- Paperback: 704 pages
- Publisher: Times Books; illustrated edition edition (3 Sep 2007)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0007201699
- ISBN-13: 978-0007201693
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 15.2 x 5.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 417,203 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Description
Review
‘a glorious celebration of human diversity, genius and sheer eccentricity…Great Lives is a great book’ Daily Express
‘an engrossing volume, full of lively writing’ Times Literary Supplement
Product Description
The Times obituaries have given readers throughout the world an instant picture of a life for over 150 years. For many it is the first port of call in the newspaper. The Times Great Lives is a selection of over 100 of these pieces, reproduced in their entirety, by the current obituaries editor of The Times, Ian Brunskill.
This book provides a rich store of information and opinion on the most influential characters of the twentieth century – be they politicians, sportspeople, musicians, writers, artists, pop stars or military personnel. Included are the major figures that one would expect to find in a book of great 20th century lives such as Sigmund Freud and Diana, Princess of Wales. However, there are also some unexpected figures who were not necessarily in the limelight but whose lives have had an impact on the world we inhabit today.
Throughout the book there are pictures from The Times archive, some of which have not been seen since the obituary was first published. The Times brings world class journalism and research to this title.
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
8 of 8 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
This is a perfect coffee table read ; one to dip into from time to time.
The format is obituaries published by various authors in The Times. The result is a wide range of writing styles, sensitively and respectfully written.
This is an excellent book for those wishing to sample the Great Lives, perhaps with a view to whetting the appetite for more complete biographies.
The format is obituaries published by various authors in The Times. The result is a wide range of writing styles, sensitively and respectfully written.
This is an excellent book for those wishing to sample the Great Lives, perhaps with a view to whetting the appetite for more complete biographies.
1 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase
To be frank I expected better of this given the "Times" apparent record for obituaries. Some of the earlier obituaries are extremely poor, and completely omit "contentious" points of view, notably biased in this sense are the ringing endorsements of Virginia Woolf, Mahatma Gandhi, George Bernard Shaw, Joseph Stalin, John F Kennedy, President Nasser and the Duke Of Windsor. Virtually none of their many crimes and/or fascist positions are mentioned. Curiously the obituaries get better from the 1960s onwards, and there are interesting accounts of Field Marshal Montgomery, Miles Davis, Francis Bacon, Alistair Cooke and so on. Something of a mixed bag, there's plenty of material but I wouldn't recommend it to someone who comes "fresh" to most of these names
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
2 reviews
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Irresistible Personalities
28 Jan 2006
Format:Hardcover
This is an outstanding collection of obituaries that have appeared in the Times of London duirng this past hundred years. Beginning with Lord Kitchner and ending with Pope John Paul II, the lives of men and women who graced or plagued the last two centuries are chronicled with an elan that can scarce be found other than in that great newspaper.
From the age of Empire to the opening years of the 21st Century, here the reader will find a collection of notables from the world of arts and literature, politics and the professions. Here are inventors and originators, as well as those who cast lengthy, sinister shadows across the years. The lives of the 'beautiful' are recounted (Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Onassis, Princess Diana, and The Queen Mother), as are the lives of the 'damned' (such as Lenin and Stalin).
It is agreeable to see how thoughtful chroniclers evaluated each of these luminaries, just at the moment of their death. Some had left the world's stage long before their demise, so their obituary's assessments are tempered by the passing time. As a result, their obituaries can be read as the 'last word' on their subjects.
Others, who were at the time of their deaths viewed as having found their place in history, have, since their obituaries appeared, come to be reevaluated. The study in contrasts, between how they were viewed then and how they are viewed now, is valuable.
The turns of phase are lovely, from the observation about Sir Edward Elgar, "A tune of two bars or a progression of two chords is enough to reveal him" (page 46), to this, about the novelist, "But so far as Virginia Woolf was concerned, she would have done honour to any district." (page 54).
Those who find irresistible the personalities of their own and every age will consider this a remarkable compendium of the movers and shakers of the recent past, as well as the shapers our own time.
If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.
From the age of Empire to the opening years of the 21st Century, here the reader will find a collection of notables from the world of arts and literature, politics and the professions. Here are inventors and originators, as well as those who cast lengthy, sinister shadows across the years. The lives of the 'beautiful' are recounted (Marilyn Monroe, Jackie Onassis, Princess Diana, and The Queen Mother), as are the lives of the 'damned' (such as Lenin and Stalin).
It is agreeable to see how thoughtful chroniclers evaluated each of these luminaries, just at the moment of their death. Some had left the world's stage long before their demise, so their obituary's assessments are tempered by the passing time. As a result, their obituaries can be read as the 'last word' on their subjects.
Others, who were at the time of their deaths viewed as having found their place in history, have, since their obituaries appeared, come to be reevaluated. The study in contrasts, between how they were viewed then and how they are viewed now, is valuable.
The turns of phase are lovely, from the observation about Sir Edward Elgar, "A tune of two bars or a progression of two chords is enough to reveal him" (page 46), to this, about the novelist, "But so far as Virginia Woolf was concerned, she would have done honour to any district." (page 54).
Those who find irresistible the personalities of their own and every age will consider this a remarkable compendium of the movers and shakers of the recent past, as well as the shapers our own time.
If you find this review helpful you might want to read some of my other reviews, including those on subjects ranging from biography to architecture, as well as religion and fiction.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Great Lives Lived
3 July 2006
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
A classy, authoritative British anthology demonstrating that obituary writing is best delivered by the anonymous, omniscient instant biographer.
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