the book was the introduction, in which the author writes with real verve and enthusiasm of how she was first 'introduced' to the duchess and how her sympathy and interest grew to such an extent that a full-length biography seemed to be the natural and inevitable conclusion. Would that this enthusiasm had percolated through to the rest of her work which I found to be both turgid and dull. Comparisons have already been drawn to the infinitely warmer, livelier and more approachable biographies of Flora Fraser, Claire Tomalin and Stella Tillyard. Being very familar with the writing of all these authors, and a great fan to boot, I am left to wonder why THIS work should be so celebrated, so well-regarded - and, sad to say, so completely over-hyped.

Engaging, 07 May 2008
I have given this review 5 stars because I think the book is well researched and an engaging read. It easily moves through the early life of the duchess (who originates in the Spencer family) and her movement through 'the ton'. The author clearly highlights the role of a women in the regency type period - feminism was unheard of and yet here we have a woman influencing politics and refusing to be constrained by her gender. The only negative comment I can make (and this is not a reflection on the book at all) is that I am not sure that I would like Georgiana very much and whilst I have sympathy for her loveless marriage, I find it hard to find empathy for a woman who lived in to such excess when many women of the era would have been grateful for a fragment of the fortune she had.

A brilliant read, but a bit over political, 03 May 2007
I found this book absorbing from the minute I picked it up. Amanda Foreman managed to mix the political elaments with the more social side of her life, to keep it interesting and to keep our attention. Even though I had been warned that it was heavily political, I still found it managable. However, as the book came towards the end, I felt that maybe Amanda Foreman was being pressed by her publishers to get it finished or maybe she was restricted to a limited word count. It seemed to become very rushed, brushing over elements in her life that I felt should have been covered, such as 'Little G's' wedding, both daughters' period of being debutante's and her sister Harriet's affairs, which saw her baring more illegitimate children, instead of only focusing on her political attributes. Maybe it was simply due to the fact that there are little surviving sources, but the fact that the last chapters are only appromimatly 10 pages long stays alot! Overall, It's a good read and I do recommend it, but be prepared to read alot about 18th Century politics.

An exhaustively researched yet highly accessible book, 09 Jan 2005
I found this absolutely compelling; I simply couldn't put it down. I found the politcal angle paticularly absorbing; the extra juice was just an added bonus! I also loved how Foreman points the reader to the ironies which pepper Georgina's life.It's really got me hooked on 18thc social and political history. I'm lucky enough to have a history degree, but this book is so accessible you don't need one; Foreman just guides through giving you all extra info without sounding patronising. This has to be the best researched biography I've read... if only my academic reading was as fun.

a well-crafted, sympathetic and vivid portrayal, 21 Dec 2001
Clearly well-researched, this biography of one of the eighteenth century's most enigmatic figures conveys vividly the tumultous world of eighteenth century politics alongside that of Georgiana's private life. A pioneer in women's involvement in politics, her role as a campaigner and society hostess placed her in the centre of the Whig party throughout its years of opposition; prominent men instinctively sought her advice. As well as highlighting G's pivotal political role, Foreman succeeds in capturing the moral ambiguity of the age in the private dilemmas her heroine faces: a hopeless addiction to gaming, her husband's mistress being her best friend, forcing to choose between her lover and her children etc. Although from an age difficult to empathise with, Foreman never the less makes G and her world instantly accessible. An Interesting and insightful read.

not a great biography, but a very creditable one, 08 Jul 2008
William Hague points out in the afterword to this book that Margaret Thatcher likened him to Pitt the Younger when he famously took the stage at the Conservative Party Conference aged 16 many years ago. He certainly has a sympathy for his subject but not a slavish one ; he sees weaknesses as well as strengths. It needs to be said that this is a hard-worked book, and Hague's conscientious research is everywhere apparent. He usually avoids the danger of an invisible wood hidden by multitudes of trees - perhaps not quite, or not always - but there is still a lot of information in the book, and it's a long book. Hague also faces a difficulty in the nature of his subject. If you take the politician away from Pitt, there is not much left. Disraeli, Gladstone and Churchill, to name only three, were interesting characters in themselves, never mind their achievements ; Pitt was an unmarried, totally dedicated politician with an enigmatic nature, little in the way of hobbies and few friends. He drank very heavily and no doubt enjoyed the experience, but even that stemmed from medical advice and not what might be thought an interesting recklessness of character. However, the events through which he lived - the American War, attempts at parliamentary reform, the 'madness' of the King (actually probably acute intermittent porphyria), the anti-slavery movement with his friend Wilberforce, the French Revolutionary Wars, the Napoleonic Wars - are all important and some are momentous. Hague tells the tale of all these things and his subject's involvement in them pretty well. He writes clearly and articulately and has quite a good sense of structure in his narrative - he is, for example, good at cliff-hangers at section and chapter endings. There are a few entertaining anecdotes (not many). What he fails to do for me is convey the astonishing power of Pitt as a parliamentary orator. Often he writes of a devastating speech, or one which thrilled the Commons with its clarity, logic and intellectual brilliance, but he doesn't really make that come to life in the quotations he chooses, which (admittedly out of context) seem to me wordy and even a little pompous sometimes. But fair's fair - I enjoyed the book, it is a good work of scholarship, it does cast a great deal of light on the subject and his time, and it is rather touching that it has been written by a modern politician who, whatever the similarities, has yet to come within shouting distance of Pitt's achievement in his time - as I am sure Hague would have the realism and humility to acknowledge.

Great introductory piece on a great man!, 07 Jun 2008
I thought this book a wonderful introduction to the life and administration of William Pitt the Younger. Mr Hague manages to, in a relatively short book (compared to Ehrman's) to outline and analyse Pitt's true uniqueness and irregularty as a man. Few men become PM at 24 and even fewer worked the excessive hours Pitt. Pitt's oratory was legendary and his clashes with Fox were too. Hague looks at these two characters in relation to the times with the end of America and the radicalism of Paine & co. Pitt's reactionary nature after the French revolution is analysed well as his economic policy of the 1780's which has become famous for it's originality and audacity. Hagues book isn't in the same league as Jenkins and Ehrman but is a splendid first attempt!

A rounded portrait of a great statesman, 29 Mar 2008
William Hague has a pleasant, straightforward and limpid style in which he can convey not only complex political situations, but a warmth of feeling towards his subject and a sensitive and empathic interpretation of behaviour and background.

He begins with Pitt's extremely precocious childhood. He was tutored at home, in large part by his father (whose loving nature may also be something of a revelation to readers). From earliest childhood young Pitt breathed in politics. Hague speculates that he learnt not only from his father's successes (his oratory, his foreign policy), but also from his failures (going to the Lords in 1766, or leaving the post of First Lord of the Treasury to someone else).

There are exciting accounts of several key episodes in his life: his rise to becoming Prime Minister at the age of 24; the Regency Crisis of 1788/9; his resignation over his disagreement with George III over Catholic Emancipation in 1801 (beautifully analyzed), and his promise, after the King's recovery from his recurring malady, never to raise the matter again; the drifting apart between Pitt and his old friend and nominee Addington during the latter's interregnum.

No minister except Walpole has for so long and so completely dominated the House of Commons. Pitt was universally acclaimed as a great orator, though only a very few passages quoted in this book - foremost among them his speech in 1792 advocating the abolition of the slave trade - make for stirring reading these days. Part of the appeal of his speeches is said to have been the cogency of their logical structure and his mastery of detail, which is not so easily conveyed in a book. He was a brilliant manager of the nation's finances - but his own were often in a ruinous state. He could not be bothered to pay much attention to them, and refused to take sinecure offices (except, at the King's insistence, the Wardenship of the Cinque Ports) or a large donation offered by the merchants of the City of London. He was hugely in debt at the time of his resignation in 1801, but he refused all offers of help, from the King, from Parliament, from his successor Addington in the form of sinecure offices, or from the City. Only through help from a handful of his closest friends was the pressure of debt slightly eased.

For Pitt rightly prided himself on his personal probity. He would accept nothing that might be construed as putting him under an obligation; but, though he was personally bored with appeals for his patronage, he did not scruple to allow his lieutenants to manage patronage and bribery on a massive scale, especially at critical moments of his rule. (Hague mentions only in passing his massive inflation of the peerage.)

His finances and his speeches made him a great war leader, but he was less so in the actual conduct of the wars. He underestimated France in the early days and overestimated Britain's military (as distinct from naval) resources. He made miscalculations of the kind that Chatham probably would not have made (though Chatham, of course, had faced a far less dynamic France). He twice (1796, 1797) sought for peace with France because of the immense drain on Britain's financial resources, but, encouraged by a string of French setbacks in 1798 and 1799, turned down the peace overtures Napoleon made immediately after seizing power in France in 1799. In this latter refusal he was strongly backed by his cousin, the hawkish foreign minister William Grenville.

Hague brings out the importance of Grenville throughout Pitt's career. A staunch ally until Pitt's resignation, he became so impatient with Pitt's early forbearance with regard to Addington that he joined Fox in opposition - which George III could not forgive. So when Pitt returned to office in 1804, he could not give a post to Grenville, who then practically became a Foxite Whig. As a result, Pitt no longer had the mastery of the Commons or even of the Cabinet that he had had before, and it added to the strain in those years of Ulm and Austerlitz. By that time Pitt was a shadow of his former self, increasingly exhausted and in dreadful health.

It is on the human side that Hague excels, and there is not always scope for that in the story. Much of Pitt's work in government - finance, trade, administrative reform, the shuffling of seats around the cabinet table - gives little scope to more than the thoroughly workmanlike treatment it receives here. Even the account of the wars with France are no more than that. For me, the best parts of the book deal with Pitt's character. He has generally been considered cold; but he had many close friends in whose company he was witty and amusing. A fine chapter discusses this contrast and shows Pitt, when Prime Minister, as relaxed and warm with family and real friends. There is a long and moving letter he wrote to Wilberforce when the latter announced his religious conversion in 1785. There is an astonishing scene a couple of years before his death when at one moment he was larking around with his intimates whom he allowed to blacken his face with burnt cork, and a moment later, quickly cleaned up, stiffly received political visitors. Between Pitt and his mother there was great warmth and affection. In his letters to her he always made light of difficulties or his poor health, not just because he was by nature optimistic, but because he wanted to spare her worries.

It is astonishing that Hague should have researched and written this book of 592 pages inside two years. The masterly ten-page summing up at the end is not only balanced in its judgments, but tells us a good deal about Hague himself. It is clear that he not only admires Pitt, but feels a great affection for him; and he will make many readers feel the same.



An interesting biography , 04 Nov 2007
Pitt the Younger by William Hauge is an interesting book dealing with one of the heroes of British politics. It describes the life of a man who devoted his short life to running the country in one of its hours of need. Although it perhaps lacks the analysis you find in some biographies it is all in all a very good book which is easy to read and will increase most reader's knowledge of this quite remarkable man.

Hague on Pitt, 31 Jul 2007
It is easy to see why William Hague reveres the memory of William Pitt the Younger and perhaps seems something of himself in him. Both were recognised as prococious talent early in their political careers, both were possessed of quick wit and intelligence, both dedicated their lives to politics at an early age. Hague hung Pitt's portrait in the Shadow Cabinet, hoping perhaps that some of his hero's skill in winning and maintaining power would rub off on him and his colleagues. When Hague was asked to write his memoirs after resigning as Tory leader in 2001, he dismissed the idea as ridiculous for a 40 year old, and chose instead to write about the prime minister regarded as the father of the Conservative Party.

Hague tells the story of the younger Pitt's short but astonishing life with great skill and lucidity, supplying parallels and contrasts with the modern political age. It is a fascinating account, not only of the life of Pitt, but also of British politics in general in the late eighteenth century. The circumstances in which Pitt became Prime Minister were extraordinary at the time, and would of course be completely impossible now. At this juncture considerable power still remained in the hands of the sovereign, and after the deadweight first two Georges, King George III had an almost Stuart-like determination to fully exercise the powers vested in him. He chose a moment to dismiss a government he did not like, that of Lord North and Charles James Fox, and to install the 24 year old William Pitt.

The story of how this youth managed to hold together a government against an indignant opposition, who still controlled the Commons, for long enough to win over a working majority is fascinating in its own right. Pitt, working with the King, managed gradually to consolidate the new government until the moment was right to dissolve Parliament and use the considerable powers available to incumbent prime ministers to ensure a clear majority in the subsequent House of Commons. He remained in office, with a short break, until his untimely death at 46.

Among the strengths that made Pitt such a political success were his remarkable oratory powers in the Commons, his shrewd use of the powers of patronage available to him and his innovative approaches to solving the nation's financial woes in the wake of the military catastrophe of the American War. It would be incorrect to say he was incorruptable - more accurately he had no regard for his personal financial situation, and died with huge debts. But he was quite comfortable with offering honours or financial incentives to those whom he knew would be motivated by them.

A criticism of Hague's work might be that too little time is spent on conclusions. The reader is left wondering why William Pitt the Younger should be regarded as a "great" prime minister. He was a brilliant speaker and his shrewdness in defending his position from his opponents was legendary. Statistically his position in British history is unassailable, having come to office at such a young age, and served as prime minister for a little short of nineteen years. But these things do not on their own make a great prime minister. Critics can point to his record of internal repression during the long war with revolutionary France and to his failure to legislate on any of the three great liberal causes which he professed to support - Catholic emancipation, parliamentary reform, and the abolition of the slave trade. The fact that the last of these was already accepted in principle by most of the British ruling class, and passed quickly into law after his death makes his tardiness hard to forgive.

The last great criticism of Pitt is his failure to read the military strength of France in 1793 and his consequential willingless to take Britain back to war with her old enemy. Pitt was convinced that France was bankrupt and would not be able to stand for long against a united European coalition. All his good work in paying back the national debt in the 1780s was undone, and if it was not for the newly created wealth of the industrial revolution, Britain would have bled itself to death bribing Austria and Prussia to remain in the field. As it was he was able to bridge the gap with his most enduring innovation - income tax.

Whatever the reader's conclusion about the William Pitt the Younger, Hague has written an excellent first book. One hopes that he will publish more.

reading a time in history, 27 Feb 2007
BEING A EDGEWORTH BY BIRTH TO BE ABLE TO READ ABOUT A DIRECT GRANDFATHER WAS VERY INFORMATIVE AND I THINK JENNY DID A GREAT JOB GETTING INTO THE MINDS OF HER LIST OF LUNAR CLUB MEMBERS AND DOING THE STORY FROM THEIR POINT OF VIEW,,,

Heavy going, 21 Sep 2005
I can pretty much guarantee that this subject matter will be new to almost any reader. It's interesting to find out what all the characters were all up to and the development of early forms of science, but to be honest I found it heavy going. Unless you're particularly interested in the period or the people then you may find yet another description of a new form of carriage a little galling. Buy it if you're looking at the subject specifically, but not if you're just dipping into it.

Return to "o" Level history, 28 Sep 2003
Having studied the Industrial Revolution atboth O and A level in the 1980's, I have fascinated to read this book about many of the major players in this important part of British History. Jenny Uglow has succeeded to writing a very readable book that brings such characters to life at Boulton,Watt, Wedgewood, Priestly, etc although the polymath Erasmus Darwin emerges as the most impressive. Anyone who studied this era of history at school will find much to enjoy.

"O" Level history made human, 28 Sep 2003
Having enjoyed studying the Industrial Revolution at both "o" and "A" level during the 1980's, it was a pleasure to read the human story behind the great names such as Wedgewood, Boulton, Priestly and Watt. Erasmus Darwin emerges as a great polymath and the unlikely hero of the enthralling book by popular historian Jenny Uglow. It would recommend this book to anyone with an interest in this hero as it does more than many more celebrated authors / television presenter's books to explain why this period was so important to the development of Britain. The characters are very much real people and the reader becomes involved in their struggles to overcome corruption and personal trageties. Anyone who studied the same course as myself during the 1980's will want to read this. Recommended unreservedly.

lunatics they were not?, 16 Sep 2002
A truly fascinating book, describing the 'club' formed by five amatuer experimenters from the Midlands in the 1760's. But not any experimenters: James Watt; Josiah Wedgewood; Joseph Priestley; Matthew Boulton; Erasmus Darwin (grandfather of Charles Darwin. Each of these men is famous and all have had biographies written, but this book about the Lunar Society of Birmingham shows their passions and interests vividly. What a fascinating illustration of early modern history and the power of young and optimistic men to create ideas that actually did change the world around them.

The book has much detailed research presented with transparent enthusiasm for the subject. If you bear with the detail, the underlying story is a gem. Oh, and now I know what a 'lunatic' really is!

A superb historical rescue mission , 20 Sep 2008
This really is a magnificent biography. Well written, gripping and shedding new light on a fascinating & complex subject. Most people will know no more about Stanley than "Dr Livingstone, I presume?", but this book expertly cuts through the many myths and misunderstandings that have dogged Stanley's reputation for over a century. What we are left with is a portrait of a unique individual who certainly managed to keep his head while all around were losing theirs. The excesses for which Stanley took the blame are largely shown to have been the work of others, indeed, the utterly dreadful behaviour of some of his British officers during the infamous 'Rear Column' episode only highlights Stanley's own strength of character.
Like the expeditions it describes -- Long, sometimes harrowing, complex but ultimately totally absorbing.

Redressing the balance, 30 Apr 2008
Unfortunately a couple of reviewers have given this book one star based on their own prejudices rather than on the merits or otherwise of this book. So to redress this balance I give a well deserved 5 stars because quite simply this is one of the best biographies I have read for years. I have read The Scramble for Africa, and King Leopold's Ghost, and this book does nothing but add to the knowledge and understanding of this specific period of history. I think this book is remarkably well balanced, trully "warts and all", but it opens Stanley up for inspection in a vivid and detailed manner. Of course with the benefit of hindsight we can instantly pick at all of Stanley's faults, but he was of his time, a remarkable man then and would be now and if we should berate him for anything it is that he seems to be amongst the first to have mastered journalistic "spin". So he wasn't shy in emphasising his "successes" and burying the less wonderful aspects of his experiences and there are passages detailing brutality that still shock but there are more accounts of his bravery, his willingness to alleviate natives' suffering and a genuine wish to "explore" that he surely comes out ahead of the game in that regard. His was a fascinating and endlessly exciting life and this book offers a gripping account of it

Outstanding, 09 Oct 2007
I knew little of the history of the western colonialisation of Africa and less about Stanleys reputation prior to reading this book. Tim Jeal paints the picture of a desperatly flawed man desperate for the respect of others, and convincingly tells the tail of H M Stanleys life. Acknowledging his role in opening up the heart of Africa it highlights a man out of his depth when out of the Jungle but beyond compare when leading his expeditions through it. Buy read enjoy!

Outstanding, 12 Jun 2007
As a committed Afrophile I always felt perplexed by Stanley; I generally accepted the negative post-colonial view of Stanley and indeed the view of some during his lifetime. I often wondered if this man from very humble beginnings was indeed the racist monster he was often portrayed as. Tim Jeal's excellent revisionist biography of Stanley is superbly written, very well researched and well balanced. Jeal portrays a man who by the standards of his day was not racist, a man whose toughness and resolve is astounding and a man whose exploration journeys almost defy modern comprehension. Sure Stanley was not perfect and he did live in a more sanguinary time but by any standards it is clear he was not the monster he has so often been portrayed as; Stanley and many of his fellow travellers deserve this biography.

Excellent Adventure, 29 May 2007
In one of these reviews a gentleman has said the truth about Stanley should not be known in light of the tragedy of events in the Congo. That man acts as if he has read this book cover to cover. Maybe if he had as I have he would have known that his argument is way off base.
Stanley cared about the African people. He devoted his life to leading the fight against slavery and was beloved by his Wangwana followers. He died just as King Leopold's evil schemes came to light. One can call him blinded by Leopold's rank and lies but to be honest every major statesman in Europe at the time believed Leopold was a good guy and didn't know of his slave labour ideas or the way people in the Congo were being killed and mutilated.
Moreover recent history in the Congo has NOTHING to do with Stanley but again we are reminded that because it is a sad place now it is ok for Stanley's good name to be dragged through the mud. It is precisely because of such injustice that the truth must be told. He was a great man, not perfect but a good man too.
Read it for yourself and don't be put off by people with an agenda of their own. Quite how it is insensitive to rescue a good man's reputation when others suffering was not affected by him in any way is beyond me. Respect the Congo's brutal history, cry for it, but to cry is not to defame the dead who should be honored.
Read it today too, it's a great read, best book ever in my view. But then it's my current flavour of the month. Last month it was Toll's 'Six Frigates' . :)

The Duchess comes to life, 27 Oct 2008
The book is simply amazing. The letters that the Duchess exchanged with others bring her character and her peers back to life. Despite the high rank and society Georgiana belonged to, she was just a woman whose ambitions moved her forward, whose love-life could not be more difficult and restrained her from being loved in return. The film adaptation is a far cry from the books original text.

what a disappointment, 13 Oct 2008
I was so looking forward to a good historical novel but what a let down. It was more like text book. Dreadfully hard going - I didn't finish it.

Very readable and loved it!, 09 Oct 2008
I was very pleased that I was able to get into this book and I remember it as if it was a story! It is so well done and gave me the information I would want from any historical biography without the boredom! The film is good but isn't the tiniest patch on the book!

Loved it, 08 Oct 2008
When I picked the book up I wasn't really sure what to make of it. But the more I read the more I came to admire this women. She was so foolish and at times downright dangerous but she has such a down to earth quality about her I couldn't help but read on.
A truly remarkable women. A book not to be missed!

A good biography, 21 Sep 2008
I picked up the book as I wanted to watch the film. I always feel it is better to read a book then watch the movie to compare.

From the start I was drawn into the book. It is very easy to read and the details are just perfect. There are references to politics but thats a good break. Any intellect should be able to comprehend what is being described. The duchess valued politics so naturally the book should make references to it. There are references to political figures but they are refered to through out the book and you feel like you know them as well as the duchess and her family.

At times, I felt real sad for the duchess but at times I felt rather cross with her and her naivety; her gambling ways and her willingness to live with her husband's mistress. Even that in a way is very sad. She had to put up with it or she would have been forced to separate from her husband. In those days, the children remained with the father and his family if a couple separated or divorced. This meant, if Georgiana had separated from the duke, she would have been separated from the children too.

I could not put the book down once I had started. It was very good. I even thought about calling in sick at work to finish the book. I love my work so for a book to keep me away from my work says a lot about the book itself.

I would highly recommend it to anyone. A perfect biography.

A great disappointment, 12 Aug 2008
Although 'Georgiana' is competently written and well-researched, I am frankly amazed that it has achieved such massive success and popularity since its first publication ten years ago. As other reviewers have pointed out, it perhaps fulfills a useful purpose in putting women back in the 'front-line' of the eighteenth-century political scene but, speaking for myself, I found the exhaustive discussion of the ups-and-downs of the Whigs and Tories tedious in the extreme and an almost total turn-off. This was doubly disappointing, since the rave reviews had led me to expect so much more.

Strangely enough, the most engaging part of the book was the introduction, in which the author writes with real verve and enthusiasm of how she was first 'introduced' to the duchess and how her sympathy and interest grew to such an extent that a full-length biography seemed to be the natural and inevitable conclusion. Would that this enthusiasm had percolated through to the rest of her work which I found to be both turgid and dull. Comparisons have already been drawn to the infinitely warmer, livelier and more approachable biographies of Flora Fraser, Claire Tomalin and Stella Tillyard. Being very familar with the writing of all these authors, and a great fan to boot, I am left to wonder why THIS work should be so celebrated, so well-regarded - and, sad to say, so completely over-hyped.

Engaging, 07 May 2008
I have given this review 5 stars because I think the book is well researched and an engaging read. It easily moves through the early life of the duchess (who originates in the Spencer family) and her movement through 'the ton'. The author clearly highlights the role of a women in the regency type period - feminism was unheard of and yet here we have a woman influencing politics and refusing to be constrained by her gender. The only negative comment I can make (and this is not a reflection on the book at all) is that I am not sure that I would like Georgiana very much and whilst I have sympathy for her loveless marriage, I find it hard to find empathy for a woman who lived in to such excess when many women of the era would have been grateful for a fragment of the fortune she had.

A brilliant read, but a bit over political, 03 May 2007
I found this book absorbing from the minute I picked it up. Amanda Foreman managed to mix the political elaments with the more social side of her life, to keep it interesting and to keep our attention. Even though I had been warned that it was heavily political, I still found it managable. However, as the book came towards the end, I felt that maybe Amanda Foreman was being pressed by her publishers to get it finished or maybe she was restricted to a limited word count. It seemed to become very rushed, brushing over elements in her life that I felt should have been covered, such as 'Little G's' wedding, both daughters' period of being debutante's and her sister Harriet's affairs, which saw her baring more illegitimate children, instead of only focusing on her political attributes. Maybe it was simply due to the fact that there are little surviving sources, but the fact that the last chapters are only appromimatly 10 pages long stays alot! Overall, It's a good read and I do recommend it, but be prepared to read alot about 18th Century politics.

An exhaustively researched yet highly accessible book, 09 Jan 2005
I found this absolutely compelling; I simply couldn't put it down. I found the politcal angle paticularly absorbing; the extra juice was just an added bonus! I also loved how Foreman points the reader to the ironies which pepper Georgina's life.It's really got me hooked on 18thc social and political history. I'm lucky enough to have a history degree, but this book is so accessible you don't need one; Foreman just guides through giving you all extra info without sounding patronising. This has to be the best researched biography I've read... if only my academic r