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Title: Curzon: Imperial Stateman by David Gilmour ISBN: 0-374-13356-5 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 11 June, 2003 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $45.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.6 (5 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: A Destiny at the Service of Imperial Greatness
Comment: David Gilmour renders a balanced portrait of George Curzon, a complex imperial statesman. Curzon was born and raised as an aristocrat at a time that the British Empire was at its apex in the decades before WWI. Unlike the rest of his family, Curzon was very ambitious and determined to leave his mark in history. Gilmour makes a judicious use of Curson's writings to show us how extraordinarily well-traveled Curzon was for a man of his time. Curzon had a first-hand knowledge of many foreign issues, his undeniable specialty, unlike such luminaries as Lloyd George, A. J. Balfour, to name a few. Curzon was a work alcoholic, self-centered person who sounded condescending at times and was unable to delegate much because of his very exacting standards. Furthermore, Curzon often did not display much emotional intelligence in his relationship with others, including his own family. Unsurprisingly, Curzon's peers and superiors in politics found him regularly unbearable in Parliament, during his viceroyalty in India and as a member of different cabinets in the last decade of his life. Chirol summarized it very well when he told Hardinge that Curzon had the knack of saying the wrong thing, or even, when he says the right thing, of saying it in the wrong way, is quite extraordinary. I can recall no instance of a man whose personal unpopularity has to the same extent neutralized his immense abilities and his power of rendering great services. Gilmour shows very clearly how Curzon could be well ahead of his time in fields such as foreign policy and protection of old monuments and at the same time be so backward in such areas as women's rights and his attitude to nationalism. Overworked for most of his life, Curzon died prematurely at the age of 66. However, Curzon left some built-to-last monuments to posterity: think for instance about the impressive restoration of at one time decrepit Taj Mahal in India, the negotiation of the Lausanne Treaty that formalized the existence of Modern Turkey or Remembrance Day, a fitting tribute to the Fallen Heroes.
Rating: 5
Summary: Solid, magisterial biogrphy
Comment: Even though I read (on Dec 26, 1976) Superior Person: A Portrait of Curzon and his Circle in late Victorian England, by Kenneth Rose, I figured that was a while ago and I could enjoy another biography of George Curzon (born 11 Jan 1859, Viceroy in India from 1899 to 1905, in Lloyd George's War Cabinet from 1916 to 1919, Foreign Secretary from 1919 to 1924, died 20 March 1925)and I am glad I decided to read it. He was a fantastic and brilliant if difficult person. The book is solidly researched, with ample footnoting, and an interesting bibliography.
Rating: 4
Summary: An Impressive Work
Comment: David Gilmour has written an excellent biography of George Curzon, who, although little known to most Americans, was an important figure in English politics and government from the 1890s until the 1920s. The virtues of Gilmour's biography far outweigh its minor faults: the book is well-written and takes a balanced and comprehensive look at its subject.
That balance is important: Curzon was by all accounts a brilliant but highly difficult man who was often haughty with subordinates and quarrelsome with his peers. Gilmour makes no excuses for Curzon's often indefensible behavior, nor does he gloss over Curzon's regrettable tendencies in this regard.
Gilmour does a very good job overall reviewing Curzon's long life in English public affairs, starting with his career in the House of Commons, moving on to his years as Viceroy in India, then to his years in the House of Lords and then in Cabinet. Nor is Curzon's private life neglected. My sole criticism is that at times Gilmour assumes a relatively high level of background knowledge of English history and politics of the era. For example, many of the references to the passage or defeat of individual bills before Parliament were simply beyond my knowledge. For my part, that level of detail could have been omitted without interrupting the narrative flow. But although those sections were inherently less interesting to me, I still give high marks overall to this work.
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Title: Empire: The Rise and Demise of the British World Order and the Lessons for Global Power by Niall Ferguson ISBN: 0465023282 Publisher: Basic Books Pub. Date: 01 April, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Nelson: Love & Fame by Edgar Vincent ISBN: 0300097972 Publisher: Yale Univ Pr Pub. Date: May, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: Castles of Steel: Britain, Germany, and the Winning of the Great War at Sea by Robert K. Massie ISBN: 0679456716 Publisher: Random House Pub. Date: 28 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $35.00 |
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Title: The Peloponnesian War by Donald Kagan ISBN: 0670032115 Publisher: Viking Press Pub. Date: 08 May, 2003 List Price(USD): $29.95 |
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Title: The Long Recessional: The Imperial Life of Rudyard Kipling by David Gilmour ISBN: 0374187029 Publisher: Farrar Straus & Giroux Pub. Date: 01 May, 2002 List Price(USD): $26.00 |
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