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Carregando... Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty (edição: 2001)de Karl Shaw
Informações da ObraRoyal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty de Karl Shaw
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Registre-se no LibraryThing tpara descobrir se gostará deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Disappointed in this because I love the other Shaw books I've read. I guess I much prefer his list format, as this seemed very dense and long-winded. I also felt his usual dark sarcasm didn't really fit, making the text seems less factual and more like a giant rant about the foibles of royalty, as other reviews have commented on. ( ) I started reading this book thinking it would be an entertaining retelling of the shocking conduct of the royals. Instead what I got was a tirade against monarchy,thinly veiled as absolute fact. I can only assume that this author doesnt believe his readers know anything of history,since he continues spewing out hateful commentds The author also makes several fact errors,for example in one instance confusing a mother and daughter and in another stating a rumor as fact.The list could go on... And before anyone asks,yes I do come from a country with a monarchy,but I dont belive they and their ancestors/other royal houses in the world are perfect. All I ask for is some objectiveness by an author writing a fact based book. That many members of royalty over the years are mad as cut snakes should be of no surprise to us. Karl Shaw takes us on a journey of mostly European royalty and their eccentricities/stark raving looniness. Often entertaining and you can’t help but feel sorry for poor Mad King Ludwig of Bavaria. He built the famous Neuschwanstein Castle which was seen at the time by many as a symptom of madness, and possibly murdered. Now the castle is one of the most visited tourist sites in the world and brings in large amounts of dosh for the local area. Perhaps he should be known as King Ludwig the visionary. sem resenhas | adicionar uma resenha
An uproarious, eye-opening history of Europe's notorious royal houses that leaves no throne unturned and will make you glad you live in a democracy. Do you want to know which queen has the unique distinction of being the only known royal kleptomaniac? Or which empress kept her dirty underwear under lock and key? Or which czar, upon discovering his wife's infidelity, had her lover decapitated and the head, pickled in a jar, placed at her bedside? Royally dishing on hundreds of years of dubious behavior, Royal Babylon chronicles the manifold appalling antics of Europe's famous families, behavior that rivals the characters in an Aaron Spelling television series. Here, then, are the insane kings of Spain, one of whom liked to wear sixteen pairs of gloves at one time; the psychopathic Prussian soverigns who included Frederick William and his 102-inch waist; sex-fixated French rulers such as Philip Duke D'Oreleans cavorting with more than a hundred mistresses; and, of course, the delightfully drunken and debauched Russian czars - Czar Paul, for example, who to make his soldiers goose-step without bending their legs had steel plates strapped to their knees. But whether Romanov or Windsor, Habsburg or Hanover, these extravagant lifestyles, financed as they were by the royals' badgered subjects, bred the most wonderfully offbeat and disturbingly unbelievable tales - and Karl Shaw has collected them all in this hysterically funny and compulsively readable book. Royal Babylon is history, but not as they teach it in school, and it underlines in side-splitting fashion Queen Victoria's famous warning that it is unwise to look too deeply into the royal houses of Europe. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — Carregando... GênerosClassificação decimal de Dewey (CDD)940.280922History and Geography Europe Europe Early Modern 1453-1914 19th century 1815-1914Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos E.U.A. (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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