Jean L. (MeanJean) reviewed The Waltz Kings; Alone; The President's Lady; T.R.; The Gold of Troy (Great Biographies, Volume 10) on + 71 more book reviews
Reader's Digest has lived up to its excellent reputation in producing the Great Biographies. Volume 10 contains 5 selections:
THE WALTZ KINGS by Hans Fantel tells the stories of Johann Strauss, Father & Son and Their Romantic Age. Father Johann was jealous of the obvious talent exhibited by his son so he forbade the boy music lessons. The boy and his mother Anna, who also possessed impressive musicality, found a way around the Johann, Sr. to obtain a musical education. If the father could have known that his son's fame would soon surpass his own, he might not have christened him Johann, also. It was in Vienna that the new and utterly scandalous dance called the waltz took hold.
ALONE by Richard E. Byrd tells of Admiral Byrd's long polar winter in the Antarctic where he chose to man a weather station and the near fatal dangers he faced--alone.
THE PRESIDENT'S LADY by Irving Stone is a biographical novel that tells us of the heartbreak but great love of Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel. Scandal followed Rachel because of her first husband's weaknesses and spite. When Andrew was elected the seventh President of the US, Rachel thought that they were safe from gossip at last. She was totally unprepared to learn that it would never be over. The newspapers kept asking "shall there be a whore in the White House?"
T.R. by Noel B. Gerson gives us a delightful picture of Theodore Roosevelt, the man who became one of our most beloved Presidents. The author focuses on the most colorful American of his time.
THE GOLD OF TROY by Robert Payne is about Heinrich Schliemann who dreamed of finding the legendary city of Troy. He became the most unorthodox of 19th-century archaeologists. With every crumbling tower and golden ornament he unearthed, he added a glowing page to the history of the ancient world.
THE WALTZ KINGS by Hans Fantel tells the stories of Johann Strauss, Father & Son and Their Romantic Age. Father Johann was jealous of the obvious talent exhibited by his son so he forbade the boy music lessons. The boy and his mother Anna, who also possessed impressive musicality, found a way around the Johann, Sr. to obtain a musical education. If the father could have known that his son's fame would soon surpass his own, he might not have christened him Johann, also. It was in Vienna that the new and utterly scandalous dance called the waltz took hold.
ALONE by Richard E. Byrd tells of Admiral Byrd's long polar winter in the Antarctic where he chose to man a weather station and the near fatal dangers he faced--alone.
THE PRESIDENT'S LADY by Irving Stone is a biographical novel that tells us of the heartbreak but great love of Andrew Jackson and his wife Rachel. Scandal followed Rachel because of her first husband's weaknesses and spite. When Andrew was elected the seventh President of the US, Rachel thought that they were safe from gossip at last. She was totally unprepared to learn that it would never be over. The newspapers kept asking "shall there be a whore in the White House?"
T.R. by Noel B. Gerson gives us a delightful picture of Theodore Roosevelt, the man who became one of our most beloved Presidents. The author focuses on the most colorful American of his time.
THE GOLD OF TROY by Robert Payne is about Heinrich Schliemann who dreamed of finding the legendary city of Troy. He became the most unorthodox of 19th-century archaeologists. With every crumbling tower and golden ornament he unearthed, he added a glowing page to the history of the ancient world.
