Nell Gwyn: Mistress to a King

Book Description

Written by a direct descendant of the union between Nell Gwyn and King Charles II, Nell Gwyn tells the story of one of England's great folk heroines. Born during a tumultuous period in England's past, Nell Gwyn was spotted selling oranges in the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Nell's wit and charm brought her to the attention of numerous suitors, including one of the theater's leading actors, Charles Hart. Under his patronage Nell took to the stage where she became one of London's first professional female actresses, and the finest comedienne in London. She then caught the eye of the pleasure-seeking "merry monarch" King Charles II, and their seventeen-year love affair played out against the backdrop of the Great Fire of London, the Great Plague, court scandals, and the constant threat of political revolution. Magnificently re-creating the heady, licentious, yet politically charged atmosphere of Restoration England, Nell Gwyn tells the true-life Cinderella story of a common orange girl who became England's first "people's princess."

Customer Reviews:

Good look but definately biased.......2007-10-04

I lived for a while by Nell Gwyn's house in Newmarket, Suffolk, England and so was interested in her greatly. I've read biographies of Charles II and had a perspective of his mistresses. The details of Nell's life are greatly; however, as a descendent of Charles II and Nell Gwyn, Mr Beauclerk's bias is obvious. His descriptions of the other mistresses are vicious at times. A great perspective of Restoration England.

FASCINATING BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF AN AMAZING WOMAN.......2006-09-12

I was spellbound as I kept reading this fascinating biography, written by a direct descendant of Nell Gwynn and King Charles II.
This is a true life biography of the rag to riches ascent of a girl living in grinding poverty who scaled the heights and became the mistress to the King of England. The true story of the beautiful, enterprising, intelligent Nell Gwynn is sure to fascinate.

Merry England.......2006-08-21

I've been prone to reading about the Tudors so the Stuarts and the merry merry life of Charles II was new to me. Beauclerk's readable biography of his famous ancestors has really piqued my interest in the Stuarts.

He notes in the text that 15 biographies have been written about Nell. Not having read any of them, I don't know how this one differs, but it reflects the author's broad knowledge of Restoration theater and poetry. He depicts the strange sort of liberation that followed Cromwell. He describes the changing role of women who now had a crack at few careers besides prostitution such as orange vending, acting, playwriting, and, well, courtesanship.

The author is disciplined and sticks with his subject. He gives us enough background in Restoration politics so that we can understand Nell's (precarious) position.

Nell's success in her short life was certainly made possible by the times in which she lived. The King's early life required normal socializing with commoners. Without this, his life and court might have been more like any other, with not so many out of wedlock children, and certainly none acknowledged. Nell would have had absolutely NO access were Charles' succession linear.

Nell must have been a real card. I'm trying to think of a contemporary equivalent, and cannot. The description of the bed she had carved (and the cost of it) really takes the cake! It's hard to imagine her lack of prentense in the world in which she moved.

The final chapter on her many descendants from her one surviving son is interesting. There were too many to keep track of but the general discussion is heavy with the weight of the British class system.

That Beauclerk has written of his foremother, not of his forefather, is a sign of our times. It has been all too frequent for children to "reach up" to the male for prestige, career and/or status, as Beauclerk notes that the Duke of Monmouth does. This is often accompanied by ignoring or insulting the mother and what she brings to the match. Beauclerk does not minimize his royal line of which he could very well boast (I'm a descendant of a king!) He celebrates the intellegence talent, wit and adventuresome spirit that is part of his matrilineal side.

After reading the book I checked Wikipedia and learned that Princess Diana is a direct descendant of both Barbara Palmer AND Louise de Keroualle and Charles II, and that Camilla is a descendant of Louise de Keroualle and Charles II!

You Don't Have to Be an Historian!.......2006-04-24

The other reviews of Nell Gwyn at this site seem to come from people steeped in Restoration history. But you don't have to be an historian to enjoy this book. The author, Charles Beauclerk, is the direct descendant King Charles II and his mistress, Nell Gwyn. He writes in clear, easy to read sentences. Nonetheless, he is impressively erudite. Gradually, with painstaking research, he recreates Nell, the people important in her life, and the world they lived in. In keeping with his fun-loving main characters, Beauclerk writes with humor and tenderness. I am sure Charles and Nell would approve!

Unlike many people who write about their famous ancestors, Beauclerk does not fall into the trap of either apologizing for or aggrandizing them. He depicts Nell as uncultured with a warm, open, boisterous personality, a trenchant wit, and winning charm.

A rich, complex picture of the Restoration emerges. Beauclerk depicts a frenzied reaction to previous years of Civil War and Puritan rule, which gave rise to a renaissance in theater and literature, horse racing, scientific inquiry, extravagance, and licentiousness. Political intrigue was rampant.

Charles II was the right king for the times. He emerges as a complex man with towering strengths and weaknesses. Charles was a master at snuffing out political plots. His religious tolerance and political moderation gave the nation a brief respite between the Puritans and the stogy continental royalty who followed. Fortuitously, his behavior and interests reflected those of the nation during that period.

Nell Gwyn is also an attack on the British class system. Beauclerk, descendant of royalty and the cockney slums, has a unique point of view. A reluctant aristocrat himself, he understands why aristocrats constantly disparaged lower class Nell. Probably because of Nell's class origins even her beloved Charles occasionally neglected her. For example, although all of Charles' other highborn principal mistresses received lands and titles, presumably because of Nell's lowly origins, Charles never bestowed a title or much land on her. (But he did give their son a bankrupt Dukedom.) By contrast, in America, where classes are more fluid, Ronald Reagan whose biography was similar to Nell - a movie star with lower class origins - reached the pinnacle of American society when he won the Presidency. Most Americans thought his lower class origins were admirable.

Nell Gwyn is a rich and fascinating book. It is never dry or boring. I would recommend it to anyone who doesn't require a fast moving plot in order to enjoy a book.

A Fresh Eye on the Restoration.......2006-01-21

Beauclerk is a scholar who did his homework and invests years of research in his fascinating, eye-opening biography. He casts a fresh eye not only on Nell, but also on Charles II and Restoration London. I have studied the Restoration for decades and Beauclerk has given me a new perspective on the people and the period. He might be accused by some of "going easy" on his famous ancestors, but he gives the characters an emotional depth which brings out their humanity. Charles and Nell no longer seem like the oddest of odd couples in history, rather they seem like a curiously perfect match, odd only in that, given their disparate stations in life, they actually found each other.

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Nell Gwyn
Bryan Bevan
Manufacturer: Hale
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Women | Specific Groups | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

Five-star, outstanding history of the politics of Italy in WWII.......2006-06-04

War in Italy is well-written and excellent book - a good read! It deserves five stars, not biased reviews. This book succeeds in what it set out to do, admirably so. If you want a straight timeline, as one reviewer did, then look for a book written in that fashion. Mr. Lamb writes to inform and educate the reader about a complex situation, with many nuances and turns, and a simple chronological approach is not necessarily the best way to do it. The detailed knowledge exhibited is impressive, and Mr. Lamb fairly handles both the German and Italian aspects - if the former don't come out so well in this enterprise, it is because of the wretched nature of their actions, not Mr. Lamb. Also this is history written by someone who was actually THERE -on site at the time- and who was fluent in the language. Maybe he KNOWS a bit more than some of us looking at this so many years later? The low rating and the reasons given by some reviewers are among the most misleading I have seen on amazon - look at the reviews in the press and academia by the real experts!

Good Overview of Neglected Front of WWII.......2006-04-20

(actually I rate this book at 4 Stars but this webpage will not support that correction).

Many Americans know that former Senator and Presidential candidate Robert Dole was badly wounded while fighting in Italy in World War 2 but know little else about the conflict there, its history having been overshadowed by the Normandy invasion and the War in the Pacific. For those with an interest in finding out more about this ignored, but important struggle of the Second War World, this book provides a good overview, particularly from the standpoint of the Italians themselves, the author having been a British military officer attached to Royal Italian Army units fighting alongside the Allies.

In the wake of the defeat of Axis forces in North Africa, where Italy had played an important role, given that Libya had been its colony, the Allies as their next step launched an invasion of Sicily. After this succeeded and it became clear that the mainland of the country was imminently scheduled for invasion as well, leading military and political circles in Italy, recognizing that an Allied victory would occur in due course, decided that a change of national course was in order. Although Mussolini as the Commander or Duce of the Nation was dictator of the country, the King of Italy was still the nominal head of state and he and Field Marshal Badoglio organized a coup against Mussolini in July 1943 causing his removal from office by the Fascist supreme council. Thereafter followed 45 days of calm before the storm like limbo as Italy, still at war with the Allies, considered its next move opening up secret negotiations with the Americans while the Germans suspiciously looked on. As a result of this process, the Badoglio regime decided to surrender to the Allies and switch sides in the war in early September. The Germans, no fools, responded with alacrity to this maneuver which was badly bungled by the Italians and their Allied supporters as division after division of German troops and armor poured across the Brenner Pass from Austria into Italy as part of "Operation Axis" forcing the Badoglio's "royal government" to flee to Brindisi near the southeastern tip of the country. Simultaneously the Nazis "rescued" Mussolini from his captivity and sponsored him in the establishment of a puppet fascist "social republic" based at Salo in the far north. Real power, however, much to Mussolini's chagrin, lay with German officials throughout the country, most symbolically at Rome.

Many Italian troops, although possessed of a healthy dose of national pride, were hapless in the wake of these events as they viewed obedience to the King as fit and proper, even if they had no strong political views. As a result, although many units went over to the Germans without a fight, many others put up resistance to them to one degree or another but were defeated after a short time except in Corsica and Sardinia where with the aid of the Free French the Germans were driven out. Given that Fascist Italy had been Germany's ally, however, the Germans led by their commander General Kesselring responded with the savagery that had come to be expected of them to captured Italian troops massacring thousands of unarmed POWS they viewed as traitors, both in Italy and in areas of Greece and the Balkans under Axis occupation, and shipping off 600,000 of them to concentration camps, notwithstanding the protests of Mussolini and many Italians who remained loyal to the Axis alliance. In addition, the Nazis launched a wholesale pogrom against the small Italian Jewish community relocating them in their entirety to death camps, something even Italian fascists had little stomach for. In this regard the author seeks to acquit Pope Pius XII, considering that he did the best he could to protect and shelter Jews and other potential victims of Nazi repression but that his public stance was muted under extreme duress as Hitler had made it clear that he was considering invading the Vatican with 10,000 SS troops and pillaging its riches. Calmer heads among the Germans prevailed, however, as they considered gratuitous cruelties of this type, after a certain point, to be a diversion and waste of resources from the real military struggle against the Allies and the partisans.

Mussolini, in order to salvage his pride and to hopefully mitigate Germans abuses of Italians, organized a new fascist "republican" army led by General Graziani. These units, aside from the depredations of the fascist "Black Brigade" gangs in tandem with the SS against civilians considered to have partisan sympathies, had limited military success and did little to lessen German contempt for Italy which Hitler indicated should be treated "like Poland" although his personal fondness for Il Duce did result in the latter making two state visits to Germany to consult with Der Fuhrer ("The Leader") and to review and anoint new fascist divisions being organized there to which some interned Italian prisoners were allowed to join. Many of these new recruits, however, deserted at the first opportunity upon reaching their home soil.

Of greater military significance than the rejuvenated fascist units, and of the Royal Italian Army that acquitted itself decently in action with the British beginning at Monte Cassino leading to the liberation of Bologna by them, was the guerrilla war launched by the partisans, largely under communist leadership. To this threat, the Germans responded, as usual, with characteristic brutality through the taking and execution of hostages and the burning down of whole villages, the most notorious being the massacre at the Ardeatine Cave in Rome in March 1944 where over 300 civilians were shot as part of the 10 to 1-later raised to 50 to 1-policy of retribution against civilians for the killing of German soldiers by "terrorists." Needless to say, such atrocities fueled widespread hatred of the Germans, who had been largely tolerated by the public before 1943, and the partisan movement took on a mass character liberating whole areas in the north and after the defeat of the collapse of the Wehrmacht's "Gothic Line" south of the Alpine region and its surrender in May 1945, captured and executed Mussolini himself.

A colorful, if brutal, episode in this chronicle is the little known fact that Hitler sent several regiments of White Russian Cossacks into Northeastern Italy which he promised to them as a homeland in return for their aid in exterminating the Italian and Yugoslav partisans that were operating in this area. Although the Cossacks dealt the people they came into contact with a further dose of cruelty, they failed in their objective and they and their camp followers were forced to retreat from their ostensible promised land in an abject condition seeking at all costs to avoid coming into the custody of Soviet forces whose policy, to no surprise, was to deal summarily with such turncoats.

The book is very absorbing and readable but often assumes a familiarity with Italian culture and history that most general readers don't have. Thus, for example, one is confronted with untranslated Italian vocabulary wanting of explanation. The overall style can also at times become somewhat terse and schematic, being written in the style of the staff reports and cables that the book quotes from frequently. Nonetheless, the book, both its text and the documents appended thereto, is an accessible and informative look at an important episode in the military and political history of the Second World War in Europe.

I gave up at page 112.......2006-01-14

This book has a very confused time line. I read the book up to page 112 and the author only talks about Mussolini and Hitler's relationship, the Italian and German Generals and the politics. There is only implied mention of what is going on with the Allies and I don't remember Patton or Montgomery being mentioned in the first 112 pages.

The book would probably appeal to someone who wanted to know the details of the politics going on inside Italy and between Italy and Germany. I was looking for a more comprehensive description of events with a single continuous timeline.

Supeficial polemics dressed up as history.......2005-07-24

This is a most disappointing book about the history of Italy after the 8 September 1943 unconditional surrender. Lamb, who fought with the Royal Italian Army as a British officer, has never cared to disguise his hatred of Germans and his love of all thins Italian. This book, allegedly about the 4 way war fought between the Salo republic, Nazi Germany, the Allies and the Kingdom of Italy has consulted only books in Italian and English, and mostly secondary works at that.

Your suspicions of Lamb's qualifications and seriousness as a historian and researcher are aroused when he talked about the German 3. Panzer and 26. Panzer divisions (actually panzergrenadier divisions) and that Walter Reder commanded the Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler troops in Italy, that Senger (und Etterlin) was the commander of the RFSS division, which was formed specifically to fight the Italians (the division started life as Himmler's Begleit Battailon, and was never expanded to a division with fighting in Italy or the Italians in mind)!

This is trash propaganda billed as serious research.

Review of "War In Italy 1943-1945: A Brutal Story".......2001-01-31

Mr. Lamb's effort is both moving and informative, serving to highlight many events in a post-surrender WWII Italy. A notoriously nebulous period, the author's detailed account of the state of this suddenly turbulent European power is tremendous. His research and reporting on the Allies' treatment of this fallen Axis enemy, the mounting strain of German-Italo relations throughout Mussolini's puppet regime, the uncertainty facing Italian armed forces in occupied territories and the relationships between partisans, civilians and the Italian Royal Army is unparalleled. Furthermore, Lamb gives the reader a clear understanding of Fascism's misgivings and failure, portraying a beaten, poweless dictator unable rally a nation under seige. A must read for anyone fascinated with WW II Italy.

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WAR IN ITALY 1943-1945: A Brutal Story

Manufacturer: St. Martin's Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ICW526

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War in Italy 1943-1945: A Brutal Story
Richard Lamb
Manufacturer: Da Capo Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OT2H12

Customer Reviews:

An Excellent Primer for Negotiations.......2007-10-16

Peacemaking in International Conflict is a helpful study in how to negotiate peaceful outcomes in violent areas of the world, and provides precise methodologies for enabling peace in a manner acceptable to all parties in a conflict.

Useless.......2006-05-29

This book tries to provide a theoretical aprooach to peacekeeping negotiation. Despite all their efforts, all the authors conclude that providing a theoretical basis for negotiation is close to impossible and recomend a case by case approach, in which theory is left behind...

Peacemaking And International Conflict: Methods And Techniques

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Peacemaking And International Conflict: Methods And Techniques

Manufacturer: United States Inst of Peace Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

War & Peace | Current Events | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 192922365X

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Forest Ecology and Management, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
China is a vast country with a diverse physical environment, rich biodiversity and complex forest types. Old China has left us with few forests and a poor base for forestry. Owing to the rapid growth of population, coupled with the development of agriculture and urban construction, as well as improper forest management, the degradation of forest resources in China has been accelerating. As a result of forest degradation, environmental problems including soil erosion and loss of biodiversity are being experienced and natural hazards are occurring with increasing frequency. The Chinese government has increased its focus on conservation of forests and restoration of degraded forest ecosystems. Particularly in recent years, a series of measures have been put in place. This paper presents a general introduction to the technical as well as policy aspects involved in the restoration of degraded forest ecosystems and the approach to sustainable forestry in China.

Environmental management indicators for ecotourism in China's nature reserves: A case study in Tianmushan Nature Reserve [An article from: Tourism Management]

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Environmental management indicators for ecotourism in China's nature reserves: A case study in Tianmushan Nature Reserve [An article from: Tourism Management]
W. Li
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Elsevier | By Publisher | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B000RQY9PE

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Tourism Management, published by Elsevier in 2004. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Ecotourism has been one of the main economic sources for many of China's nature reserves over the past 10 years. It is contended here that sustainable ecotourism development depends on successful environmental management. For ecotourism management, a set of warning indicators is especially important to indicate environmental change at tourism sites. In this research, management indicators for ecotourism in nature reserves were established based on the Pressure-State-Response model, and the procedure on how to establish indicators was illustrated in the case study area of Tianmushan Nature Reserve.

Flood mitigation benefit of wetland soil - A case study in Momoge National Nature Reserve in China [An article from: Ecological Economics]

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Flood mitigation benefit of wetland soil - A case study in Momoge National Nature Reserve in China [An article from: Ecological Economics]
J. Ming , L. Xian-guo , X. Lin-shu , C. Li-juan , and Shou
Manufacturer: Elsevier
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

Elsevier | By Publisher | e-Docs | Formats | Books
ASIN: B000PDTWKQ

Book Description

This digital document is a journal article from Ecological Economics, published by Elsevier in 2007. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Media Library immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Description:
Wetlands have many important functions. To a wide range of wildlife species, they offer critically important habitats. They also act to mitigate flooding, regulate micro and macro climate changes, degrade pollutants and control erosion etc. Wetland benefits are these functions, which provide direct, indirect, and non-use values to humans. In this study, field soil data are used to calculate the flood mitigation benefits of wetland soils within the Momoge National Nature Reserve, Jilin Province, the People's Republic of China. Calculations are based upon environmental economic assessment methods and GIS techniques. The estimated flood mitigation capacity of wetland soils within the Momoge Reserve was 7.15x10^4 m^3/hm^2/yr. This translated into an economic benefit of 5700 $/hm^2/yr due to flood mitigation. Spatial differences in the flood mitigation ability of soils were observed across the Momoge wetlands. Benefits associated with flood mitigation were highest within the middle reaches of the Momoge wetlands and least in the East. This quantitative analysis of flood mitigation benefit, with its investigation of wetland soils, will be a useful reference both for the assessment of wetland values in the local region and also for the greater understanding wetland function and value assessment methods.

Recent protected-area designation in China: an evaluation of administrative and statutory procedures.: An article from: The Geographical Journal

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Recent protected-area designation in China: an evaluation of administrative and statutory procedures.: An article from: The Geographical Journal
C.Y. Jim , and Steve S.W. Xu
Manufacturer: Royal Geographical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

Management | Management & Leadership | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Geographical Journal, published by Royal Geographical Society on March 1, 2004. The length of the article is 6951 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: KEY WORDS: China, Shimentai Nature Reserve, protected areas, nature reserves, nature conservation, statutory designation

Citation Details
Title: Recent protected-area designation in China: an evaluation of administrative and statutory procedures.
Author: C.Y. Jim
Publication: The Geographical Journal (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2004
Publisher: Royal Geographical Society
Volume: 170 Issue: 1 Page: 39(12)

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Using upland forest in Shimentai Nature Reserve, China*.: An article from: The Geographical Review

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Using upland forest in Shimentai Nature Reserve, China*.: An article from: The Geographical Review
Steve S.W. Xu , and C.Y. Jim
Manufacturer: American Geographical Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Conservation | Outdoors & Nature | Subjects | Books

Natural Resources | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0009GTYP2
Release Date: 2005-08-01

Book Description

This digital document is an article from The Geographical Review, published by American Geographical Society on July 1, 2003. The length of the article is 8162 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

From the author: The Shimentai Nature Reserve in Yingde County, Guangdong Province, China, established recently in a subtropical upland forest area, has served for ages as an essential and customary source of livelihood for local people. Assessment of forest usage indicates heavy reliance by villagers on its diversified biotic resources. This forest dependence, associated with socioeconomic factors such as distance from village, ethnic origin, out-migration of rural youngsters, and a local tradition of conservation, is unlikely to decline in the near future. The reserve management recognizes the need to address the livelihood issues of local people and to win local support. A pragmatic adherence to provincial and higher-level policies that exclude forest-tapping activities could lead to more people-versus-park conflicts, which would dilute fundamental conservation objectives. A more enlightened and localized approach that nurtures a synergy between limited forest use and conservation while helping to develop new income sources could furnish workable alternatives. Keywords: China, forest use, natural resources, nature conservation, nature reserve.

Citation Details
Title: Using upland forest in Shimentai Nature Reserve, China*.
Author: Steve S.W. Xu
Publication: The Geographical Review (Refereed)
Date: July 1, 2003
Publisher: American Geographical Society
Volume: 93 Issue: 3 Page: 308(20)

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