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Title: Who Was the Man in the Iron Mask?: And Other Historical Enigmas by Hugh Ross Williamson ISBN: 0-14-139097-2 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: 25 June, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $15.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3 (2 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Accurate or Not? Don't Know, But Still an Interesting Book
Comment: [Warning] This penguin reprint book has been originally published as "Historical Enigmas" in 1974, and before that, partly as "Historical Whodunits" (1955) and "Enigmas of History" (1957). Beware before buying it.
The new title "Who Was the Man in the Iron Mask" is misleading, so let me correct it. The writer Hugh Ross Williamson, prolific novelist and historian (and many others), has written this interesting book about English history, in which he explores the scandals and gossips such as the speculated identity of the father of Elizabeth I, or the murderers of the princes in the Tower. So, the book is mainly about the history of England, not France.
The contents are:
1.History and the Writer
2.The Death of William Rufus
3.The Princes in the Tower
4.The Identity of Perkin Warbeck
5.The Parentage of Queen Elizabeth I
6.The Murder of Amy Robsart
7.Holyrood and Kirk o'Field
8.The Gowrie Conspiracy
9.The Gunpowder Plot
10.The Murder of Sir Thomas Overbury
11.The Poisoning of King James I
12.The Assassination of Colonel Rainsborough
13.The Executioner of King Charles I
14.The Campden Wonder
15.The Mystery of James de la Cloche
16.The Man in the Iron Mask
17.The Murder of Sir Edmund Berry Godfrey
18.The Innocence of Sir John Fenwick
19.The Appin Murder
20.The Diamond Necklace
21.The Wives of King George IV
(Chap.1 is a rather preachy introduction you can skip over. Chap. 3 is indirectly about Richard III; Chap.16 is of course about the mysterious man in Dumas' famous novel (or DiCaprio's movie), and the proposed theory is certainly unique. Chap.19 concerns partly RL Stevenson's classic novel "Kidnapped"; and Chap.20 deals with the interesting case about the necklace which accelerated the downfall of Marie Antoinette, recently made into a picture starring Hilary Swank.)
And don't be wrong here. Williamson postulates, but never insists. Like many books on the truths of, say, Jack the Ripper, he shows many intriuging aspects of many well-known episodes in English history, but some people, especially academic historians, would find the book too clever. To his credit, Williamson, who seems to heartily dislike "textbook history" and "historical propagandas," does not offer any conclusive theories about these matters. He just suggests, but to some, too strongly.
It is true, however, that there were scandals and rumors surrounding these cases above, and people are still intrigued by the enigmas in history. And like the tantalizing questions such as "Who shot down the Red Baron?" or "What ever happened to the still missing author of "The Devil's Dictionary," the answers will never be revealed. This conclusion, Hugh Ross Williamson is, and all of us are, ready to accept.
Some complaints about this reprint. As there is no introduction attached to the text, we don't know whether or not new information has been unearthed since the original publication of the book. We need the opinions from the thrid party, hopefully from historians, but we are left alone to judge the authenticity of the book. (And this complaint goes to this Penguin Classic History series in general.)
I know I cannot use the book in history class in school, but still I find it very interesting. But I also know that I am no historian. Read it as a detective's dossier.
Rating: 2
Summary: Proven to be historically inaccurate!
Comment: I was thrilled to purchase this book, only to find-straight away-inaccuracies in its claim of Tudor history. Queen Elizabeth I was not bald, but rather wore wigs and many women shaved their heads, to give the appearance of a high forehead, a sign of high intelligence during this period. The claim that Smeaton was Elizabeth's real father is also a falsity. While this may have been titillating during the past 20 years, it is now just disappointing.
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