Elizabeth and Essex is perhaps the finest example of Strachey's incomparable style. More poetic than prosaic, ripe with imagery and atmosphere, Strachey's elegant, vigorous prose is a treat to read.

This is all the more unusual given that Strachey is a historian. In most cases, his style doesn't get in the way of the story; his subjects are usually represented accurately and with respect.

Unfortunately, he doesn't quite succeed in this case. Strachey's Victorian sensibilities and Freudian view of his subjects often take him on wild flights of fancy that fail the test of Occam's razor. For instance, he asserts that Elizabeth was sexually disorganized based on a smattering of rumours which, he claims, prove that she had a deep-seated fear of sex and perhaps a hysterical block which prevented her from engaging in intercourse. Pretty convoluted reasoning, especially considering the fact that Elizabeth had perfectly sound political reasons to remain single.

Strachey's portrait of Essex is likewise suspect. He turns the proud scion of an ancient family into a manic-depressive basket case, but his evidence for this is scanty and his reasoning difficult to follow. Again, is it really likely that Essex plotted to overthrow the government because he saw himself as the true King of England, when a much more simple explanation (he was angry and felt insulted) comes to mind?

Yet even through the flights of psychological fancy and the wildly improbable motives, Strachey's portrait continues to enchant. I cannot stress strongly enough how enjoyable and entertaining this book is. Yes, one does have to take Strachey's explanations with a grain of salt, but the journey itself is a lot of fun and should not be missed.

I highly recommend this book.

If you are interested in the personal details of the latter half of Queen Elizabeth's life, this is an excellent book to read. Her wars and reconciliations with the headstrong Lord Essex (many years her junior) are covered in just the right level of detail, so that the reader is never gorged on nor starved for insights into what made Gloriana such a remarkable figure. Strachey's first chapter gives a particularly adept placement of the Queen's personality within the court of England and the field of late-16th century Europe. Following chapters contain less politics and more humanity. (The slow, initially frustrated but inevitable rise of Francis Bacon's star is interesting.)

This is not the sort of book I would normally read, but having been compelled by a relative, I turned the first pages of what turned out to be one hell of an eye opener. Everyone in Britain knows the fate of Leah Betts, and a fair few know about the triple murder in the Range Rover in the middle of a snow bound lane. Here Bernard O'Mahoney, doorman on the night of Leah's death and friend to the murdered men, tells the gritty reality of what actually went on in the couple of years leading up to the events that made front page news.

Although the subject matter itself is gripping enough, it is pleasing to note that the story itself flows and does not get bogged down in O'Mahoney's personal opinions or person. The author has written what seems to be a fair fly on the wall account of the life and times, without ever taking any personal pride or glorification for his part in the drama. Indeed it could be seen that by writing this book, he is somehow trying to justify the life that he lived when the opposite seems to be true.

The book almost reads as a warning to the public: this is what goes on in your towns and cities. And from that point of view, it is very frightening. I would have been to the clubs mentioned in the book, and would have been witness to the events that happened if I had lived in that area. I did not because I came from a different part of the UK and one that, in my eyes, had a lot in common with the Basildon in this book. I do not know if Britain is a safer place in lieu of the Leah Betts incident, but I do know that there is less in the papers and less on the news. This can, one would hope, only be indication of the effect the terrible story told in this book has had on opinion in Britain.

Having already read a few books on this subject matter I was delighted by the new perspective offered by the author. O'Mahoney takes us right inside the Essex drug scene of the early nineties. From the gangs who control the door security on all the major nightclubs to the drug dealers that pay them for the exclusive rights to sell drugs in the same clubs this is a real page turner.

O'Mahoney takes the reader on a nightmare journey of cross & double-cross in the Essex underworld. The astonishing level of violence used by the gang to maintain control of their business is both frightening & compulsive. You really get a feel for his fear & tension as the drama builds to a terrible triple murder.

I found this book impossible to put down & kept reading until I had finished it whereupon I finally closed the cover & said "Wow!".

This is one of the best accounts of this incident that i have read & I wholly recommend it to anyone who loves a real gritty true-crime story.

"This updated and authoritative review of Africa's experience will be helpful to health care providers, researchers, and policy planners, not only in Africa but throughout the world, since Africa has had higher rates of HIV infection and more experience with AIDS than other regions."
J. M. Howe AIDS Information Center, VA Headquarters (DC)

Faith Bedford has produced a stirring tribute to Frank Benson. The book contains 180 illustrations with 100 in color but this book really is more a biography and less an exhibition of his work. Having said that, the story is not just his but also very much the story of the earliest American Impressionists. A careful study of Benson's paintings in this book shows elements of his colleagues Whistler, Sargent, and Cassatt. But I also see works like "Hunter in a Boat" and watercolors like "Salmon River in Canada" that strongly suggest Winslow Homer. William Gerdts in the introduction to the book wrote, "Frank Benson painted some of the most beautiful pictures ever executed by an American artist." Studying this book and relishing the exquisite paintings in it helps one to understand those highly complimentary words.

Although Bedford's title, "Frank W. Benson, American Impressionist" suggests an emphasis on his impressionist work, the book also shows other painting styles. During his lifetime Benson won most of the awards any artist could. Reading the book enables one to understand clearly why.

"From Below", one of three published works by John Tigges under his pseudonym of William Essex, is an entertaining and quick horror read. This was one of the multitude of horror novels published during the horror boom of the mid 80s to mid 90s.

The story involves leeches that have grown to enormous sizes -- over a foot and a half in length each. Since they can reproduce on their own, they reproduce at a rapid rate. However, this requires them to find constant sources of food. They emerge from the sewers through pipes and into houses to find their prey. A large number of people are killed before anyone has a clue as to what caused the deaths.

While an entertaining and quick read, the book does have its share of faults. These faults are common amongst the novels mass produced/published at the time. The plot is thin, the characters run around totally clueless and don't seem to want to discover the cause of the deaths, and the ending is short and a big letdown. More ingenious ways could have been utilized to destroy the leeches, but an obvious way to kill them was used, but not used in a believable manner. Overall, fans of generic horror (like myself) will enjoy this novel. If you prefer deeper horror with better story development, you might want to steer clear of this one.

This readable work helps clarify the vastness and the growth of the world bond market. The focus is mostly on the G-7 countries. Topics include the global economy, technical outlook, and country-by-country politics, ratings, and public debt. The information is dated which is understandable in such a fast moving market. It is a great overview. I would buy a new and expanded edition if it were offered.

"Two Lives" made me a William Trevor fan. I will soon find another book by him, now that I've read "Death in Summer." With "Death in Summer" he again displays his remarkable ability to present troubled or otherwise less-than-perfect characters with consideration and extraordinary compassion and to make fairly ordinary characters compelling. I don't know how he does it, but the prose is beautiful. What disappointed me about this book is that it dealt with the idea of compassion, but didn't explore the challenge of maintaining compassion for a difficult person over the long term. The most difficult characters die off far too quickly, and to me, that is a plot device often used in more melodramatic works. I also did not take a liking to the use of the household servants to present the story--I never became attached to these characters. I recommend this book, but much prefer "Two Lives."

William Trevor has been highly recommended by people I respect, and I do plan on reading more of him. DEATH IN SUMMER is the first of his works I've encountered and while it did not quite live up to what I expected, that's not to say it isn't good. As I read it, I kept imagining it as a contemporary British television dramatization, a medium to which it would translate well, if not better than the page. The story is spare yet complicated: A new widower with an infant interviews and decides not to hire a nanny, instead accepting his mother-in-law's offer to come care for the child. Unknown to him, one of the girls interviewed and not hired as a nanny becomes obsessed with him, interjecting into his life unforeseen consequences, forcing him to confront the emotional isolation in which he had long taken refuge. The characters are fully drawn, as are the settings. The sentences are graceful. The movement of the action is a bit off, spending a little too much time away from the protagonist at times. It can be very quiet, too; doesn't eat its own scenery. In the end, though, it successfully conveys its themes, especially the observation of how so much of our knowledge about others' lives is gathered in eavesdropping or guessing, never with the complete information.

William Trevor is my favorite writer. He conveys in simple, clean, but beautiful prose, the complexities of human existence. Having read all of Mr. Trevor's works, this novel is one of my favorites. It is the tragic story of loss and longing, filled with sympathetic characters -- victims and perpetrators. All of the characters are haunted by their particular past, and Mr. Trevor shows how that past impacts both the present and the future. A great novel, and the characters will stay with you long after you have finished the book. I strongly recommend this book (and Willliam Trevor) to anyone who enjoys writers such as Alice Munro or John Cheever.

Upminster and Cranham were two parishes, but their streets now form a single mass. The last comprehensive attempt to cover the history of Upminster was more than 40 years ago and is now rather obsolete (i.e. the series of History of Upminster booklets, c.1958-1962). In the eighties and nineties, we have had several books on the town's past, mostly of the pictorial type: lots of old photos and nostalgia, publication but not investigation of these important sources of social history. The only real history book recently has been by Tony Benton and the late Albert Parrish, who covered the modern development of Upminster, post-1850 or so, and did so superbly. Thus, Drury's 'History of Upminster and Cranham' (this is now locally almost a blended geographical term) comes at a time when a general history was seriously needed, covers a wider area than any previous general account, and reflects the modern topography.

Drury's approach relates the past to what is observable today. In general, as an introductory and general history of Upminster, this approach succeeds. Most of the curiosities have found their way into this book.

Those of us who research the history of Upminster and Cranham might find Drury's approach limited and derivative. However, this is not a fair criticism: we are probably not Drury's target audience. The interpretation of the bronze age excavations at Hunts Hill Farm, the antiquity of the origins of the parish, the possibly older-than-Pevsner's date for St. Laurence's tower, the landscape history of these combined 5100+ acres, and the lack of any current activity in oral history are our problems, not Drury's. If it is admitted that this is a secondary work, and that our research is presented as fact and unacknowledged, then we should accept this as a sign that we have succeeded. If Drury's book gets more people interested in researching the area's history, then the most skeptical researcher should be overjoyed.

About two-thirds of these two parishes is still under cultivation. Drury could be asked to do more in the direction of agricultural history because it is within living memory of some people in his target audience. Drury's treatment of Cranham is superficial in comparison to Upminster, and he could have consulted this reviewer's web-based publication that is restricted to Cranham history. The reference list provided by Drury, whether to paper works or web-sites, is rather limited. For those who are interested, the non-profit community website has further notes on the history of the town, and further details on Drury's book.

Drury's other recent book is on the historical buildings of the London Borough of Havering, again general and derivative, but necessarily with much information about Upminster. Would recommend acquiring and considering these books as complementary pair, with warnings that some statements may be wrong. For example, the origins of the road patterns and parish boundaries in the area have never included a 'theory' that they arose from the north-south routes of pilgrims to Canterbury via the Thames ferries. These roads and boundaries antedate Thomas Beckett by centuries.

The book is reasonably priced for its soft-cover format and size. The quality of some of the illustrations in my copy could have been better.

Drury recently moved to Felsted. I am sure that many will hope that he will not lose interest in the Upminster area. This is a good general introduction to Upminster history, if rather weaker for Cranham. Overall, very reasonable place to start, if you are interested in our local history.

Tony Fox

First, there is much about this book to commend it. As noted above, it contains some interesting and insightful comments by Essex's contemporaries. The writing is clear and occasionally rather musical. The life of Robert, Earl of Essex and the last of Elizabeth's favorites, is described in considerable detail. The image of a man of great charm but stunningly bad judgement emerges, sometimes in spite of all this detail.

What I found off-putting was the tone of some of the writing -- a sort of headline hyperboly. And characterizations tend to become caricatures: at one point, the author evokes the image of Elizabeth's successor as "young King James cavorting with his boyfriends." The Scottish king was in his late thirties when he succeeded to the English throne -- hardly young in the Renaissance world. And the author misses a potent parallel: according to many historians, it is likely that James Stuart's physical relationships with his male favorites were not much different from those of the late queen with hers. James VI and I was undoubtedly attracted to handsome young men, and certainly carried on passionate friendships, but it is by no means certain that physical liasons developed.

Nor is this the only personal judgement offered up. Elizabeth is "nasty, vicious and self-centered." This snapshot opinion is bolstered with documented events and considerable speculation. The author repeatedly and matter-of-factly informs us of this complicated monarch's motives and feelings and thoughts. Sometimes her mood is not difficult to discern; Elizabeth had a famous temper and wasn't above shrieking at a courtier or boxing a lady's ears. These moments are described with relish, and they do indeed flesh out the author's portrait of an aging, difficult woman. The author's depiction of the internal Elizabeth, however, can be exasperating. Most jarring perhaps was the assertion that Elizabeth took up with Essex because "she had nothing to lose." This, when the cover's subtitle breathlessly promises that her "affair" with this young man "nearly dethroned her," is not only presumptous, but contradictory.

On the other hand, readers whose primary interest is political intrigue are likely find this book of value. If its goal was to show the uncertainties of fortune and the odd machinations of Elizabethan society, it succeeded admirably. There are few books available on the life of Essex, and this one is worth a look.

Higgins tends to use the stories of the not-so-perfect women of the Bible as a soapbox to preach rather than give a historical (for as much as the Bible is historical) accounting of the women who were victimized and thrown aside for being other than the 'perfect' Christian women. She goes very little into the male-written Bible that terrorizes any woman who shows a bit of backbone or is self-assured in her own right. Definately NOT a keeper.