Richly detailed and documented, if not the final word.
Why would the likes of Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift, and other literary lights of 18th-century England devote their talents to vilifying (along with the popular press) a “cranky old lady”?
First-time English author Field acknowledges joining what one of the duchess’s many previous biographers has called a “moth-like tribe,” aiming to produce a balanced, or at least less distorted, account of a life made fascinating by the power it wielded and confronted. It seems that in her time, Sarah Churchill (1660–1744), who with her war-hero husband founded the Churchill-Spencer dynasties, exerted more influence on national politics and policies, amassed more personal wealth, and made more enemies than any Englishwoman since Queen Elizabeth I. She did it, the author recounts, the old-fashioned way. Both Sarah (née Jennings) and husband-to-be John Churchill were thrust early into the court patronage system by which British gentry aimed to improve their standings and fortunes. But while John went off to save the Holy Roman Empire by force of arms, Sarah conquered the royal inner sanctum, becoming a confidant of Princess Anne, younger daughter of James II. Field ably follows Sarah through an era of turmoil, with the Whigs hell-bent on preserving a Protestant line of succession and out to scourge Tory Catholics. With Anne’s coronation in 1702, Sarah had the royal ear and used it effectively to advance Whig issues while her husband, embarrassingly, retained Tory tendencies. Then came the famous fall from grace. The Queen’s affections bordered on the unnatural and, at least according to Sarah herself, were unrequited; it may actually have been otherwise, the author allows, quoting numerous sources on the possibility of a physical relationship. Spurned in favor of a new favorite, Sarah played the lesbian card, threatening blackmail in correspondence with the queen, and the Marlboroughs were dismissed from court in 1710.
Richly detailed and documented, if not the final word.Pub Date: July 23, 2003
ISBN: 0-312-31466-3
Page Count: 576
Publisher: St. Martin's
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2003
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
This autobiography might almost be said to supply the roots to Wright's famous novel, Native Son.
It is a grim record, disturbing, the story of how — in one boy's life — the seeds of hate and distrust and race riots were planted. Wright was born to poverty and hardship in the deep south; his father deserted his mother, and circumstances and illness drove the little family from place to place, from degradation to degradation. And always, there was the thread of fear and hate and suspicion and discrimination — of white set against black — of black set against Jew — of intolerance. Driven to deceit, to dishonesty, ambition thwarted, motives impugned, Wright struggled against the tide, put by a tiny sum to move on, finally got to Chicago, and there — still against odds — pulled himself up, acquired some education through reading, allied himself with the Communists — only to be thrust out for non-conformity — and wrote continually. The whole tragedy of a race seems dramatized in this record; it is virtually unrelieved by any vestige of human tenderness, or humor; there are no bright spots. And yet it rings true. It is an unfinished story of a problem that has still to be met.
Perhaps this will force home unpalatable facts of a submerged minority, a problem far from being faced.
Pub Date: Feb. 28, 1945
ISBN: 0061130249
Page Count: 450
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 1945
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