Category: history buff

Princesses Behaving Badly

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

Back in the glory days of living at Expensive Acres, when Blacklight was well enough to work, we went to the bookstores every weekend. Once the other person was done, we knew we could check certain sections and find the other one. For Blacklight? Just head to the graphic novels and science sections? For me? History. Even better, General European History (RIP Borders, much love). And it was unusual weekend when we didn’t stroll out of Borders with at least one bag and another Borders Reward 40% off coupon gone to Coupon Heaven. I had a bookshelf devoted to Eleanor Herman, Leslie Carroll, Karl Shaw, Michael Farquhar and their ilk. So any wonder while zipping past the New Non-Fiction at the Berlin-Peck Memorial Library on a mission to get the entire Naked Gun series for Blacklight I slowed down only long enough to snatch up Linda Rodriguez McRobbie’s Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings on my way to the DVD section?

Now once I was home and curling up on the bed with Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings, I had a moment of wariness. I’ve read a lot of these real royal stories over the years. And sometimes? They’re not quite good. Even if they’re well researched. Because well, research does not always compelling writing.

Case in point. I found the wait for Kris Waldherr’s Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di was much better than the actual book. I’ve read Doomed Queens: Royal Women Who Met Bad Ends, From Cleopatra to Princess Di more than once just to make sure I was giving the book a fair shake. It’s okay but it’s like a bag of classic Hershey’s Kisses when you really want to savor a handful of Lindt Almond truffles. Chocolate yes, but not what you need to really satisfy your craving. On a scale of Sex With Kings/Sex With the Queen (bought them in hardcover brand new from Borders= excellent) to oh…Doomed Queens (interlibrary loan first read, picked up for a $1 at a library sale just because later on=meh) would Princesses Behaving Badly fall?

Even though I had two true crimes meets history books on the nightstand, the adventures of Leland Stanford and his pet photographer Eadweard Muybridge, the Hall-Mills murder and F. Scott Fitzgerald did not exist once I opened Princesses Behaving Badly and started to read. I have Muybridge’s The Horse in Motion, 1878 framed at my Company X work desk right next to my HPLHS membership certificate. And Netflix knows I’m a sucker for true crime shows like Deadly Women. That night, I turned off the bedroom light with the greatest reluctance.

Why? I was plunging into well written and researched mini-biographies of women, some who I know from reading or Stuff You Missed In History Class podcasts to ladies I had never encountered before. As a person who has read a vast number of true royal stories, mad props to Linda Rodriguez McRobbie for not just going down the easy path of “Pauline Bonaparte? She could give  Santa Ho Ho Ho lessons” and “Caroline of Brunswick was so nasty…”. It was so refreshing to see both these ladies treated with respect and not just meat holes for poking. Crass yes, but most people think of them as just sluts. Sure, I might have rolled my eyes at mentions of Princess Diana and her daughter in law the Duchess of Cambridge because that comes as naturally to me as breathing, but I was reading about princesses who actually did something besides get on the cover of every darn tabloid in existence. Don’t believe me? Read about Sarah Winnemuca and then we’ll talk about who did the greater good. <crosses arms and raises eyebrow at the People’s Princess cult> And who knew the Punk Princess I used to read about in Vanity Fair became an accomplished business woman who could teach fellow 1980s icon Donald Trump a thing or thirteen.

If I hadn’t just spend a hoarded Amazon gift card on Blacklight’s birthday present (damn you Police Squad: The Complete Series DVD), Princesses Behaving Badly: Real Stories from History Without the Fairy-Tale Endings would have been snapped up for Mr Kindle in a heart beat. For full price. And given my tight book budget and love of a good bargain? I can’t give any other recent real royal stories books that high a praise.

 

The Caleb Carr Code

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

Books that combine my interests in history, true crime and epics seem to fall off the shelves. Let’s face it, there’s a ready crop of these bricks at the book sales and used book shops. But what makes something worth a read versus only good enough to prop open the old windows in my apartment?

The book has to have a spark, a strong historical background and not feel like the author is playing with paper dolls. So if anyone asked me “Hey Gwen what’s a good historical read?”, Caleb Carr would definitely be on the short list.  The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness will keep you pinned to Mr Couch until the bitter end, emerging back into the real world at 1:30 am going “Frosted Pop Tart, I gotta be at work in 5 and half hours!” while Blacklight pops out of his lair on a beer mission asking “hey, what are YOU doing awake?”. Duh, reading!

And on the way to training this week, listening to the Edward Herrman narrated abridged audiobook of The Alienist, it struck me. Not another car! A thought beyond “do I get Starbucks now or go to Target and get it during lunch?”  and “I wonder just how bad it would be to make a sausage “double down” sandwich?”. Those are valid thoughts (answers: wait until lunch and NO because I want to live to see 40). The Caleb Carr thought was “gee…The Alienist and The Angel of Darkness are pretty much the same. Awesome on their own, but still, I could write a third book in the series myself”

The Caleb Carr Code Breakdown…

****WARNING*** SPOILERS BELOW****READ AT YOUR OWN RISK*****

The team/The X-Men:

  • Dr Kreizler /Professor X: disabled leader who forms a team of experts, has his own institute/school for “troubled” youths
  • Stevie Taggart/Wolverine: small, strong, likes his tobacco, legendary for brawn, one of Kreizler’s most trusted men
  • John Schuyler Moore/Tony Stark: drunken, high society lady killer, uses his money and journalist connections to help the team solve problems but gets in trouble along the way
  • Sara Howard/Pepper Potts: the only woman on the team, driven, handy with a gun that she keeps hidden somewhere on her person, don’t mess with her, does not take ANY of John’s bull for a moment
  • The Detectives Marcus and Lucius Isaacson/The Beast: big, muscle bound, cultured, and brilliant. Always update on the latest, cutting edge forensics

The Crime: always involves a child victim(s). Boy prostitutes in The Alienist and kidnapped children in The Angel of Darkness.

The Villain: Smart, clever, tricksy with a bad childhood involving premature sexuality and being under close watch by parents. The Villain also has real life true crime parallels/inspirations.

  • John Beecham/Japheth Dury (The Alienist): loner male who targets boy prostitutes and leaves very messy/graphic crime scenes. Subjected to intensive mental and verbal abuse by his mother until he was a teenager. Possible real life inspirations: Jeffrey Dahmer, Albert Fish, Jack The Ripper, Jesse Pomeroy, Mary Bell
  • Elspeth Hunter/Libby Fraser/Libby Franklin (The Angel of Darkness) : nurse with tragic past involving murdered children and dead spouse. Possible real life inspirations: Diane Downs, Marybeth Tinning, Waneta Hoyt and Genene Jones

The Hunt: follow leads upstate, find out the villain’s secret and true name.

  • The Alienist:The young Japheth Dury was torturing small animals, raped by an older man who his brother trusted on a camping trip, killed his parents and made it seem like Native Americans from the West killed the elder Durys as a revenge killing.
  • The Angel of Darkness: Libby Franklin gave birth to an illegitimate child, killed said child, assumed the name Libby Fraser, caused the death of an infant and it’s father, married an older man, bore three children, two of which died after being shot by a “stranger” after her husband’s death. Libby isn’t the maternal type but she’ll try and try again even if it means innocent children die.

The The End: final showdown with the villain results in the team almost being killed, the latest victim being rescued, but the villain dying before they can be brought to justice. Dr Kreizler is saddened that he could not study the villain further.

  • The Alienist: John Beecham/Japheth Dury gets shot by Connor and dies. Kreizler does an autopsy but finds nothing unusual about the brain.
  • The Angel of Darkness: Elspeth Hunter/Libby Fraser/Libby Franklin dies from a poison dart (you are GOING TO HAVE TO READ THE BOOK!). Baby Ana is found safe and special guest Teddy Roosevelt rides to the rescue. Go Teddy Go!
  • So if Caleb Carr never wrote another book in the series what would my idea be? How about something with a Black Widow killer like Martha Beck and Raymond Fernandez with a little Belle Gunness  tossed in with Sara Howard as narrator? Get on it Caleb Carr before I do!

Helene Hanff: 84, Charing Cross Road

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

Looking at the hardcover of Helene Hanff’s 84, Charing Cross Road, it’s hard to believe such a slight book spawned a cult, film adaptations and a stage production in both London and New York. It’s just under 100 pages long and nothing but LETTERS, some no more than a few scrawled lines.

But it’s what’s in the letters that’s made of invisible steel. From New York, there’s the brash, bossy Helene Hanff desperate to read/own great works. From London there’s the secondhand bookshop on Charing Cross Road filled with inexpensive treasures. And more than books cross the Atlantic. Helene gets a glimpse into the narrowness of everyday life in post war Britain and decides to do something even if it’s as small and simple as order a package of tinned foods and real eggs to be shared amongst the bookshop staff. The bookstaff gets a glimpse into the exotic sounding life of a writer living in far off New York City even if the writer’s days and nights are filled with cigarettes, gin and babysitting verus nightclubs and champagne. A true friendship develops that not even financial misfortune and death can break.

There are writers who can spend their lives trying to craft something glorious and meaningful. In a few handfuls of letters dashed off at moment’s notice during her everyday life, letters that anyone else might have thrown in the trash Helene Hanff had her masterpiece. Now try and read 84, Charing Cross Road and NOT become part of the cult.

Royal Pains: A Rogues’ Gallery of Brats, Brutes and Bad Seeds

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

Once a upon a time there was a professor who thought I was total lesser mind for liking scandalous history over military history. Hey Professor Dude, some of that hot military action you love? Totally caused by scandalous stuff going on behind the scenes. Wonder if Leslie Carroll ever encountered a professor like that? And if so, does Leslie Carroll look at her royalty checks and author copies and giggle her way through her next manuscript?

In her latest romp through history Leslie Carroll fastens an eye on the royal pains in the rump roast through out history. You have royal younger brothers like Prince John (yup the one from the animated Robin Hood movie who snatches the throne from his kidnapped big brother Richard II), Richard III (might not have be a deformed murdered after all), off their blasted rockers Ivan the Terrible and Erzsebet (Elizabeth) Bathory, royal sex kittens Pauline Bonaparte and Princess Margaret Rose (Elizabeth II’s baby sister) and more. There’s more secret marriages, plotting, bastard children and bed hopping then you can shake a stick at.

If you love history and you love scandal give Royal Pains a go. Between shaking your head at some of the antics and feeling glad Ivan the Terrible never picked you to be his Czarina of the Week you’ll learn the odd bit of history. Or you could watch the non Moogles and Googles shows on the History Channel but those are few and far between. Stick with Leslie Carroll, her bank account and history majors everywhere will thank you.

Assassination Vacation

~ Wendy-Marie ~ Leave a comment

Like history? NPR nerd? (HEY! How did Blacklight get control of the blog? heeheehee). March right to your local bookstore or library and scoop up some Sarah Vowell. Even if you’re like me and can’t keep the darn presidents straight, history degree be damned. I’d rather have Sarah Vowell riding shotgun giving me random facts as we look for a little remembered historical site than take a Disney cruise any day.

Maybe it’s growing up in New England were you couldn’t drive through the local towns and not come across a “on this spot sign”. Heck, my middle school school was named after the Comte de Rochambeau. And I personally think Houlton, Maine needs a sign stating “this is where John Steinbeck started his epic journey in Travels With Charley“.

So any surprise Assassination Vacation is right up my alley? Part of me really envies Sarah’s twin sister Amy and her nephew Owen for getting to go on some of the adventures with her. And being the child loving but childless nerd I am, how cool is it to hear about a toddler who wants to see “Aunt Sarah’s castle” and “stones” versus being whacked with a Barbie? Because I HAVE been whacked with a Barbie Fairytopia doll (note: six years olds do NOT like it when you refer to that as Drag Queen Barbie) and man that HURTS! So smart three year olds rule. Go Owen Go!

With a rotating group of family and friends, Vowell visits different assassination related sites. Sometimes it means a trip to something grand, like the island fort where Dr Samuel Mudd was held. Other times it’s literally just a sign bolted to a rock or a plaque in a foyer. Along the way, you learn more about Vowell’s family, friends and the impact of the assassinations. And sometimes the briefest fact brings you to the edge of tears. When Blacklight found me on the couch reading with tears in my eyes he muttered something about “hormones” “that time of the month” and “miss moody pants”. But really?

Try learning that the people of Long Branch pushed the wounded President’s Garfield’s train car by hand just to get their beloved president to his cottage. You can’t even get your neighbor to jump your car these days or hold the door for you when you’re more package laden than a Sherpa going to Mount Everest. That’s the kind of tidbit and writing that makes Sarah Vowell a must read.

So even if you’re not an NPR nerd or a historical buff, give Assassination Vacation a read. You’ll never look at a statute in the park or one of those “On this spot” signs the same way again.