An Uncommon Woman - The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm

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An Uncommon Woman - The Empress Frederick: Daughter of Queen Victoria, Wife of the Crown Prince of Prussia, Mother of Kaiser Wilhelm PDF

From Publishers Weekly

Queen Victoria of England has been the subject of several fine biographies; however, her equally interesting eldest child and favorite daughter, "Vicky," whose tragic fate it was to be the mother of Kaiser Wilhelm, who led the Germans against England in World War I, has not received the level of attention accorded her mother. Pakula's (The Last Romantic, LJ 2/1/85) readable biography, based in large part on Vicky's correspondence with her mother as well as other primary sources, provides an intimate view of a quintessentially "Victorian" mother-daughter relationship and a fascinating perspective on a period and personages more often viewed through the impersonal lens of diplomatic and political history. Pakula has succeeded well in capturing an immensely interesting period and place in history through the story of a woman's life. History buffs will enjoy the period detail; academics will appreciate its different perspective on real personages and events.?Barbara Walden, Univ. of Minnesota Libs., Minneapolis
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Booklist

Pakula, author of the brilliant biography of Queen Marie of Romania, The Last Romantic (1985), proffers a definitive biography of a historical figure well deserving of such a monumental treatment. Her new subject possessed impeccable credentials in the scheme of nineteenth-century European royalty: Princess Royal of Britain, then Crown Princess of Prussia, and finally German empress. Vicky, as she was called in the family, was the eldest child of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, and was also easily the cleverest of their vast brood. Her idealistic father arranged her marriage to the heir of the Prussian throne to spread liberal ideas to that reactionary country. The marriage went off as planned, and Vicky loved her handsome prince, Fritz, and he vice versa; they quickly grew to be partners in liberalism. But Vicky was never able to truly shake the foundations of the conservative Prussian monarchy, mainly because of Reich chancellor Prince Bismarck, her nemesis, but also because her husband was too ill and reigned too briefly (88 days) to make real changes. Adding injury to insult, her son, the Kaiser Bill we fought in World War I, reversed the little good Vicky had done in bringing notions of constitutionalism to an autocratic regime by trying to pretend his mother had never existed! Pakula plunges the reader deeply into European Politics, but the water is not only fine, it is exhilarating. Brad Hooper
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Review

...An Uncommon Woman is far more interesting than the usual princely product: as the German Empire was forged--by blood and iron, to use Bismarck's phrase--the Crown Princess was in the midst of the action. Still, the question remains: do we really need a biography of a woman who, for all her efforts, never really became a major player? It is Ms. Pakula's great achievement that the answer must be a resounding yes--and not just because this is a well-written and lively book.... a highly readable book that manages to be both a history of the times and a highly personal portrait. -- The New York Times Book Review, Olivier Bernier

About the Author

Hannah Pakula is the author of The Last Empress, which was a New York Times notable book, The Last Romantic, which was called by Graham Greene the best biography and one of the three best books of the year, and An Uncommon Woman, which was a Los Angeles Times Book Award finalist. She lives in New York City.