Rating: 
Summary: Lots of fun for royal watchers
Review: Michael Farquhar's "A Treasury of Royal Scandals" will delight inveterate royal watchers! As he sniffs in the introduction, he covers not the current crop of royals, as none of them have provided anything worthy of the title of "scandalous," but he goes in-depth to provide us with (as the book is subtitled) "shocking true stories of history's wickedest, weirdest, most wanton kings, queens, tsars, popes, and emperors."Farquhar provides a handy family tree for major royal families at the beginning--it's most helpful when the scandals reach a dizzying pitch and you need to sort out which royal is plotting to overthrow/marry for money/murder which other royal. He debunks an awful lot of incorrect gossip (like the oft-told tale of Catherine the Great's predilection for beastiality) and comes up with wonderful gems of dirt that will be deliciously unfamiliar to most readers. This is not a scholarly work by any means--it's kind of like a historical PEOPLE magazine, focusing on the faux pas, the foibles, and the fevered doings of all sorts of royals throughout history. Great good fun!
Rating:
Summary: Hilariuos, quick & informative
Review: I loved this book! The author clearly enjoys his topic, and while humorously reveling in all the dirt, he manages to sympathetically bring out the humanity in some of the royals he writes about. I actually found myself feeling sorry for "Bloody" Mary, even if she did burn hundreds at the stake. The stories of royal misbehavior are crisp and concise, and add a wonderfully entertaining dimension to European history. If only our history teachers had provided a few of these anecdotal gems, I know the subject would not have been so dreaded. A truly fun and informative read!
Rating:
Summary: Funny!
Review: This book was one of the most amusing and shocking of all those I have read on the royals. Our world's royals were very odd people! Very funny and very interesting. This book makes you want to continue to find out more about what some of our royals were really up to!
Rating:
Summary: the stuff you didn't learn in history classes
Review: Very enjoyable -- but keep a good reference book nearby if you want the full stories. Farquhar assumes a great deal of background in history on the part of his readers. I had to go look things up several times to really place the events. On the other hand, if you want to, you could just read it as plain gossip and still enjoy it. It's well-written and engrossing.
Rating: 
Summary: I'd really like to know what the first Pope John XXIII did..
Review: General reading. That is, unlike the last few books, this one is generally easy reading, witty, and requires only a passing
familiarity with the bare bones of European history. Good light reading for a rainy day, and full of interesting tidbits, Farquhar's not writing a 'formal' history, but one which giddily languishes in the world of sex, torture, death and madness. Covering both the well known classics of the genre (Henry VIII gets some 39 pages worth of the author's attentions), the reader
is also greeted with the little known and perhaps better forgotten tidbits of royal and papal indignities and misdeeds. Anyone who would really like to know about Catherine the Great's sex life, why Edward VIII really grave up his throne, or the Spanish prince so inbred that he could be his own first cousin several times over should really read this book. It is however, not scholarly, and the decided lack of a note's section leaves a lot to be desired for anyone who would like to cite Treasury in any academic medium. All in all, though, nice light lecherous reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: I read Michael Farquhar's book on Great American Scandals and loved it. It inspired me to get his first book on Royal Scandals, which was equally delightful. Plus, it put a little perspective on our three centuries of history and scandal. Farquhar includes TWO THOUSAND years worth of kings, queens, tsars, popes and emperors behaving badly. A fabulous read!
Rating:
Summary: History Written With Flair
Review: This is a wonderful book that spans the history of European monarchy, from the Roman emperors to the first half of the twentieth century. Farquhar has a real feel for the telling anecdote, and this treasury is filled with them. I was amused, entertained, and enlightened throughout. I can't wait to read his book on Great American Scandals!
Rating:
Summary: FEW DULL MOMENTS..
Review: I was either laughing or reading with my mouth gaped. The information was abundant covering dozens of kings, queens, tsars, popes and emperors. The well written book leaves me eagerly awaiting for the arrival of The Treasury of Great American Scandals to my door step. Not overly intense, but enough to keep you wanting more.
Rating:
Summary: We didn't learn this in school!
Review: I would loved to have known a few of these stories in high school! I loved this book, read it in about 3 hours, and am looking forwward to the next book. I was upset when I got to the end. I thought it was extremely interesting that there were so many evil popes in our history. It's amazing to me that Catholicism is still alive today! I love the author's writing style, it kept me chuckling and snickering throughout the book. He gives great detail to the appearance of some of the royalty, so much that I kept picturing obese old men with open festering sores all night. Thanks Michael! :)
Rating:
Summary: Royal good fun!
Review: Delicious book chocked full of witty and TRUE stories of history's most shocking royals.This book is broken down into small chapters highlighting the scandals of eleven royal family trees horribly interconnected and all behaving badly. These are the fun facts you never heard in history class and kept me up laughing all night long! Can't wait to try the American scandals book.
|
