Queen Victoria: A Personal History : Book

Search ISBN:0306810859 offer from Abebooks or used books from Alibris. Queen Victoria: A Personal History Reference Book. Classifications : Victoria Royalty Leaders & Notable People Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Memoirs Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books General Biographies & Memoirs Subjects Books Paperback Mass Market Trade Bin . Click the following link to view the cover of Queen Victoria: A Personal History.

1) Paperback Book Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Da Capo Press. As a self described Anglophile, I have read countless royal biographies and histories, mainly focusing on the Tudor and Stuart eras. I decided to dive into Queen Victoria with this book and it did not disappoint!

Although a long book, Hibbert traces the life of Victoria in an engrossing and interesting way that keeps you turning the pages. Victoria comes to life in all of her capriciousness. Her mercurial personality, painted so vividly through the observations of others and through her own diary entries, makes you alternatively detest her, think her mad, then go to loving or pitying her.

The only thing that prevents this from being a five star review is that the organization of the book sometimes threw me off. While generally a chronological account of Victoria´s life, some chapters, such as one covering the Price of Wales, leap ahead. It is not too jarring, but sometimes irritating.

Overall, a wonderful read that gives real insight into a woman whose myth and spectre looms so large. My true rating is 4.5 stars.¤

2) Paperback Book Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Da Capo Press. i guess growing up knowing you will rule england make you believe the world around you was there to please you.growing up her mother keep her away from other kids,turning into a grown up without being a child.when she finally broke away she was queen.then she married albert and nine kids later .after albert death she was in mourning that she wanting all around to share .she in later year became a very selfcenter woman who couldn´t see other´s point of view.¤

3) Paperback Book Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Da Capo Press. I really enjoyed the book, but it gets so wordy, that it has literally put my daughters to sleep. My only wish is that he would have relied less on letting us know who people were (titles, positions, etc.) and more on Victoria´s personality and life. I did enjoy her love affair with her husband!¤

4) Paperback Book Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Da Capo Press. Once again, Christopher Hibbert has spun a wonderful biography that makes his subject come alive before you´re eyes, and at times to allow the reader´s imagination into the very shoes of Queen Victoria!¤

5) Paperback Book Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Da Capo Press. Christopher Hibbert has the marvelous ability to make historical subjects come alive. He succeeds again in this biography of Queen Victoria,

This book is titled a Personal History, and that´s really the focus. He turns the venerable monarch into a human being, with hopes, fears, heartaches, heartbreaks, a sense of humor, mood swings, petulance and even (gasp!) desires.

Victoria´s image (at least to Americans) is of the stuffy old monarch, unsmiling, and always dressed in black. Hibbert portrays quite a different picture - of a young woman who loved parties, dancing, and the affection of men. He also makes clear Victoria´s physical passion for her husband, Albert. This is evident in the passage where, after giving birth to eight children, she is advised by her doctor not to have anymore. Her response was "You mean I can´t have any more fun in bed?" Not what we expect from a Victorian!

The portrait of a post-Albert Victoria is of a woman devasted by the death of her lover. Clearly the modern picture of Victoria comes from this stage of her life. However, this image is based on incorrect assumptions. Where we assume the stolid, frumpy queen arises from her belief in Victorian morals, in this book the picture is of a woman who lost her most precious soulmate, and whose last 40 years were a struggle against loneliness and depression, while bearing the heavy responsibility of being the most powerful monarch in the world.

The book also vividly portrays the numerous characters in this remarkable woman´s life, including Lord Liverpool, the Duke of Wellington, Disraeli, and Kaiser Wilhelm.

Recommended to anyone with an interest in English history.¤

In this surprising new life of Victoria, Christopher Hibbert, master of the telling anecdote and peerless biographer of England´s great leaders, paints a fresh and intimate portrait of the woman who shaped a century. His Victoria is not only the formidable, demanding, capricious queen of popular imagination—she is also often shy, diffident, and vulnerable, prone to giggling fits and crying jags. Often censorious when confronted with her mother´s moral lapses, she herself could be passionately sensual, emotional, and deeply sentimental. Ascending to the throne at age eighteen, Victoria ruled for sixty-four years—an astounding length for any world leader. During her reign, she dealt with conflicts ranging from royal quarrels to war in Crimea and rebellion in India. She saw monarchs fall, empires crumble, new continents explored, and England grow into a dominant global and industrial power. This personal history is a compelling look at the complex woman whom, until now, we only thought we knew.

7) Paperback Book Queen Victoria: A Personal History by Da Capo Press. British scholar Christopher Hibbert adds another engrossing volume to his long list of informative and entertaining histories and biographies. Aptly subtitled "A Personal History," this portrait of England´s longest reigning monarch focuses on Victoria´s character, as well as her relationships with her husband, children, and the politicians who directed her government. Unlike George III, which found its subject to be a more intelligent and effective ruler than he had been judged traditionally, this biography does not offer a radically new assessment of Victoria (1819-1901). Instead, Hibbert adds color to the stock image of a stout, grieving widow who was dressed perennially in black as she presided over England´s imperial prime. His Queen Victoria is imperious and dignified, to be sure; she is also fun loving, highly emotional, and passionately in love with her consort, Prince Albert. Victoria was mortified to discover she had become pregnant within weeks of her marriage, fearing that it would spoil her intimacy with her husband; and, although she was fond of their many children, Hibbert candidly depicts her as a difficult and overbearing mother. In the graceful, engaging prose that is his trademark, Hibbert skillfully traces England´s political evolution into a truly constitutional monarchy through Victoria´s dealings with her prime ministers. He also judiciously evaluates her personal ties, particularly the thorny one with son and heir Bertie (later Edward VII), and the controversial one with Scottish servant John Brown. (Hibbert concludes that a sexual link between the two was "most improbable.") His appealing book reaffirms the pleasures of old-fashioned narrative biography. --Wendy Smith¤

Page Updated: Robert N. Goolsby, 13-Nov-2008, 03068108599780306810855, 590-670-430-770-920-711-8

Queen Victoria: A Personal History

Author - Christopher Hibbert ... [Goo?] [Posters]

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