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Title: Victoria's Daughters by Jerrold M. Packard ISBN: 0-312-24496-7 Publisher: Griffin Trade Paperback Pub. Date: December, 1999 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.26 (31 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: a fantastic way to learn more about history
Comment: This was a fantastic way to learn more about the late 18th and early 19th Centuries. I have to admit that although I have a master's degree in history, my major focus has always been ancient history, particularly ancient Near Eastern history (I was one of those people who felt that "modern history" meant everything after 1200 BC.--yes, BC.). Only just lately have I begun to follow up intriguing trails through other periods. Some time ago, I began to realize that one could really gain incredible insight into the events of an era by studying peripherals: the history of countries peripheral to the main stage, side issues like trade, crafts, and long distance contacts, and the women and others behind the main historical figures, etc. Jerrold Packard's book Victoria's Daughters seemed to be just the book I needed to learn about a period in time about which I knew next to nothing, the late 19th Century.
At first it seemed as though the book would be more about Queen Victoria herself than about her daughters. As I read on, though, I realized that the oddity of Victoria's succession to the throne had much to do with the lives of her daughters, as did her early life and her own upbringing. Furthermore, it is against her long life and protracted reign that not only the events in her daughters' lives were measured and chronicled but those of most of the lives of the world's population. There was a reason that most of the 19th Century was labeled "the Victorian era!"
In the past I had given very little thought about the connections that existed throughout European history or about what actually brought about the events that occurred during the turn of the century. I knew of course that the Tsarina of Russia was "Victoria's granddaughter" and a "Prussian princess," but I hardly gave thought to what that really meant. Nicholas and Alexandra were charismatic historical figures in their own right. They were a fairy tale couple, much in love, with a cozy little family living the life of a Russian folktale, and their poetic tale came to a tragic but colorful and certainly very memorable finish. End of story, or so it seemed to me. One knows about World War I, I suppose, and all the people that died in trenches of disease and exposure and mustard gas and enemy fire. One has heard of Bismark and Wilhelm II and Lord Mountbattan, but they're all just interesting names, names one memorizes to answer our world history tests, right? Not when one reads Mr. Packard's story of the children of Queen Victoria.
Each of the daughters, Victoria, Alice, Helena, Louise, and Beatrice had a unique relationship with their mother. Because of whom and what she was, Victoria's was not a particularly warm and maternal presence in their lives. When she was a presence at all, she was distant, self-centered, imperious, and controlling. Unfortunately some of this early relationship translated into problems with parent-child interactions when the girls had children of their own. Lest anyone think that women do not have an impact on the course of history because they don't lead armies into battle--often anyway--one only need read about the relationships between some of these women and their children. That between Victoria, "Vicky," and her eldest son, Willy--later Wilhelm II--will quickly disabuse one of the notion.
Furthermore, the five girls were married into some of the key families of Europe. The titles of each and their in-laws read like a who's who of European nobility, and their sons and daughters became kings, queens, and dukes, many of whom ended up on opposite sides of wars in Europe during the late 19th and early 20th century. The tangled web of personal relationships, treaties, and ambitions ultimately brought about World War I.
I was especially entranced with the intimate detail woven into the stories of each of the women. The author mined diaries, extensive family correspondence, and biographies written about each to create very personal characterizations. The reader becomes as engaged in the story of their lives as in those of fictional characters; one just does feels connected.
FOR THOSE WRITING PAPERS: in history, anthropology, political science, sociology. One might use this book to discuss the limitations of women of the upper classes at the time and their effects on history. One might look at individuals like Alice, who became a follower of the practices of Florence Nightengale, or her sister Louise, who was an accomplished and professional sculptor, who attempted to break out of the social mold of the time to create an identity and existence of their own. What types of role models did they make for others? What changes did they bring about in society? How did they set the stage for our own era? Might the events of WWI been less likely to have happened if the relationships between countries had been based on less personal grounds? Did the relationships between these women and their children and spouses affect the course of events significantly? Or would they have happened anyway? Would they have happened for the same reasons? How was this era a transitional time?
Rating: 5
Summary: Victoria's Daughters
Comment: This is totally captivating...these very priviledged daughters grew into socially active adults. Very interesting read.
Rating: 5
Summary: Very interesting...
Comment: A very well written book about Vicky, Alice, Lenchen, Louise, and Beatrice, the daughters who were hidden behind their mother as children and eventually behind their brother and nephew. The book also looks into the lives of the girls' children, some of whom became rulers of great countries. A very good book for those interested in Queen Victoria and her family.
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Title: Alice : Princess Andrew of Greece by Hugo Vickers ISBN: 0312288867 Publisher: St. Martin's Press Pub. Date: 28 March, 2002 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: Royal Babylon: The Alarming History of European Royalty by Karl Shaw ISBN: 0767907558 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 29 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $12.95 |
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Title: The Sisters: The Saga of the Mitford Family by Mary S. Lovell ISBN: 0393324141 Publisher: W.W. Norton & Company Pub. Date: March, 2003 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
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Title: An UNCOMMON WOMAN by Hannah Pakula ISBN: 0684842165 Publisher: Simon & Schuster Pub. Date: 13 November, 1997 List Price(USD): $18.00 |
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