Princess Diana

Diana: An Extraordinary Life (Diana Princess of Wales)

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amazing

Diana: An Extraordinary Life (Diana Princess of Wales)
Brenda Ralph Lewis
Manufacturer: Phoenix Illustrated
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0753806630

Customer Reviews:

amazing.......2001-01-30

This is truly a wonderful book about the late Princess of Wales. I was amazed by the sheer volume and substance it contains. The pages are filled with beautiful color photos, illustrations and stories about Diana - from her childhood, her marriage to Charles and her final but brief happiness which ended in tragedy.

The book has a remarkable slide show of Diana's fashion style, secrets of the designers who inspired her gowns, day wear, casual wear, hats, hairstyles - even jewelries.

You would also find in each chapter sidebars about Royal facts, historical events and headlines happening around the world during certain periods of time.

Book Description

Paul Burrell served Diana, Princess of Wales, as her faithful butler from 1987 until her death in 1997. He was much more than an employee: he was her right-hand man, confidant and friend. She described him as 'the only man she ever trusted.'

As the world prepares for the official inquest into her death, The Way We Were marks an intense period of reflection by ensuring the spirit, warmth and character of the person at the centre of proceedings is not lost or obscured.

In this remarkable and intimate book, Paul Burrell opens the door to Kensington Palace to provide a unique, visual tour. With previously unseen interior photographs, the reader is led inside the world of Princess Diana—room-by-room, memory-by-memory.

He paints a faithful and poignant tribute in remembrance of 'the boss' as the person who shared her private world and knew her best. In this fascinating new account, he allows the reader to feel 'at home with Diana', sharing her inner-most feelings, hopes and philosophies that teach us more about her mind and the way she thought.

We learn of her amusing Hollywood relationships, the true depth of her happiness with 'The One'; the amazing story that illustrates her compassion; her sisterhood with Sarah Ferguson—and the desperate attempts to heal their rift; and a never-before-told account that provides new evidence about the real nature of her relationship with Dodi Al Fayed.

There are also rare photographs of the jewels Diana wore and treasured as Paul Burrell celebrates her style and fashion.

The Way We Were reflects, remembers and celebrates the late Diana, Princess of Wales, and captures her vivacity and love of life as we move towards the tenth anniversary of her death in 2007.

In his twenty-one years of royal duty, Paul Burrell first served Her Majesty the Queen as personal footman from 1976 to 1987 when he moved to Highgrove to become butler to the Prince and Princess of Wales. It was in 1992, following the couple's separation, that he moved to Kensington palace at the personal request of Princess Diana.

Following her death, he was honoured by the Queen with the Royal Victorian Medal for his loyalty and service to Diana, Princess of Wales. He then spearheaded a fundraising campaign for her official memorial fund that raised £100 million.

Since then, Paul has become a bestselling author and television personality. His earlier book, A Royal Duty, sold two million copies worldwide and was a number one New York Times bestseller.

Customer Reviews:

Boring Royal BETRAYAL of a Friend.......2007-06-05

It's quite one thing to write a book about someone you have worked for, stood by, witnessed emotional sorrow and struggles, and quite another matter to spew out yet more "trusted confidences" about someone when you KNOW this book NEVER would have been written if Diana were still alive.

Why write about PRIVATE matters and reveal them? It is so glaringly obvious that this book represents a strong and eroding character of someone Diana confided in. And now speaking events to tell us either more of what we already know or what deserves to remain private - if anything out of dignity.

I HIGHLY recommend the DVD "NBC News Presents: Diana Revealed, The Princess No One Knew" INSTEAD of this meaningless mess of text. The DVD will let you know how DIANA felt from DIANA'S MOUTH - and she shares so humbly and honestly.

I feel sorry most for William and Harry. If you want to pay tribute to DIANA - a rare and precious soul, do so at least in a manner that SHE would want her sons to see.
NBC News Presents: Diana Revealed, The Princess No One Knew

Prince Burrell.......2007-06-03

I came to this book with an open mind as i was in the States or abroad while all the Diana intrigue was going on and i don't read magazines.I'm from London.Facinating-so it says the Queen had a nanny who later behaved like an imperious queen because she had so many confidences from thee Queen and the royal house-hold tip-toed around her or it was 'off with their heads'and she drank champagne ONLY of it was served on a platter.Then,in another book on Diana,it says Charles's butler used to have his music blaring from the floor below the Queen mother's at Balmoral.My point is when servants get all the close confidences of their royal masters/mistresses it makes them feel personally royal too.A huge promotion considering they started off their careers as brown-nosers.So reading this book i couldn't help feeling the same thing had happened to Mr Burrell and it would count as a drop in prestige to mention anything untoward about Diana.The ego shining through this book was my constant companion so i read it like an article in a woman's magazine...

Beautiful book of friendship.......2007-05-12

This book tells of a beautiful friendship, loyalty, caring and trust.
Paul couldn't of told it any better.

To bad this is his last book, but truly understand why.

The Way We Were: Remembering Diana.......2007-05-07

I think Paul is the best at writing about Diana as he is the one that shared so much of her personal life with her. When I read his books I'm almost transported to a place where he is actually telling me in person about their life together.
This book is well written and certainly well worth the read! Nothing totally new or shocking but coming from Paul, I have no doubt that he speaks the truth whereas the other authors who've written about Diana are almost "hear say" artists.
I'm very happy I received this book and I will reread it again and again!

Really quite depressing but rings true.......2007-02-19

I have read everything Diana for years and find Paul's books to likely be closest to the truth. If you look at them objectively, they really aren't very flattering. I sometimes wonder if he realizes how intensely painful it is to read of his service to someone who was obviously cracked in the head. Not just a little, either. I am solidly convinced Diana was a well-intentioned, howling loon, which is very obviously what Paul doesn't want anyone to think. The trouble is that he is distressingly honest about his impressions, so much so, that you can feel him fight with his own conscience about what and what not to share. He strikes me as an empathetic person who truly helping her hold it together on pain of his employment. I understood Diana to have issues with some of her staff, and yes, Paul does go into a bit of that with the same truthful tone that dominates all his writings. It really does nothing to evoke sympathy for her character, although Paul's innate empathy - a talent that must have been particularly attractive to the Windsors - strives to do so.

He really did feel a specific devotion towards Diana, and after reading his books, I think it may have to do with his believing he made a genuine difference in her life. Perhaps he did? It's difficult to tell from Paul's perspective, as he does attempt in places to adhere to an impartiality that lends credibility to his story. It all just seems so terrifically sad. From her relationship with the heart surgeon, Dr. Hasnat, to the way she confided things to Paul that he had no business being burdened with, you get the idea that this charming, sophisticated Princess was daft as a box of frogs and boiling not to show it. You also achieve about half way through the book that Paul, despite his candor, is concealing that much more which would obviously cement a brutal impression of someone who was struggling with any number of bewildering issues.

It's not just Diana, though. The system that she lived in was daft from end to end, and Paul was part and parcel of it. She's dead, and he's gone away from the royal family now, which is likely to improve Paul's own family's situation. He's selling wine and things, and has branded his name, which in my opinion, should have happened long ago, as he solidly deserves notoriety for pleasing a group of tragically difficult people stuck in an Edwardian reality.

The Bodyguard's Story: Diana, the Crash, and the Sole Survivor

Average customer rating:

A book to end the conspiracy theories?
A true account of what happened
From the source
An Indepth View of a Royal Tragedy
Basically a waste of time..................

The Bodyguard's Story: Diana, the Crash, and the Sole Survivor
Trevor Rees-Jones , and Moira Johnston
Manufacturer: Grand Central Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Diana: Closely Guarded Secret: Closely Guarded Secret
The Murder of Princess Diana
Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words
The Way We Were: Remembering Diana
A Royal Duty

ASIN: 0446527750

Book Description

"Where were you when Diana died?

For Trevor Rees-Jones, the answer is simple: he was in the same hospital as Diana, fighting for his own life a few rooms away. As bodyguard to her companion Dodi Fayed, he was with the couple when, hounded by paparazzi, and with a driver who turned out to be drunk, their Mercedes crashed into the thirteenth pillar of the tunnel under the Place de l'Alma in Paris. Dodi and the Driver, Henri Paul, died instantaneously, medics say; Diana was rushed to a nearby hospital where doctors worked feverishly to resuscitate her before giving up in the early hours of Sunday morning.

Miraculously, Trevor survived. But his condition was critical--internal chest injuries and a broken wrist were the least of it. His head had taken the brunt of the impact and suffered catastrophic damage; his face was crushed beyond recognition. In a stunning medical drama, however, a facial surgeon performed a miracle of reconstruction, and--along with Trevor's own indomitable will and the support of his family and friends--the bodyguard was able to leave the hospital after just over a month. His goal then was straightforward: to return to a normal life as soon as possible, go back to work for his employer, Mohamed Al Fayed, and to the simple pleasures of rugby and his mates at home in Shropshire.

But the crash that nearly killed him had killed Diana, Princess of Wales, one of the most famous women of the late twentieth century. A normal life was no longer an option. An as Mohamed Al Fayed's grief at the loss of his son quickly turned into a desperate hunt for reasons, for culprits and conspiracy, Trevor found his unswerving loyalty to the Boss at first questioned and then, ultimately, destroyed, as Fayed pointed the finger of blame at him.

The Bodyguard's Story grippingly describes, for the first time, Trevor Rees-Jones's part in these astonishing events. From the prelude to Paris, when Trevor found himself minding the Princess and her two sons in the south of France, to the crash itself and its causes and consequences, this book reveals the true, first-hand account of one of the most sensational news stories of the last century. Compelling, alarming and yet deeply moving, it is a remarkable story of courage under fire, and of how ordinary people can react to extraordinary circumstances and survive, scarred, but with their souls and values intact."

Customer Reviews:

A book to end the conspiracy theories?.......2007-04-22

'The Bodyguard's Story' is ghost written and very readable. It has the intimacy if a biography, a pace befitting the events, and the readable style of novel. Recommended to anyone for a good read, 'The Bodyguard's Story' essential reading for those interested in the events of Diana's death.

As the sole survivor of the crash, the bodyguard's story should be the book to end the conspiracy theories. Its doesn't. First because of the inevitable pre-shock amnesia endured by all crash victims, especially a victim who injuries were so horrific as to bring him close to death. The Bodyguard's Story leaves gaps. Gaps left by the investigation, such as the existence of the Fiat Panda. However 'The Bodyguard's Story' does cover the exhaustive French investigation and accounts for the long period between crash and arrival at hospital for both Diana and 'her' bodyguard.

The book does reveal one fact that is not commonly perceived. The Body guard was not Diana's but for Dodi Al Fayed as employed by his father Mohamed Al Fayed. Diana had no body guard that day.

'The Bodyguard's Story' paints a picture of incompetent security and security officers as worried about instant dismissal by a dictatorial boss, Al Fayed, as they were for the security of their charges. The bodyguard's enduring loyalty to his 'Boss', Al Fayed, leaves a open the possibility, may even appear to suggest, that there were other reasons for the employee's amnesia. The book begs the question as to why Diana put herself at such risk, in the hands of a person known to be at odds with the British government and in a relationship which was bound to be of concern to all.

An intriguing and well written read.

A true account of what happened.......2004-08-08

There is only one person that knows what actually happened before, during and after the horrific accident that left most of the world in shock and disbelief and that is Trevor Rees-Jones.

This was a fascinating look "behind the scenes" of a royal and much beloved figure and a very foolish "commoner". The fault of this accident seems to rest with Dodi making a bunch of unwise decisions that ultimately led to 3 people losing their lives.

A fascinating read, albeit a bit slow in some chapters, but fascinating none the less!

From the source.......2004-01-14

I have always wondered what kind of a person Trevor Rees-Jones was and his book gave an in-depth view of him, personally and professionally . . . in his own words.

The saying goes that "truth is stranger than fiction." The truth is also less sensational and colorful than the portrait painted by tabloid hacks and unethical "journalists" the world over.

From the start, I didn't think Trevor was trying to cash in on his time with Diana, Princess of Wales. In the foreward, he stated that writing the book (author Moira Johnston helped him write it) was his way of dealing with the situation and moving on with his life.

Trevor is an ordinary guy who had a very high profile job. It was because of circumstances on the job (that lead to what Trevor called "an industrial accident") and the fact that he was in a car with the world's most famous woman that has put him center stage for the rest of his life.

I felt sorry for the entire Rees-Jones family as diary entry after another explained the turmoil going on inside each of them: His mother and stepfather's struggle to getting Trevor on the road to recovery, the whole family having to deal with the intense media pressure, having Trevor's professionalism called into question by so-called experts (that, in his own words, were not at the Ritz nor in the car), Trevor's having to cope with the fact that he was the only survivor, the family's having to deal with the first overprotective and subsequently vicious hand of Mohammed Al Fayed. The list goes on.

I did get mad at, but then later understood, Trevor's wanting to keep his job with Al Fayed. He was the textbook case example of a loyal employee. Unfortunately, Mohammed Al Fayed was (and still is) so hung up on his conspiracy theories that he thought Trevor was lying to him about how much he remembered of the accident. It was only when he (Al Fayed) was more forthright in wanting to take complete control of the investigation that Trevor had finally had enough and quit (his good friend, Kez, would also quit about two years after the crash for the same reason: He told Al Fayed to his face that he thought his theories were rubbish).

I give Trevor and his family (his real last name is just Rees but he changed HIS name to Rees-Jones because he was so in love with his now ex-wife Sue Jones) MUCH credit for coming through such a trying time in their lives not only intact but stronger than ever. They did not let any of the media attention go to their heads (even as Trevor's so-called friends and even Sue were selling themselves to the highest bidder in the media). They remained true small town folks to the end (and Trevor was even able to play his beloved rugby not a year after the crash).

Some folks may find this book boring as Trevor is a very down-to-earth chap who just shoots straight from the hip. He doesn't trump up the facts (or make things up entirely as the media decided to do time and again while Trevor refused to give interviews). He presents Diana in a very positive light and tells the unexciting truth about the goings on of the case and behind the scenes shananigans of one Mohammed Al Fayed.

Highly recommended (if you can still get it) for a first hand account of wha it's like on the other side of the camera and news reports.

An Indepth View of a Royal Tragedy.......2003-08-11

Although somewhat hard to follow ; this is a book definitely worth reading.An indepth look , from the only survivor of a car crash that changed history!What could be more exciting.Somewhat rough around the edges;but ,nevertheless honest and telling Never knowing how these fateful events would unfold as they left the Ritz with Dodi Fayed and Princess Diana , Trevor
and Kez only knew that they were between a rock and a hard place.You don't disrespect the Boss's son when he's entertaining a Princess .It wouldn't be the first time Dodi's last minute change of plans surprised the bodyguards .At the recent screening of "Air Force One" Dodi had seated Diana in Trevors' usual seat by the door.Trevor nearly landed in Diana's lap.That same evening on route to the theatre with the Princess,Trevor had shown professionalism in eluding the paparazzi - so why the change in plans at the Ritz? Dodi's former girlfriend ,Kelly Fisher testified that Dodi was a "real dictator to Trevor".It was apparent that Dodi began to mistrust those around him ; and he just may have tried to impress the Princess with Henri Paul ; someone he knew he could trust. Trevor should have been compensated handsomely for his injuries.Money and justice just don't seem to mix .

Basically a waste of time.........................2003-01-23

For those that were truly fans of Diana, this book does nothing. I am not, but still can respect a well written story which this book is definitely not. All it does do, is give some slight info to the curious of what took place a few months prior to her death. As far as any real insight into her life, personality, accident and all the miscellanoeus issues surrounding it, this book just touches the surface. Nothing gained or lost here except a little bit of time in the reading.

Average customer rating:

The Tina Chronicles?
GOOD READ...WISH IT WERE MORE ACCURATE
ULTIMATE DIANA BIOGRAPHY
A must read for anyone interested in the beloved late Princess of Wales
Pleasantly surprised

The Diana Chronicles
Tina Brown
Manufacturer: Doubleday
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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After Diana: William, Harry, Charles, and the Royal House of Windsor
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The Queen
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Diana: Her Story, as Told Through the Pages of People

ASIN: 0385517084
Release Date: 2007-06-12

Book Description

"Intensely well researched and an un-put-down-able read, Tina Brown's extraordinary book parts the brocaded velvet and allows us an unprecedented look at the world and mind of the most famous person on the planet. A social commentary, a historical document and a psychological examination, written by a superb investigative journalist."

–Academy Award® Winning Actress Helen Mirren

Ten years after her death, Princess Diana remains a mystery. Was she “the people’s princess,” who electrified the world with her beauty and humanitarian missions? Or was she a manipulative, media-savvy neurotic who nearly brought down the monarchy?

Only Tina Brown, former Editor-in-Chief of Tatler, England’s glossiest gossip magazine; Vanity Fair; and The New Yorker could possibly give us the truth. Tina knew Diana personally and has far-reaching insight into the royals and the Queen herself.

In The Diana Chronicles, you will meet a formidable female cast and understand as never before the society that shaped them: Diana's sexually charged mother, her scheming grandmother, the stepmother she hated but finally came to terms with, and bad-girl Fergie, her sister-in-law, who concealed wounds of her own. Most formidable of them all was her mother-in-law, the Queen, whose admiration Diana sought till the day she died. Add Camilla Parker-Bowles, the ultimate "other woman" into this combustible mix, and it's no wonder that Diana broke out of her royal cage into celebrity culture, where she found her own power and used it to devastating effect.

Customer Reviews:

The Tina Chronicles?.......2007-06-24

Tina Brown's book on Diana, Princess of Wales, while not timely, is interesting. However, the fact that Tina Brown's name on the cover is larger than Diana's should tell you something. This book is about Tina Brown.Much of the information here is unsubstantiated and-rehashed--and appears to be a way of focusing our attention on the author, not the subject. Under Tina Brown's editorship, Vanity Fair published a VERY unflattering piece on Diana titled "The Mouse That Roared." No journalistic integrity here and overall, not much good gossip.

GOOD READ...WISH IT WERE MORE ACCURATE.......2007-06-24

This is a good read but I am surprised that Tina Brown...who shows all the research she did on this book in her "Notes" got so many minor [and major] things wrong.

1. Diana was never an "assistant teacher" at the Young England Kindergarten. This myth been perpetuated over the years. She was a kindergarten assistant...not a teacher.

2. This one is so easy to verify. All you have to do is watch one of the myriad of documentaries of Diana made after her death. Tina Brown alleges that during the famous "Whatever in Love Means" statement by Prince Charles...the author quotes him as saying "I am positively delighted and amazed that Diana is prepared to take me on." I looked at all my documentaries of Diana during that moment when the imfamous comment was made and what Charles actually said was "I am amazed that she has been brave enough to take me on." Where did the author come up with her quote?

3. Brown says that Diana knew that Harry was a boy because it showed up "after her amniocentesis test in 1984." Unless there is a history of Down Syndrome...no 23 year old has need of one. Amniocentesis is not done until the age of 35 when the risk of Down Syndrome increases dramatically. Diana herself said that Harry's gender showed up on the scan.

4. Brown quotes Peter Settelin [Diana's voice coach] and the tapes he made of Diana extensively throughout the book but never mentions the James Colthurst tapes that aired on two consecutive "Datelines" with Jane Pauley. These are the tapes that were used to write the Morton book "Diana: Her True Story." Parts of the Settelin interview were also included. The title of the show was "The Secret Tapes." There are extensive interviews with Colthurst and collaborator Andrew Morton and on those tapes Diana says and I quote verbatim:

"So I threw myself down the stairs bearing in mind I was carrying a child. Queen comes out, absolutely horrified, shaking she's so frightened. I knew I wasn't going to lose the baby, quite bruised around the stomach and Charles went out riding. And when he came back you now he -- it was just dismissal total dismissal."

So there goes the assertion that Diana fell down the stairs and that Charles was very concerned as Brown alleges. I don't know who Brown's source was...but Diana states very clearly that she threw herself down the stairs.

Diana further goes on to say that she did try to kill herself on several occasions...and not just with a lemon peeler as Brown suggests. She tells about using razor blades.

5. She refers to Wendy Berry who was the housekeeper at Highrove and wrote "The Housekeeper's Diary" as Mrs. Danvers several times and then reverts back to calling her Wendy Berry. Mrs. Danvers was the insane housekeeper played by Judith Anderson in "Rebecca" who was completely obsessed with Rebecca and even encourages Joan Fontaine's character at one point to jump out the window. Wendy Berry was no Mrs. Danvers...was not obsessed with Diana...and I have no idea why Brown refers to her in this fashion. She worked for the Royals for seven years.

6. She asserts that an airbag saved Trevor Rees-Jones in the crash and that he was not wearing a seat belt. However in Christopher Andersen's book "The Death of Diana" and again I quote "Rees-Jones makes the decision that would save his life: He reached over and hastily fastened his seat belt."

What is most puzzling are the passages in the book that occur when Tina Brown as Editor of Vanity Fair in 1985 had Diana on the cover with the title "The Mouse that Roared." It was a very unflattering portrait of Diana and included how many people in the palace who had been sacked or resigned. Then Brown...in this book...not in that article defends Diana's behavior in several passages for acting out the way she did. This contradictory bit of writing left me completely baffled.

So even though this book is well written and contains many eloquent and insightful passages...I found many errors as well as the complete omission of the Colthurst/Morton interviews.

So the question of believability comes into play. The author did some of her homework...but certainly not all of it. So this is another Diana book that has to be taken...unfortunately...with a grain of salt.

ULTIMATE DIANA BIOGRAPHY.......2007-06-24

For those who wish to read only one book on the late Diana, Princess of Wales, this is the one. Tina Brown has written a 426 page tome which covers Diana's life in detail, revealing never before known facts about Di and the Royal family. All quotes are meticulously cited and it reads like an authorised biography, not like the thrown together books on Di that repeat the same old stories and reveal nothing new. I highly recommend this book.

A must read for anyone interested in the beloved late Princess of Wales.......2007-06-24

The author writes beautifully..every sentence is unique..this book is very authoritative on the life and times of Diana, Princess of Wales...I can't put the book down!!!!!!!

Pleasantly surprised.......2007-06-21

This is easily the best "Diana" book I've read to date. Insightful and loaded with new info--you just know the authoress is knowledgeable in a first person manner. Not always sympathetic to princess or any one point of view; I thoroughly enjoyed it and have already passed it on to anotherperson equally enthralled with this epic story.

Average customer rating:

Some good photos, some history not a must have book
A "must have" book for Diana fans.

Diana : An English Rose
Susan Skinner
Manufacturer: Bookworld Services
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Way We Were: Remembering Diana

ASIN: 0952164418

Customer Reviews:

Some good photos, some history not a must have book.......2001-07-31

A large collection of photos of the late Princess, many of them very good, most of them you'll have in some other book. I'd say buy it if you're building up a collection but if you have a tight book budget this might be one to leave off if you already have some picture books. The history part is interesting too, in the same way, and may have a small error or two in it.

A "must have" book for Diana fans........1998-12-31

Diana, an English Rose is not just another picture book. Skinner's writing is lively, amusing and insightful, a very balenced account of Diana, Princess of wales amazing life and the impact of her death. I'm sure Diana would have given it 5 stars. I own nearly every book written about her and this book definitely completes my collection.

Average customer rating:

Very truthful of both sides of the Princess / Prince of Wales
Much, much better than expected!
She Won't Go Quietly
Well researched a good read
Almost nothing new

Diana
Sarah Bradford
Manufacturer: Viking Adult
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0670038075
Release Date: 2006-09-26

Book Description

From The New York Times bestselling author of America's Queen—the definitive biography of Diana, Princess of Wales Diana, Princess of Wales, is nothing less than an icon, remembered in death as vividly as she appeared in life. Yet throughout her brief life, Diana was plagued by rumor, innuendo, and scandal. With exclusive access to those closest to Diana, Sarah Bradford now casts aside the gossip and lies and takes us to the very heart of the royal family to separate the myth from the truth of the Diana years.

Diana follows the old-fashioned courtship that saw her captivate the Prince of Wales; the transformation of an unworldly teenager into an emotionally demanding, but adoring, wife and mother; the damage caused by the ever-present specter of Camilla Parker Bowles; and the eventual collapse of a doomed marriage once hailed as the ultimate fairy tale. Bradford examines Diana's lovers and her relationships with her staff, friends, and family, as well as her children, husband, and the royal family. She also charts Diana's profound commitment to her charities and her rare connection to and empathy with all those she met; the struggle to find an identity after the separation from Charles; and the final, complicated year as a single woman.

With the authority missing from all previous accounts, as well as remarkable new sources and firsthand accounts, acclaimed royal biographer Sarah Bradford delivers a complex and explosive study of one of the most popular figures of the twentieth century.

Customer Reviews:

Very truthful of both sides of the Princess / Prince of Wales.......2007-06-03

I received this as a Christmas present from a co-worker who knew I was a Diana fan. The book is a very truthful look at Diana - her growing up years, meeting Prince Charles, the engagement, marriage, her growing up years in the marriage, her pettiness & Charles' pettiness, her various loves --- the book not only interviewed people who knew her well, it also uses information obtained from the other author's books involving Princess Diana. I'm a die hard fan and still am even after reading the book - but I can now see how much energy was wasted on revenge, schemes, etc. between Diana, Charles, other men Diana was involved with. I know what it's like to be in a marriage where the love no longer exists -- but I don't know if the love was ever there concerning Charles with Diana. His energy, mind, and focus were not on Diana. She went from being the naive girl to the mature woman - and she realized more and more how she had been used by not only the Royal family but by those people who surround and support the Royal family (some even members of her own family). Everyone seemed to gain something from the union ---- more than Diana ever could. Once she fulfilled the goal of an heir - the relationship's importance lost its glow in Charles' case. It's a read in reality but didn't make me love her any less. I do recommend the book to Diana fans. She was human, she felt the same feeling all women feel, she loved her boys, she loved people, she did her damnedest to achieve her best in the world, she attempted to put a spot light on those much less fortunate then herself and made sure her boys were aware of those realities too. I greatly admire her efforts, her beauty, her love of life, and her love of her children. I will never forget her.

Much, much better than expected!.......2006-12-03

To be honest, I wasn't looking forward to reading this book. I thought it might be a too-glowing portrait, "poor beautiful doomed Diana that everyone had it in for", but to my great surprise and pleasure, this biography is insightful; sympathetic without being too overly favorable toward Diana's faults (her dark side is explored in detail) and really spot-on as regards the characters of all the people who surrounded Diana:
Prince Charles; her parents, sisters, brother; Sarah Ferguson, Paul Burrell, et al. Very full, rich portrait, very enjoyable reading (despite some odd turns of phrase that the editor should have caught)...This biography of Diana, and the one by Sally Bedell-Smith, are THE ones to read for a full portrait of the late, lamented Princess of Wales. Well done!

She Won't Go Quietly.......2006-12-01

This may be the best, most comprehensive book on Diana yet. I've read many biographies about the late Princess and this is the first to project a balanced portrait. There's plenty of blame to go around in the failed marriage of the Prince and Princess - his selfishness, her neediness, and of course the Camilla problem.
The sections on her early childhood give an insight into her damaged psyche. It may be the first book to fully discuss the Oliver Hoare affair and those dreadful prank phone calls.
I agree with other reviewers that there are a few errors - including the assertion that Prince William fractured his skull by being hit with a golf ball - I believe it was a golf club.
All in all I'm very pleased with this book and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in Diana's life.

Well researched a good read.......2006-11-30

Finally a book that paints an honest picture of Diana. It doesn't make her a saint or a sinner but a needy woman who married too young to a very needy man who didn't love her. It details why she acted as she did and why she became involved in her various worthwhile activities. She was so misunderstood by the RF because she was so very different from them and they didn't know how to control her. You can certainly understand why she acted as she did in her personal life.
The book is well written and very easy read.

Almost nothing new.......2006-11-25

Since 1981, I have read virtually everything published in the United States about Princess Diana, both positive and negative. This book, while a comprehensive overview of her life, provides very little new information and is very dull. It's one of the only Diana books I've never finished. The text is mostly drawn from already-published interviews and other books, including long stretches from the Andrew Morton tape interviews.

The only thing I can recommend about this book is that there are several new photographs I hadn't seen before. One, of a painting of Diana's paternal grandmother, will surprise you in its resemblance to Diana. There's also a photo of her sulking on the way to boarding school. Other than that, there is little to recommend here.

We Interrupt This Broadcast: Relive the Events That Stopped Our Lives...from the Hindenburg to the Death of Princess Diana (book with 2 audio CDs)

Average customer rating:

M.I.A.
If you like history you will want to have this book
Please Keep True to the Title
The narrator needs to shut up
A time capsule of major twentieth-century American news

We Interrupt This Broadcast: Relive the Events That Stopped Our Lives...from the Hindenburg to the Death of Princess Diana (book with 2 audio CDs)
Joe Garner , Walter Cronkite , and Bill Kurtis
Manufacturer: Sourcebooks Inc
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 1570713286

Amazon.com

Beginning with the explosion of the dirigible Hindenburg in 1937, this book and double-CD collection of audio broadcasts recalls a series of dramatic events so urgent that they interrupted regularly scheduled broadcasting in America. The text of this package includes capsule explanations of such events as the attack on Pearl Harbor and the death of Elvis, accompanied by dramatic black-and-white stock photos. Introduced by the sonorous voice of TV journalist Bill Kurtis, the recordings of the news broadcasts revive the panic and thrill of some of the defining moments (mostly American) of the 20th century.

We Interrupt This Broadcast offers, in some ways, a strange view of the past. News that interrupts broadcasts is always sensational, and usually tragic. Of the 39 recordings, only five or so don't involve assassinations, explosions, death or defeat; furthermore, only the deaths of Marilyn Monroe and Princess Diana represent the female side of modern events. Nevertheless, these recordings will fascinate many listeners too young to have heard the original broadcasts, and those who were alive might enjoy hearing them again in all their crackling, nostalgic glory. --Maria Dolan

Book Description

Revised and Updated!

Contains 3 New Shocking Events Straight From Today's Headlines

Updated to include the shocking and terrifying events of the past two years, We Interrupt This Broadcast brings to life the famous and infamous moments of the twentieth century. This second edition covers in striking detail the impeachment proceedings of President Clinton, the Columbine High School tragedy and the death of JFK Jr.--along with 38 other history-making moments--with memorable audio, vivid photographs and compelling text. From the dawn of electronic media to today, these are the 41 events that stopped us in our tracks and changed our world. We Interrupt This Broadcast recounts the details of the events and spotlights the photographs that tell the stories.

Customer Reviews:

M.I.A........2005-07-04

Missing from this book: Mt ST Helen's eruption on 5/18/80, Passing of Ronald Regan, Space Shuttle Columbia should be added in the next edition. Regular broadcasting was inerupted for these stories. Otherwise this book is worth it.

If you like history you will want to have this book.......2005-05-03

Perhaps one of the most innovative ways to study and share history, We Interrupt This Broadcast contains not only information on 43 of the most important events of the 20th century but also actual audio tracks from the original radio broadcasts. The stories told and broadcasts heard range from the Hindenburg explosion to the attack on Pearl Harbor, Japan's Surrender, Lee Harvey Oswald's Assassination, Martin Luther King Jr.'s Assassination, Apollo 13, the Kent State Massacre, Nixon's resignation, the shooting of President Reagan, the fall of the Berlin Wall, the O. J. Simpson saga, Princess Diana's death, the 2000 election, and finally the September 11th attacks, as well as 29 other historically important events. Each event is described in detail including important facts leading up to the event and the effect it had on the U.S. We Interrupt This Broadcast is very highly recommended and should be in the library of everyone who loves or teaches history.

Please Keep True to the Title.......2004-05-10

I have a previous edition of this book. It covered the Diana death, and I believe that is where it stopped. My complaint with the book is only that, as the topics progresses closer to current times, the interruptions became less "spontaneous."
The book's premise was to provide the first live broadcast interruption that the public heard, to create the same chills that people felt, to relive the first realization of the shocking event just as it happened. By the time the book got to Dianna's death, the news clips became more general, more like an end of the year re-cap of what had happened, instead of the first terror-filled report that something had gone wrong.
But a great book, other than that! Perhaps the problem has been fixed in this newer edition.

The narrator needs to shut up.......2003-12-28

The narrator explains what is written in the book already. The book would be a lot better if there was no narrator.

A time capsule of major twentieth-century American news.......2003-10-18

We Interrupt This Broadcast is a statement that never fails to send a little chill up my spine, as these four words have introduced many tragic news stories over the years. In today's jaded world, these words do not have the connotation I still associate with them, and that is both a good and a bad thing. In a world where so much is forgotten so quickly, it is important, especially for the younger generation, to not only know about important events in history but to have a real understanding of sorts concerning them. This book does much to help everyone living today, both young and old, to learn about, remember, and vicariously experience some of history's most memorable (many of them tragic) events. Over forty important moments of the twentieth century are detailed in this coffee table-like book, ranging from the fiery death of the Hindenburg in 1937 to (in my 2nd edition copy) the death of John Kennedy, Jr. in 1999. The third edition offers additional material of important events in the time period between releases.

While none of these events is covered in-depth by any means, the book offers worthwhile summaries and plenty of informative photographs throughout its pages. More importantly, though, the book comes with two CDs containing broadcast footage of these events, letting today's listener hear the words by which America was informed of such tragedies as the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, as well as tales of horror such as the explosion of Flight 800, the fiery end of the Waco standoff with David Koresh and his followers, and the Challenger explosion. Of course, all the news was not bad: here you can hear and read about man taking his first steps on the moon, bear witness to the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, and celebrate retroactively the end of the World War II.

Book Description

Diana, Princess of Wales at her most beautiful: the last portrait session by Mario Testino. Just five months before her tragic death in August 1997, Princess Diana was photographed by Mario Testino for Vanity Fair. Diana, Princess of Wales by Mario Testino at Kensington Palace brings together the most beautiful images from this last portrait sitting, displaying Diana in a state of relaxation and intimacy unlike any other. The selection of about seventy photographs includes many unseen images which, alongside previously published images, fill in the untold story of the shoot. Features include * Foreword by Graydon Carter, editor of Vanity Fair * Introduction by Meredith Etherington-Smith, who played a major role in arranging the sitting in 1997 * Interview with Mario Testino conducted by Hamish Bowles

Customer Reviews:

A must have for Diana book collectors.......2007-02-24

I absolutely love the pictures of Diana in this book. I have been collecting Diana books for years and this is one of my all-time favorites.

Absolutely a must for a Diana fan. .......2007-01-16

This book is simply beautiful. It follows the photo shoot of Mario Testino's famous black and white photos of Diana. There is not a whole lot of text, simply beautiful photos. In fact, I wish they had lithographs of photos to purchase. Great book, a must have for the serious Diana fan.

Okay........2007-01-04

Though the pictures were beautiful and different from any other pictures we've seen of Diana, I didn't care for the style. Some were a little fuzzy and almost too casual. It seems like everyone was trying just a little hard to do something "different." It would be almost impossible to take a bad picture of her and I've read that she was pleased with the pictures. I wish there had been more text. This book just didn't click for me.

All that it is cracked up to be.......2006-11-06

This book is splendid. The photos are worth buying for instead of spread all over the internet where one can download for free. The book captures Diana as I thought of her to be.

Buy if it is on sale for your coffee table.......2006-10-17

I was guess I prefer my photos clear, not slightly blurry. I I also didn't like the "wet look" of Diana's hair because I don't think the photos really looked like her. I have some books with recent photos of Princess Diana that I like better.

Average customer rating:

Pretty Good Book
A gutsy "tabloid" examination
Very interesting but flawed book, could've been much better

The Murder of Princess Diana
Noel Botham
Manufacturer: Pinnacle
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0786007001

Customer Reviews:

Pretty Good Book.......2005-12-09

I thought this was a pretty good book. I disagree that Princess Diana would not have married Dodi. I believe she felt a little desperate at this point. She desperately wanted another child before it was too late. And I believe Dodi was perfect for her. Dodi had done a few things in the past when he was young as alot of people have done. Also, remember she was scheduled to go back to London the day she died but did not go back because Dodi wanted her to stay. This one point makes me believe that she knew why he wanted her to say (proposal of marriage). If she was not interested, she would never have cancelled her plans to go back to London. Some people want the public to believe she would never have married him because that was one of the BIG reasons why she might have been 'eliminated'. I have read TONS of material about her accident and am not convinced that it was an accident. But I don't believe anything will ever come of it!

A gutsy "tabloid" examination .......2005-09-01

Though I don't agree with some major points in the premises laid out, I wanted to commend the author for putting out the murder stance in a backed-up logical way. It is a sham to not acknowledge that Diana was revered by many but to a small faction she was a MAJOR nuisance.
I don't think that Diana was pregnant OR planning to marry Dodi. I agree that Diana wanted revenge for the humiliation that she suffered- and she could do this by her "scene stealing humanitarianism".. But to think that she would get engaged to a playboy who had broken up with his fiance a few weeks prior- , who had drug problems and a checkered past? No way. Dodi's father has plenty of reason to espouse this theory because he was the engineer who set up this friendship in the first place. Look at the pictures of Diana on the Jonikal- she is not gayly hypnotised by the festivities- she looks like she's killling time.There were plenty of dynasties that Diana could have hooked up with- she didn't need Dodi's hand to legitimize her. It's just not believable.
That said, the rest of the theories ring true; the supposed drunk driver- Henri paul was on the MI5 payroll, and he was a light drinker who had NO signs of drunkedness- watch the tape. Yet his blood alcohol test says that his blood alcohol level was 3X over the limit- oh and yes contained carbon monoxide- indicative of a suicide- somebody simply switched the blood tests with another guy at the morgue that night.Additionally, the blueprint of the "murder crash plan" was outlined to others at another time, it is acknowledged in the dark force circles that making a car crash look like an accident is a very effective assasination method.The road that the death car traveled on- has numerous cameras poised on it- are we to believe that evry single security camera was off that night? P'shaw. Also, why did Henri Paul take that roundabout route , why were the security proedures in place discarded at the last minute- after Henri Paul had a little tete-a-tete at the Ritz with Dodi? ( at around eleven, after Dodi and Diana had enjoyed some wine with dinner- I think between the two of them they just didn't smell the rat that was there. )

Very interesting but flawed book, could've been much better.......2004-11-02

I was very sceptical of the quality of this book when I first heard of it, my reading of it has confirmed my feelings.
Mr. Botham spends 288 pages going over the events of the Princess' life and death and how it must've been, in his view, murder.
He has an extensive bibliography but no footnotes to tell you who, or which book, provided each bit of information. Any serious collector of Royalty/ Diana books will recoginze many titles, some of them not at all friendly to the late princess. I also found irritating the extent to which senior officials, well placed sources, and all sorts of others all anonymously confided in the author- this amounted to a large portion of the story at times.
To save time you can pretty much skip reading pages 30-152 as there is nothing new in the section titled "The Marriage", just a lot of recycled Charles and Diana bashing, sure to offend many. Botham even brought up the old Prince Harry fathered by Hewitt story, claiming to have seen in Hewitt's home, in his bedroom (p.80), there is only one picture displayed- of Prince Harry. He implies that this must mean the rumors are true although even James Hewitt himself denies the possiblity.
As for the rest of the book, unfortunately largely supported by those anonymous tipsters and no documentation, there is a lot of very interesting stuff about how the CIA, MI6, French agencies had to have had something to do with her death and how/why they would've pulled it off. It's all very interesting reading, some of it I have read/ heard before (including the Prince Charles had a hand in it bit) and even at least somewhat plausible given that some of these people are known to have attempted such things at times. I didn't care for the way Botham uncritically accepts the pregnancy legend as fact or the way he'd alternately use Mohamed Al Fayed as evidence or brand him as a liar, all to prove whatever point he wanted to make at that time. I really didn't like the way he claims that Diana's friend Rosa Monckton might even have been an MI6 agent secretly out to get something on her. For that one to be true the lady must still be undercover, acting as Diana's friend, what would be the use in that?
Large parts of the details of the official investigation (or lack of one) are true, or at least likely. Entirely too much of the rest of the book could be- it's just that there's so much unsupported hearsay that bothers me.

The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess Diana

Average customer rating:

Brilliantly researched and written analysis of moral inversion
Hovis The Bread That Built a Nation
Astute commentary on social change in Britain
A must-read to save a great civilization from extinction,
Simply Excellent!

The Abolition of Britain: From Winston Churchill to Princess Diana
Peter Hitchens
Manufacturer: Encounter Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1893554392

Book Description

Prominent English social critic Peter Hitchens writes of the period between the death of Winston Churchill and the funeral of Princess Diana, a time he believes has seen disasterous changes in English life. The Abolition of Britain is bitingly witty and fiercely argued, yet also filled with somber appreciation for what the idea of England has always meant to the West and to the world.

Customer Reviews:

Brilliantly researched and written analysis of moral inversion.......2007-02-19

Peter Hitchens writes a devastatingly effective portrait of the loss that Britain has sustained primarily at the hands of the cultural and political Left. There are many impressive things about this book, but, for me, Hitchens' pellucid explanation of the process of moral inversion is priceless.

One example, perhaps one of the most important is the transformation of government policy on the issue of illegitimacy. Initally the British government defined illegimat births as a problem and something to be discouraged. First under the banner of "compassion" the social penalties associated with illegitimacy were removed and out-of-wedlock births were treated as normal and nothing to worry about. Lest you acuse Hitchens' of cruelty, he points out that removing penalties suffered by the child were proper, but, that the government led society far further to the complete abandonment of the position that children deserve to be born into a home with a married mother and father. The phrase "single-parent families became the standard description demonstrating a complete lack of moral disapproval of illegimitacy. In the end, those who wished to discourage illegitimacy were condemned themselves with the standard description of "judgmentalism." Society could not exist without adults exercising judgment and distinguishing between wise and moral conduct and careless, damaging and immoral conduct. The moral inversion was now complete, the only immoral act was to criticize illegitimacy.

Again, Hitches' gives on of the best explanations of why it is important to maintain the special place of marriage in society. Traditional Britain reserved sex as a privilege enjoyed by those who TOOK ON THE LIFELONG RESPONSIBLITY for their spouse and any children that the marriage might produce.

Women are just beginning to realize the damage that they have done to themselves by the near destruction of traditional marriage. Men have little incentive to marry and potentially subject themselves to the gristmill of divorce in modern times. Women have lost the benefit of a true, life-long spouse, a benefit provided by society and supported by all of its institutions. Now, as Hitchens' points out women must constantly compete for their men's attention and devotion because "relationships" can be ended at any time for any reason with little or no consequence. As long as women are young, beautiful and/or well-to-do they will win the competition, how will they fare in their later years? No one dare ask. Our grandmother's generation endured much that was difficult but few faced the prospect of a lonely old age without a companion. Today's feminists have one a very stark prospect at the end of their lives, along and with no children to ensure their proper care. Not pretty.

Culturally a society that abandons its own children to television cannot compete with a more disciplined society. Family cohesiveness is necessary to develop disciplined and focused individuals that can truly lead a society. Computer game obsessed, semi-literates will not be able to compete in the world economy and their country will end up dominated by others.

Hitchens' notes that the very culture that birthed the stable and prosperous democracies of Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and India has nearly been destroyed without proper remembrance: music, literature, poetry, architecture, military tradition, true parliamentary democracy, nearly all gone or distorted in despicable ways. The loss of Britain is
truly a blow to the world and to the hopes for the survival of freedom on this planet.

Let us pray that the brilliant Mr. Hitchens is wrong and that the leadership exists to bring Britain back from the brink.

Most importantly for Americans, all the forces described by Hitchens' are at work in America and they have made substantial inroads. Our universities are almost totally corrupt, politicized propaganda mills for cultural Marxism and we, the general public, have been helpless so far to re-assert control even over our public institutions.

Hovis The Bread That Built a Nation.......2006-11-23

As a lad of 1970's England, I was treated to many of the socialist inspired cultural reformations that hurt Hitchens' heart. I didn't have a maths class, I had a class called "Logic." Sex education consisted of a film shown to my fellow 8 year olds of naked pre-pubescent kids jumping into a swimming pool...oh how we all cringed in embarrassment. We didn't read "Great Expectations" we read "Stig of the Dump." No school desks, we sat on tiny armchairs in a circle and discussed subjects.
There is a brilliance to much of Hitchens' lamentations in this work that makes for a sadness when one is made to realize all that has been forgotten and wrecked that was good about Britain.
That said, there is much I do not miss that he waxes nostalgic for. Society and culture rarely remain static, and the old adage about hindsight being twenty twenty applies to this book in many ways.
We had a TV commercial back in the 70's that pitched a brand of "brown bread" (it was colored that way, it was not whole grain)called Hovis. It depicted a young working class boy and his dad walking up a steep hill in the early part of the 20th century in a North England town. When they arrive home, cheerful mum has plenty of Hovis on hand. The music in the background, a traditional English brass band, plays a solemn yet cozy tune. By implication it was great back then, everyone was chipper, life was wholesome and of course, so is Hovis bread. A comedian, Tony Capstick, soon recorded a send up song to that tune speaking in voice over as the lad now all grown up that went something like this: I'll never forget that first day down pit(coal mine), me father and me worked a 72 hour shift, then walked 43 miles home in the freezing snow wearing sacks for clothing...we had a lot of good things in them days, rickets, diphtheria.
The book at times does come off as a little like the Hovis ad, and perhaps Hitchens' misty eyes for the past are at points clouded more by sentimentalism than reality. He is a conservative but a statist conservative. He wants the government to nanny society just as liberals do; just in opposite ways. It is perhaps this facet of his thinking that I find most disagreeable. If there are now schools in Britain that are essentially Islamic madrassas that he dislikes, it is a consequence of the state sponsoring Christian schools earlier on that he liked. If homes have become cookie-cutter and characterless it is a consequence of government provided housing. The decline of the church, perhaps a response to having religion as an arm of the state. Hitchens' dislikes the virtual disappearance of the British Union Flag in preference to the specifically English St. George Cross. I consider myself English and not British, because like many of my countrymen I realize that Britain is a political contrivance not an identity.
Hitchens' makes his case eloquently even if not in my opinion always accurately, but we both agree that what Britain is now is a pitiful spectre of it's past great attributes.

Astute commentary on social change in Britain.......2005-10-01

This is an extended lament of what he sees as the social decline, a "cultural revolution", of Britain. By "abolition", Hitchens means that the carefully constructed and venerated institutions and social strands that bind together a large population on a small island are coming unwound, and the result will be nothing less than the overthrow of the social order and its replacement with who knows what.

There is much to regret. Many large bureaucracies have been infiltrated and hijacked by a few with, no doubt, good intentions but shocking results. Thus he gives examples of an Anglican church with bishops who no longer believe in God, or government-funded organizations that provide for sex education for "people" as young as 7. Other chapters, such as the creation of suburbs amongst charming country villages, or the sexual revolution wrought by the contraceptive pill, will resonate with conservative audiences but will be unconvincing to liberals and libertarians. But even here, his deliberately stodgy conservative perspective is meant to show how unimaginable today's Britain would be to, say, a mourner at Churchill's funeral 40 years ago.

Overall, this is a very well-written conservative essay in the classic and ongoing debate, in which liberals wish to overthrow a social order they see as class-based, racist and standing in the way of progress, while conservatives see the status-quo as virtuous, and the embodiment of a deep-rooted compromise arrived at only after great upheaval. Whether or not we care about the debate, we are all certainly subject to its outcome.

A must-read to save a great civilization from extinction,.......2004-11-24

30 years ago I lived up-country, deep in the African bush. Every evening I twiddled the dials and adjusted the antenna on my short-wave radio. I was tuning into the World Service of the BBC and its radio serial "the Archers - an everyday story of country folk". This serial was the epitome of Englishness - robust, honest and worthy farming families leading their lives steeped in the rich cultural heritage of England. It was a world immensely civilized and comforting - it reinforced my identity - a universe woven through with integrity, self reliance, generosity, self restraint and common sense. Its institutions, parishes, policemen drew their strength, legitimacy and harmony from a centuries-long process of growth and adaptation.
Peter Hitchens describes how this world was subverted and finally chain-sawed into oblivion by an unholy coterie of jealous and doctrinaire do-gooders, misfits, intellectuals and an evermore influential leftwing media.

We now live in a geographic entity called Britain where state schools are obliterating our extraordinary achievements with a Stalinist airbrushing of history; where policemen operate like an occupying army; where the media indoctrinate the population with trash culture and scandalously biased `news' and opinion.

Now I know why I became out of sorts with the Archers. Those stolid farmers had become uncertain, self-critical, simpering, lap-dogs to masterful, bossy, manipulative and crusading wives. They were eating quiche for tea and measuring their manure in "kilos". In the novel `1984' George Orwell invoked a creepy feeling of alienness in the reader by having his hero go into an English pub and order a "litre" of beer. Well, pints are still in English pubs - just, but the new Archers' Britain invoked exactly the same feeling of alienness in me. And Peter Hitchens has explained why.

That Archers' England has been captured by scriptwriters, politicians and activists who have a clear agenda - to mock, denigrate and finally wipe out all that they could find of beauty and strength and worth - and replace it with a gender neutral, guilt-ridden, multicultural nightmare. Meanwhile the general population is sedated into apathy by consumer prosperity and brain rotting, social conditioning TV. It is an England that "would have lost at Trafalgar and Waterloo, and given up on the attempt to colonize America, because of the absence of safety nets, sexual equality and proper child care."

This same coterie hypocritically sends their children to élite schools to avoid them being turned into "mannerless, uncultured ignoramuses" by the state cooperative.

Peter Hitchens' work challenges head-on the new taboos and shibboleths erected by this coterie. Of course they spit and fume in frustration when he mercilessly dissects the cancerous, illogical and spiteful nature of their doctrines. Some of them have written sulphurous reviews on this page. Pay no attention to them - they are the Little Folk. Low self-esteem, the worm in the wood, the taint in the blood. They might change masters but they will be forever slaves.

As Anatole Kaletsky wrote, "a nation that loses its self awareness will lose its self-respect" and "Many people have become embarrassed, even afraid of being British". On those nosey, multi-racial official forms I am reduced to writing `Native English' in the `Other' box...

Is there any hope? Peter Hitchens book is a magnificent call to arms. It is required reading for the British people to confront the dry-rot that is eating the heart out of their cultural identity.

Simply Excellent!.......2004-02-07

In his book, "The Abolition of Britain", journalist Peter Hitchens states profoundly what many millions of Britons currently think - that the cultural revolution that swept the nation in the aftermath of Sir Winston Churchill's death has made many feel like foreigners in their own land. Particularly poignant is his contrast between the years 1965 and 1997, and the funerals of the Greatest Briton, Sir Winston Churchill, and Diana, Princess of Wales. In 1965, Britain was a restrained, conservative and patriotic society. A nation mourned at the death of a great man, but it did so in a solemn and dignified manner. Cranes were lowered in respect along the Thames and people filed quietly along to catch a glimpse of Churchill's coffin. Hitchens also makes marked contrasts between the general perceptions of the populations of both years. In 1965, Britons looked towards the Empire as an achievement to be proud of, and they looked back with pride over the 1000 years plus of British history. How different it is today. Hitchens' most potent revelation is his description of the marked contrast with the funeral of Lady Diana, when an outpouring of emotion swept over the nation in torrents. The funeral processions were most unlike those of Sir Winston. Hitchens correctly highlights Churchill's death as the point when the Britain of old, the Britain whose values it's gallant soldiers defended against the menaces of Hitler and the Kaiser, began to be seriously undermined by the politically-correct leftists. Hitchens' book is a profound indictment of Blairism and the fuzzy "Third Way" political system which it has created. This is a book that needs to read by ALL Britons, for it explains where the entire concept of Britain and the British became undermined. Excellent.

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