Amazon.com
"I am making haste to pass on the contents to 25. 13. 8. 9. 38. . . . who has ordered me to open communications with you." So reads a French dispatch captured by the British in the Peninsular Campaign against Napoleon's armies, causing the Duke of Wellington to comment, "The devil is in the French for numbers"--and occasioning Mark Urban's intriguing study of code making and code breaking.
The early 19th-century British army was hidebound by tradition, writes Urban; elegant and well-placed gentlemen gained command, while more deserving but lower-born men languished in the ranks. Against that army, in Spain and Portugal, stood Napoleon's forces, "the mightiest armament since the legions of ancient Rome." Thanks to one common-born officer, George Scovell, a linguistic genius and adept solver of puzzles, Wellington's forces avoided disaster by learning of the superior enemy's plans--though, after the war, Wellington dismissed Scovell's contributions and took credit for himself and his favorite staff officers. A fine chapter in the history of intelligence and cryptography, Urban's book provides a fascinating aside to the well-documented Napoleonic Wars. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
Spanning the battle of Corunna in 1809 to the 1815 victory at Waterloo, this is the dramatic true-life tale of an unsung hero in Wellington's army.
Common-born George Scovell -- an engraver's apprentice -- joins the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars and becomes a commissioned officer. As Bonaparte's juggernaut marches across Europe, Scovell soon proves himself a linguistic genius and begins to crack the basic codes used in French dispatches, giving General Wellington advance knowledge of French plans. But as the enemy changes from simple ciphers to baffling "next to impossible" encoded messages, Scovell finds himself racing against time to break the legendary "Great Paris Cipher" and save the British Army.
The thrill of clashing armies, challenging puzzles, and the personal struggle of a long-forgotten hero make The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes a gripping -- and brain-teasing -- adventure.
Customer Reviews:
Good History - Little Cryptography.......2006-06-17
An excellent historical survey of the era and astonishing depth of detail on the main protagonist, his life and times, but... regretfully, the cryptographic information in the book is scanty. One wishes for more detail in how he broke those codes.
You will note a large number of used copies of this book for sale cheaply which seems to confirm my opinion. What we have here is an excellent history book in which the publisher cleverly spiked the title to make it appear to be more - it is not.
Phenomenal.......2005-10-13
Urban's history is at once a sound history and a suspenseful, compelling read. The author documents the achievements of George Scovell, one-time apprentice to an engraver, who rose through the ranks of Wellington's Army to be responsible -- no-less than more famous actors -- for the British victory over Napoleon. While the history examines Scovell's masterful feat of ingenuity, it also narrates the events and context of military engagements throughout the campaign.
This underappreciated gem gets an enthusiastic five stars.
Solid, sound history, but the thesis is a bit thin.......2005-04-25
Welcome account of an interesting period of history I was ignorant of: the Peninsular War of the British/Spanish against the puppet Napoleonic regime in Spain, 1809 - 1813. The premise -- that an obscure staff officer to Lord Wellington, by deciphering Le Grand Chiffre, turned the tide of military history -- is a bit thin, but a competent platform for a well-told, well-researched account. Interesting theme of the social /political conflicts within the British military bureaucracy between aristocratic hegemony vs. the rise of meritocratic military colleges. The accounts of the battles are lucid and compelling, and make the point, understatedly but clearly, that war is hell. The writer is a British commentator with combat experience.
The importance of intelligence in the Peninsular War.......2005-01-17
Mark Urban's entry point into a crowded field of histories of the Napoleonic Wars is the story of George Scovell, the Duke of Wellington's cryptographer. In "The Man Who Broke Napoleon's Codes", Urban places Scovell's personal story in the context primarily of the Peninsular War. Urban manages to reduce the fairly esoteric work of code-breaking to understandable prose, in the process providing excellent insights into the workings of Wellington's staff and into the Duke's command style. The availability of intelligence is shown to be crucial to the survival and success of the outnumbered Anglo-Portuguese Army in the Iberian Peninsula. Wellington's success in attacking the separate pieces of the French Army in Spain while avoiding larger concentrations was based on his understanding of their movements and intentions, derived from the reconnaissance of British officers and Spanish guerrillas, and especially from the deciphering of captured French dispatches. Urban is evenhanded in his treatment of the principal characters. Scovill himself emerges as a sympathetic character, a hardworking staff officer of lower class social origins trying to make his way in an Army hierarchy informally based on social position. This book is highly recommended for the serious student of the Napoleonic Wars looking for insight into intelligence matters. Remarkably, this book will also be accessible to the casual reader, thanks to Urban's clear and engaging writing style.
Really good read.......2005-01-08
One Amazon reviewer referred to this book as a novel. It's not, but I understand that lapse. The book is very well-written and tells a story that, were it not true, might be thought unbelievable.
Amazon.com
Arthur Wellesley, the Duke of Wellington, spent a lot of time worrying about whether Napoleon Bonaparte, the emperor of France, was a gentleman. Napoleon accused his English foe of being a coward. Yet, Andrew Roberts shows in this dual biography, each accorded the other an odd respect, and, like wrestlers in a ring, studied his foe's moves intently all the way to their fateful encounter at Waterloo.
Publicly, Bonaparte and Wellington professed to despise each other. "Even in the boldest things he did there was always a measure of ... meanness," said Wellington of the French emperor, adding later, "Bonaparte's whole life, civil, political, and military, was a fraud." Napoleon said that Wellington "has no courage. He acted out of fear. He had one stroke of fortune, and he knows that such fortune never comes twice." Yet the two, writes Roberts, were very much alike: social outsiders who found their greatness in the army, scholars of a sort, who brought scientific rigor to the study of topography and logistics, and men capable of inspiring great heroism in their soldiers.
In the end, Roberts suggests, Wellington won his battle, but Napoleon won the war. This intriguing study shows how, and it affords much insight into the workings of these great rivals' minds. --Gregory McNamee
Book Description
An award-winning historian offers an eye-opening view of the relationship between Napoleon Bonaparte and the Duke of Wellington, whose lives moved inexorably to their meeting at Waterloo, one of the most famous battles of all time.
At breakfast on the morning of the battle of Waterloo, the Emperor Napoleon declared that the Duke of Wellington was a bad general, the British were bad soldiers and that France could not fail to win an easy victory. Forever afterwards, historians have accused him of gross overconfidence and massively underestimating the caliber of the British commander opposite him. Now Andrew Roberts presents an original, highly revisionist view of the relationship between the two greatest captains of their age and of the great battle that determined European history in the nineteenth century.
Napoleon, who was born in the same year as Wellington -- 1769 -- fought Wellington by proxy years earlier in the Peninsular War, praising his ruthlessness in private while publicly deriding him as a mere "general of sepoys." In contrast, Wellington publicly lauded Napoleon, saying that his presence on a battlefield was worth forty thousand men, but privately he wrote long memoranda lambasting Napoleon's campaigning techniques.
Although Wellington saved Napoleon from execution after Waterloo, the emperor left money in his will to the man who had tried to assassinate the duke. Wellington in turn amassed a series of Napoleonic trophies of his great victory, even sleeping with two of the emperor's mistresses.
The fascinating, constantly changing relationship between these two historical giants forms the basis of Andrew Roberts's compelling study in pride, rivalry, propaganda, nostalgia and posthumous revenge. It is at once a brilliant work of military history and a triumphant biography.
Featuring a cast of fascinating supporting characters -- including the empress Josephine, the Prince Regent and Talleyrand -- Napoleon and Wellington provides the definitive account of the most decisive battle of the nineteenth century.
Customer Reviews:
Lots of dirt on two great commanders.......2006-11-22
Roberts succeeds in writing a readable and engaging comparison of the perceptions each leader possessed toward the other. The history is not a portrait of each commander separately, but rather shows the relationship between the two men in terms of conduct and word.
While the history gives more or less equal time to both commanders, what emerges, at least in my view, is a decidedly surprising and uncommonly jaundiced portrayal of Wellington. For example, Wellington pursued and seduced no less than two of Napoleon's mistresses. He filled his mansion with copious quantities of "Napoleona" -- statues, paintings, memorabilia. Indeed, for a man of Wellington's supposedly Victorian understatement, he talked of his victory over Napoleon incessantly. It is typically understood that Napoleon was an egomaniacal, self-obsessed dictator. What is less well known is that Wellington was much less the reserved, stoic gentleman his reputation would lead one to believe.
I would not consider this history to be essential reading except for buffs of the Napoleonic wars, and it gets a one-point deduction for its somewhat sordid, "tabloid-ish" quality. Still, I won't doubt the veracity of its content nor is it dry, so pick this one up if the focus is your cup of tea.
Disappointed.......2006-01-14
From the title of the book I was excited by the prospect of really coming to understand the two great minds on that historic battlefield that has rang down through history with such force. But to be blunt...I was disappointed.
Let me preface my comments by saying that I have a Napoleonic interest, but am by no means an aficionado on the subject. Therefore, I found the reading a bit too cumbersome. Perhaps it was due to my lack of depth of knowledge on the subject, but I truly feel it was due to the writing style, which never really flowed to me. If I have a more academic grasp of the subject matter or was more used to scholarly writing, I may have enjoyed it more...but I doubt it.
I never really got the sense that Roberts was telling me (the novice) a story but was rather dealing with quips and quotes and piecing them together in an attempt to form the narrative. The best thing of having read this book was that it spurred me to purchase a few other books on Napoleon himself which allowed me to develop an deep interst in the man.
Surprisingly Compelling.......2005-11-18
This book was a surprise for me. I picked it up at the library, intending to just read a couple of pages. The next thing I knew, I was 82 pages into the book. It's written well and avoids some of the dryness of other books about these 2 men. Rather than recounting the battles fought by these notorious commanders, the book focuses on the relationship between the two men that led up to the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo. It does assume that you have some historical background and that you know the basics of what happened at Waterloo and the subsequent exile of Napoleon. The angle of this book is different and refreshingly alive.
The great rivalry-Napoleon and Wellington.......2004-12-06
Although this book is subtitled "The Battle of Waterloo and the Great Commanders Who Fought It," it isn't really a straightforward military history. It is instead a rather original hybrid of biography, political and military history, and for lack of a better word, gossip. Roberts focuses on the parrallels in the careers of Napoleon and Wellington; there are remarkable similarities and differences. At the center of the narrative is the fact that Napoleon and Wellington, as the foremost military personalities of their time, were placed in a position of natural rivalry. Each was in many respects the standard against which the other was measured. Roberts, in an engaging style, brings out the perceptions (and misperceptions) each had of the other, and how these perceptions changed over time, especially after the Battle of Waterloo. For the serious reader, there are some insights into the personalities of the two leaders that help explain their respective approaches to the battlefield. For example, Roberts brings out the value for Wellington of his extensive tactical experience with infantry in India and the Peninsular War, which allowed him to personally and usefully intervene in the conduct of his battles. By contrast, Napoleon's far more rapid rise in rank left him with less experience in tactics and therefore more dependent on his marshals for the conduct of his battles. Roberts highlights that Wellington was primarily a military leader who saw himself as an agent of the British Governemnt; Napoleon's perspective was that of a head of state in pursuit of his own vision of glory, for which his leadership of the French Armies was a means to an end. Serious readers looking for battle history should seek elsewhere. For the more casual reader, there are plenty of juicy personal tidbits of the kind normally found on the personality page of the weekly Parade Magazine. These details tend to humanize two personalities long layered in myth. Roberts is to be commended for finding a original angle to ground that has been heavily worked.
A very good portrait of two great men.......2003-09-24
I enjoyed this work a great deal and found that I learned a great deal about both Wellington and Napoleon. I read it because I had read several of the Sharpe's books by Bernard Cornwell, and have become interested in the first Duke of Wellington, who is a reoccurring officer in several of the Sharpe's novels. I liked the fictional creation and wanted to see how accurate was the fictional portrait to the real man. I was gratified to learn that I liked the real life Duke as much as Cornwell's portrayal of him.
The author of this non-fiction work, Andrew Roberts, is a young historian who is excellent at researching his topic, and he is also a solid writer. While I would recommend this book to anyone, I would suggest a serious interest in the subject matter. This certainly isn't beach reading or an adventure novel, full of battle and sword.
Andrew Davis' main thrust his this: the commonly accepted historical view of these two men, Napoleon and Wellington, and the battle of Waterloo, is that Napoleon seriously underestimated Wellington's ability as a general was therefore caught by surprise by Wellington's fine generalship on the day of battle. Further, that Napoleon had no respect at all for Wellington, referring to him as "that sepoy General" (a reference to Wellington's service in India, where he won several impressive victories but had not defeated European armies). Davis does not agree with this assessment, claiming that before the battle, Napoleon had praised Wellington, and it was only after the battle, and during his long, bitter exile at St. Helena, that Napoleon became increasingly critical and insulting in his comments about Wellington. The Author spends the book reviewing the writings and actions of both men, in support of his premise.
Yet, after reading the book, I was not convinced. While the author makes it clear that as years passed Napoleon exhibited an almost demented obsession with regard to the battle of Waterloo, subsequently blaming nearly everyone present for the lose other than himself, and also in tearing down and belittling Wellington, he wasn't exactly full of praise and respect for Wellington before the battle either.
Andrew Roberts gives several examples of Napoleon's written and spoken statements about Wellington before the battle, and none of them are very substantial or enthusiastic. All of them sound like comments one general would say about another in an effort not to openly insult the other, instead of actual giving praise or respect. Take for example Davis' noting that Napoleon admitting in 1814 that Wellington had made a "reputation" for himself in the Peninsula. Could this not be seen, in the light of other comments from Napoleon regarding Wellington's opposition in the Penisula, to have been a sarcastic comment, or even an insult? The author also cites Napoleon referring to Wellington as "a man of viguor in Warfare." Not exactly a ringing endorsement, is it? Davis supplies other evidence, all of such lukewarm substance. All of Napoleon's comments on Wellington merely seem polite or measured in the same way. None of it ever smacks of real respect or supplies any indication that Napoleon was seriously impressed with Wellington. Napoleon seems to have considered Wellington a good, solid General, but certainly not in His class - perhaps the best the British had to offer.
The author bends over backward in this book to give a balanced view of both men, striving to make the point that both men were more alike that dissimilar. Again, Davis' own work does not leave me with that impression. If anything, Davis' own writings leave me with the impression that the two men were about as different as two men can be. Napoleon: a brash, classless man, so resentful and hateful of Wellington for defeating him that his soul turned small, dry and bitter, until his own obsessions and resentment ate him alive. An inspired man, and inspiring. A creature for the imagination. Wellington: a winning machine. A man possessing a razor mind and cold eyes that never, ever saw failure in anything. A creature of will and intellect, perfect for Empire. A gentleman in war and victory. In the end, Wellington was simply the better general and the better man.
Average customer rating:
- A handy reference of the "Whos" in Napoleon's time.
- Excellent shelf companion to 'Napoleonic Source Book'
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Who Was Who In The Napoleonic Wars
Philip J. Haythornthwaite
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Book Description
The French Revolution is one of the most exciting periods in history, but even the most devoted history buff has a hard time keeping up with the personalities who helped create the modern world. Now a comprehensive biographical dictionary profiles more than 500 of the most important figures in the Napoleonic Wars, the War of 1812, and other conflicts of the period. Besides covering hundreds of the most prominent military leaders, entries feature political leaders, scientists, and engineers who developed new weapons and other relevant inventions, and even composers of the most popular marching songs. 320 pages, 250 b/w illus., 7 1/2 x 9 3/4.
Customer Reviews:
A handy reference of the "Whos" in Napoleon's time........1999-09-01
A handy reference, of the "whos" of the French Revolution and Napoleonic eras, I find myself reaching for again and again. A must companion for Haythornthwaite's Napoleonic Encyclopedia, or for your library in general.
Excellent shelf companion to 'Napoleonic Source Book'.......1998-08-24
Haythornthwaite's 'Naploleonic Source Book' contains a small biographical section which I had always wished to see expanded. This is it! I have been able to find entries for even the most obscure bit-part players. The author has even given spaces for significant historians and artists of the period (not necessarily living during that period either!) I think this is an imaginative and necessary inclusion. Readers interested in the War of 1812 will not, I think, be disappointed, as there is a generous spread of entries for participants from both sides of that conflict.
Book Description
Fighting for Napoleon in Austria, Poland, Spain and the Alps Thomas Robert Bugeaud was the impoverished son of an aristocratic family which had narrowly escaped the guillotine of the Revolution. Necessity, rather than conviction, forced him reluctantly into the ranks of the Imperial Guard Grenadiers, where his position as a Velite put him on the fast track to higher rank. Bugeaud provides an interesting view of Napoleon's preparations for the invasion of Britain and recounts his experiences afloat in naval actions in the Channel. After Austerlitz and promotion he joins the Line Infantry as an officer. Poland and Pultusk brought battle and wounds. A transfer to Spain with the 116th Infantry flung Bugeaud headlong into the uprising of 1808 in Madrid and the bloody capture of Saragossa, followed by a war to the death with guerrillas until the retreat to France. The First Restoration brought colonelcy in the Bourbon army, but the 100 Days called Bugeaud back to the tricolour for fighting in the Alpine Campaign. From private to colonel in Napoleon's army-the early career of a man who would win his baton in the sands of North Africa.
Book Description
Robert Guillemard was one of those unusual people (a real life example of a character type now very popular in fiction) who found himself engaging with remarkable people during important historical events-not just once, but repeatedly! As a young soldier he found himself in the top of a French battleship at Trafalgar as the Victory closed for action and it was him-he claims-who fired the fatal shot that killed Nelson. He was present at the murder of Villeneuve, the defeated French admiral, and in the company of Napoleon. He fought in Germany at Stralsund and at Wagram. He campaigned in the Peninsula, was, captured and escaped. After the siege of Tortosa and the award of the Legion of Honour he marched on the fateful campaign into Russia-fighting at Borodino and beyond. There are a number of first-hand accounts of French soldiers of the Infantry during the Napoleonic Wars that have been reprinted with some regularity, but Robert Guillemard's with be an unfamiliar and new delight to many modern readers.
Average customer rating:
- Spinoza -- Withdrawn From the World
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Within Reason: A Life of Spinoza
Margaret Gullan-Whur
Manufacturer: Jonathan Cape Ltd
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Binding: Hardcover
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Customer Reviews:
Spinoza -- Withdrawn From the World.......2003-06-06
This must have been a very difficult book to write. It is obvious that the author put considerable effort into researching historical facts, but quite honestly, the writing was not worthy of what must have been a pains-taking research endeavor. When put to paper, the book contained far too many speculative conclusions about Spinoza's life. It was a chore to get through.
From this effort, one does not get a very good picture of Baruch Spinoza because, if the author is correct, there is little written about his life. So her emphasis was the history of the era during which Spinoza lived. Her research showed much industry and painted a reasonably good picture of those times. But when she could not report how Spinoza actually coped with his era, she filled page after page with conjectures so as to make one weary of reading countless "possibles", "may haves", "could haves", "might haves".
That Spinoza was from a moderately well-to-do Jewish family which had taken refuge in Holland from Portugal is well described by Ms. Gullan-Whur. Just as were the times well described by her. And yes, from the text, one could discern Spinoza's reticent personality and his frequent impolite ways in dealing with those who disagreed with him. As depicted here, Spinoza was more pitiable than admirable.
He was a lens maker in addition to being a "philospher". He had no wife, no children, lived a sad and solitary life in single rooms as a temporary boarder in other people's homes. He was small, remote and obsessed with "thinking" and writing about what he thought.
How can a man like that, so withdrawn from the world write about the world? What can he tell people, those who face life directly, about a life which he never faced and from which he hid in a solitary, lonely room surrounded by quills and paper?
Ms. Gullan-Whur's makes it plain that she disagrees with other interpretations of what Spinoza has written. But why do writers feel compelled to interpret what this or any philosopher has written? Has not Spinoza -- or any philosopher, for that matter -- clearly expressed his thinking so as to make interpretation unnecessary?
If the philosopher cannot write clearly, then he cannot think clearly and there is certainly enough evidence in this book that Spinoza's crimped life was reflected in his crimped thinking.
Average customer rating:
- Poor style, pre-conceived ideas and no insight
- Spinoza within context
- More of a Novel Than a Biography
- Nice try, no cigar.
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Within Reason: A Life of Spinoza
Margaret Gullan-Whur
Manufacturer: St Martins Pr
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ASIN: 0312253583 |
Amazon.com
You would be hard put to find a better, more thorough, more thoughtful biography of Spinoza than this work by Margaret Gullan-Whur. With a precision and logical progression appropriate for such a man of reason, Gullan-Whur inspects all that is known of Spinoza's life, community, and times, fleshing out what made the individual as well as the philosopher, and comparing the concepts of Spinoza's treatises to how he led his life. Though not necessarily an easy read--you need to concentrate to take in all that Gullan-Whur offers--the narrative is riveting.
Gullan-Whur paints a detailed picture of 17th-century Dutch life, from the smoky peat fires used to combat the North Sea chill to the omnipresent tobacco smoke, which was believed to have great medicinal value. She discusses the history of Spanish and Portuguese Jews (marranos) in Amsterdam, the extent to which the marranos assimilated into Dutch culture, and ways in which marrano values may have affected Spinoza. She further describes what is known of Spinoza's family, such as the death of his mother when he was 6 and his father's standing in the Jewish and Dutch communities, and explores the origins of Spinoza's evident misogyny.
Whether you're a Spinoza enthusiast, an informed critic, or are ignorant of all things Spinozan, the results of Gullan-Whur's research and analysis are fascinating, vividly depicting an era, a place, and a man whose theories did not always manifest themselves in his daily practices--despite his great impatience with pretence and false acts of piety. He was an intellectual rebel and did not suffer fools lightly, he treated dogma and hypocrisy with insolence and sarcasm, and he spurned irrational emotion. He alienated the rabbis, and they declared him a heretic. He rejected the lucrative merchant career he'd have inherited from his father and supported himself by grinding lenses. And although he stressed the importance of one's physical and spiritual health--through food, entertainment, and sensual delights--he neglected himself in such matters and died, alone and disheartened, at the age of 45.
Despite the inconsistencies that Spinoza was subject to, his treatises on ethics and the power of reason were born of an alienation and grief not uncommon in our own fragmented society. It is as timely now to study Spinoza's philosophies as it ever was, and thanks to Gullan-Whur's excellent biography, it's also possible to gain some insight into the man who conceived them. --Stephanie Gold
Book Description
The compelling biography of one of the most brilliant and controversial thinkers in Western historyBaruch or Benedictus de Spinoza (1632-1677) is considered one of the greatest Western thinkers and certainly the most rigorous of the Rationalist philosophers.Born of Jewish immigrants escaping the Spanish Inquisition, he was expelled from the Jewish community of Amsterdam for "horrendous heresies" in 1656.He came to be reviled by all religious authorities for claiming that humans were parts of a unified nature, that God was identical with nature, and that reason-not revelation-supplied the truth of any aspect of God, or Nature.Undeterred, Spinoza made this thesis the basis for a rational crusade against superstition and prejudice.This highly informative biography shows how Spinoza's central beliefs developed within the context of his own life in Dutch society.Drawing on very recent scholarly research and making detailed reference to primary sources, some not previously explored, author Gullan-Whur focuses on the philosopher's attempt to act solely through reason in the face of turbulent personal and national circumstances.Margaret Gullan-Whur debunks the myth of the philosopher as a lofty ascetic and exposes the emotional and sexual vulnerability behind Spinoza's misogynist tendencies.Within Reason offers a fresh, new and compelling look at the most important Rationalist and shows his living philosophical experiment to be sharply relevant today.AUTHORBIO: Margaret Gullan-Whur gained a first-class degree in philosophy and critical theory of literature from the University of East Anglia, and a doctorate in the philosophy of Spinoza from University College London.Cover paintings: Portrait of Spinoza, Dutch School, second half of the 17th century, reproduced courtesy of Haags Historisch Museum, The Hague; detail from The Dam with the New Town Hall under Construction by Johannes Lingelbach reproduced by courtesy of Amsterdams Historisch Museum, Amsterdam.
Customer Reviews:
Poor style, pre-conceived ideas and no insight.......2003-10-01
Nothing invalidates an historical study more than the imposition of modern values on earlier times. Such an approach misleads the reader and misrepresents the subject. No amount of footnoting and references can redeem a book that applies this century's "political correctness" to attitudes of three hundred years ago. This work is a classic case of the faults of an "a priori" approach to history and philosophy. Gullan-Whur is self-deluded, confused both about Spinoza's life and his thinking, and sadly lacking in historical sense. Gullan-Whur's book makes meagre contribution to the recent studies of Spinoza's life and philosophy.
The chronological narrative would be a redeeming feature of this book, except that Spinoza's wanderings defy detailed analysis. This isn't Gullan-Whur's fault, but her struggles to locate him physically are on a par with her comprehension of his philosophy. Spinoza, in line with many thinkers of his day, adopted various nom de plumes in his dealings with others. A Jew of Portuguese ancestry living in the Dutch Republic made communication difficult. Gullan-Whur traces his attempts to learn Dutch, Latin, and even a smattering of English. Latin, however, remained the international language. This situation meant that in a given day several languages might be needed according to circumstances. Gullan-Whur blithely ignores this aspect of language and applies one of his various identities according to when and where she's describing his activities. Her variations in Spinoza's names are compounded by her exasperating habit of referring to many of his contemporaries by their given names.
Within a dozen pages, Gullan-Whur launches into a diatribe on the condition of women in the 17th Century Dutch Republic. A short comment would be understandable, but she returns to this theme throughout the book. At one point she accuses Spinoza of being both "arrogant" and "misogynist". As a final thrust, she entertains the notion that Spinoza's solitary life indicates a propensity to homosexuality. As final point, she abhors his affection for pipe smoking.
Gullan-Whur's attempt to deal with Spinoza's philosophy is little short of catastrophic. She trolls his writings to substantiate her pre-conceived notions. Using the material like a condiment, she sprinkles quotations from his writings throughout the text. These must be constantly referenced in the Notes to determine the source. The validity of the statements she attributes to him must be assumed. In most cases she imputes the citation to some early period in his life, implying that all his ideas were fixed at an early age. Development of ideas is apparently alien to her. The result is a goulash which the reader must reverse-engineer to derive some logical progression of thought. Given the breadth of Spinoza's ideas, her approach invalidates much of his thinking. This book has no place in early Enlightenment studies. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]
Spinoza within context.......2003-05-03
Margaret Gullan-Whur's biography of Spinoza does a fairly good job of placing Spinoza's work within a philosophical, social, and historic context. The connections between the works of Hobbes and Descartes and Spinoza show intellectual reaction and continuity. The connections and associations between Spinoza's work and the Dutch Reform Church and the Jewish community in Amsterdamn seem logically constructed and documented. The potential influence of the rise of the de Witt brothers and their assassination also was also thoughtfully developed. I needed this background of Dutch protestantism, the rise of the Dutch republic, and the philosophical forefathers to better place Spinoza's thought. It is interesting that he and Rembrandt were contemporaries and yet there is no evidence that either knew of the works of the other. The final chapters where Gullan-Whur records the commentaries of Goethe, George Elliott, George Santayana, Bertrand Russell, and David Hume to the work of
Spinoza further places his work in context from the perspective of later centuries.
Bertrand Russell's quotation: "The noblest and most lovable of the great philosophers. Intellectually some others have surpassed him, but ethically he is supreme. As a natural
consequence he was considered, during his lifetme and for a century after his death, a man of appalling wickedness."
This observation by Russell is fully illustrated throughout the book as Spinoza struggles to express his philosophy while staying under the 'radar" of the repressive cultural and religious forces of his day.
A quotation by Hegel: "The allegations of those who accuse Spinoza of atheism are the direct opposite of the truth; with him there is too much God." is also fully illustrated by the exploration of Spinoza's philosophy that is integrated into the biography.
More of a Novel Than a Biography.......2001-11-05
Margaret Gullan-Whur is a victim of bad timing. A Spinoza scholar, she released her book around the same time as Steven Nadler's excellent biography of Spinoza. Spinoza poses large problems for any biographer, for the vast majority of his life was "lived" in the public sphere. Letters from friends and intimates were destroyed. Whereas Nadler presents a straightforward biography heavy on philosophical analysis, Gullan-Whur, by contrast, attempts a psycho-biography of Spinoza, attempting to fill in the gaps in his life with speculation concerning his philosophical works, particularly the "Ethics." She tries to tie in the philosophical chapters, especially those on sexual desire, with speculation about Spinoza's life.
At times, when solid facts are there, her speculation is strong . . . but at other times, we are led down the road of fantasy, as in her specualtions on pp. 142-43 of a homosexual relationship between Spinoza and a Dutch student. And having made the speculation, she wonders what we are to think of it before wavering as to its veracity concerning Spinoza, citing a recent Dutch novel about Spinoza being homosexual. How can we be sure when she admits she isn't even sure. Who is the biographer here and who is the reader?
When dealing in the world of facts, Gullan-Whur is strong, evincing a strong, imaginative writing style. The first two chapters of her book are a joy to read. However, when dealing with the restrictions of biography, she comes off a distant second to Nadler. It would have been far better, given her fluid, imaginative writing style, to have penned a philosophical novel about the life of Spinoza. There she could have speculated to her heart's content.
Nice try, no cigar........2000-11-11
Poor Margaret Gullan-Whur. Clearly, she worked on this biography of Spinoza for some years, even going to the trouble of teaching herself Dutch to research the seventeenth-century Jewish philosopher's life. And then, just as it's finally published, Cambridge University Press brings out Stephen Nadler's *Spinoza: A Life*, a book that in its dispassionate tone, its even-handed treatment of potentially scandalous subjects, and in its deep and thoughtful treatment of Spinoza's Jewish milieu, puts *Within Reason* very deeply into the shadows. It's hard to write about a philosopher who died over 300 years ago, and left almost nothing in the way of scandals or love letters. Gullan-Whur compensates by inventing a homoerotic relationship between Spinoza and a Dutch student (along the way showing her complete ignorance of the reams of scholarly work done in recent years on issues of Renaissance sexuality); by teasing out at great length the issues involved in Spinoza's "excommunication" by the Amsterdam synagogue (along the way showing her complete ignorance of Judaism in general--the "oral law" is NOT, repeat NOT, to be confused with the kaballah); and by generally wearing on her sleeve her manifest dislike for Spinoza as a person. The only thing that saves the book is its fairly lively writing, and some vivid pictures of seventeenth-century Amsterdam. Otherwise, it's a historical novel. Read Nadler, if you want to know anything about the philosopher Spinoza. If you want to learn about Margaret Gullan-Whur, read this.
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- The Pratique Guide, Soho and NoLIta: Shopping Block by Block (Pratique Guides)
- The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II ('The rape of nanking', in traditional Chinese, NOT in English)
- The Simple Sounds of Freedom : The True Story of the Only Soldier to Fight for Both America and the Soviet Union in World War II
- The Spears of Twilight: Life and Death in the Amazon Jungle
- The Technique of Film and Video Editing, Fourth Edition: History, Theory, and Practice
- Thunder Through My Veins: Memories of a Metis Childhood
- To Benning and Back: The Making of a Citizen Soldier - My Journals of Daily Life in U.S. Army Basic Training and Officer Candidate School, from Private to Second Lieutenant, from First Call to Lights Out, and Yes, Everything in Between.
- To the Golden Cities: Pursuing the American Jewish Dream in Miami and L.A.
- Tom Taylor's Civil War
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