- Hardcover: 469 pages
- Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton Ltd; First Edition edition (2 May 2002)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0340794615
- ISBN-13: 978-0340794616
- Product Dimensions: 23.4 x 17.2 x 4.4 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 590,959 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Review
"0 Praise for 1700: 'Thoroughly entertaining...a perfect book for dipping into, full of fascinating facts and anecdotes' - Mail on Sunday 0 'A traditional, well-documented social history, pungent, entertaining and informative' - The Sunday Times 0 'Impressive learning, lightly worn, gives Waller's portrait a wonderfully vivid feel' - Scotsman 0 'One realises, when reading this book, that one is reading nothing less than an account of the birth pangs of the modern age' - New Statesman 0 'Just the sort of book that gives history a good name... utterly engaging' - Amazon.co.uk 0 'Waller brings to life the stinking, teeming, intoxicating city that was London at the start of the 18th Century' - Mail on Sunday 0 'Vastly entertaining.. she dramatises to great effect' - The Times 0 'Whether talking about servants or sickness, banks or brothels, Maureen Waller has a good eye for out-of-the-way detail... also a good ear for the telling quotation' - Evening Standard
The Spectator, May 18, 2002
Maureen Waller's interpretation is unusual and fascinating.
Sarah Bradford
Sarah Bradford
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
Although the title "Ungrateful Daughters" may aptly describe both Princess Mary and Princess Anne, it does not define the main focus of this book, which is a background account of the people and events leading up to the revolution of 1688 and the Bill of Rights in 1689. In this the author succeeds admirably, creating a three-sided drama between James II, William of Orange and the ungrateful daughters Mary and Anne, whose squabbling led the revolution perilously close to the abyss. Accessory players include Charles II, the omnipresent puppet master Sarah Churchill and the shadowy figure of Louis XIV, but none of these are central to the action.
This book helps explain why the "Glorious Revolution" was perhaps not so glorious as we like to think but it was certainly revolutionary. Henceforth the English Monarch would not be appointed by God but would rule by the grace of the English Parliament. If your main concern is biographical detail then you may have to look elsewhere though this is a good starting point. This is a very readable account, Ms Weller seems to know where she is going and maintains the pace until she gets there.
This book helps explain why the "Glorious Revolution" was perhaps not so glorious as we like to think but it was certainly revolutionary. Henceforth the English Monarch would not be appointed by God but would rule by the grace of the English Parliament. If your main concern is biographical detail then you may have to look elsewhere though this is a good starting point. This is a very readable account, Ms Weller seems to know where she is going and maintains the pace until she gets there.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
I found UNGRATEFUL DAUGHTERS a fascinating and utterly compelling read about a period of 17th Century English history of which I was largely ignorant. In fact I knew little more from my schooldays than that the reigns of William and Mary, and subsequently of Anne,were marked by Protestant sobriety and moral rectitude. On the whole their histories were dull.The only facts I remember were that they influenced a style of furniture and that William of Orange fought The Battle of The Boyne to suppress a Catholic attempt to seize the Throne. But the actuality is a story of rivetting intrigue in which the English throne was wrested from the next in line(the infant son of James 11 and his Catholic,second wife)and by some chicanary taken by the second in line, Mary( James 11's Protestant daughter by his first marriage) and her husband, William of Orange. I simply couldn't put this book down.It brought home to me startingly that these grandchildren of Charles 1 were determined to hold onto the power and manage the politics. The key to the story is in the extraordinary wilfulness of James 11's character,the father of Mary and Anne by his first marriage. He converted to Catholicism as an adult and thereby hangs the tale.But if his intransigence makes him infuriating, the story also poignantly demonstrates him as a loving and forgiving father,who struggles to find excuses for his ungrateful daughters almost up to the end. The sisters are wonderfully and subtly brought to life as a result of careful scholarship.The juxtaposition of chapters enables us to judge them separately:the one as misguided but basically principled, the other as wilful and intemperate. As a prism to an understanding of the historical roots of the deep divide between Catholic and Protestant in this country, Ungrateful Daughters is a beacon.Maureen Waller has written a winner.I loved it.
Format:Paperback
My first criticism of this book is the strong bias against Anne, who is definitely treated as the villainess of the Glorious Revolution. Another major problem is that sometimes the author gives her opinion as historical fact. A prime example is whether William of Orange always intended to make himself king. The Dutch historian Wout Troost in "William III, the Stadholder-King" acknowledges that historians are divided on the issue before giving his opinion that what William wanted was "to neutralize James II as a potential ally of France, but it was by no means necessary to depose him to achieve this." Ms Waller, however, makes no reference to the fact that there are differing views and presents her opinion as fact.
Finally, when I read this sentence I had to laugh aloud: "The fact that Mary never ceased to hope for a child, as she confided in her journal, might be attributed to her ignorance and innocence." It was of critical importance that Mary produce Protestant heirs to the throne so the idea that no one would've told her how to go about it and she was too innocent or too ignorant to know that she and William had to do more than sleep in the same bed to conceive a child is the silliest theory I've ever read. I personally favor the suggestion of historian and medical doctor, Frederick Holmes, in "The Sickly Stuarts" that either William or Mary or both had relatively low fertility. The fact that they were first cousins increased the chance of genetic abnormality resulting in a miscarriage. Mary definitely had a miscarriage five months after she and William married.
Because the bias against Anne is so extreme and because the author confuses opinion with fact, I hesitate to recommend this book.
Finally, when I read this sentence I had to laugh aloud: "The fact that Mary never ceased to hope for a child, as she confided in her journal, might be attributed to her ignorance and innocence." It was of critical importance that Mary produce Protestant heirs to the throne so the idea that no one would've told her how to go about it and she was too innocent or too ignorant to know that she and William had to do more than sleep in the same bed to conceive a child is the silliest theory I've ever read. I personally favor the suggestion of historian and medical doctor, Frederick Holmes, in "The Sickly Stuarts" that either William or Mary or both had relatively low fertility. The fact that they were first cousins increased the chance of genetic abnormality resulting in a miscarriage. Mary definitely had a miscarriage five months after she and William married.
Because the bias against Anne is so extreme and because the author confuses opinion with fact, I hesitate to recommend this book.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Deceptively Poor
Ms Waller writes well and presents history as a good yarn. One can thus be deceived to thinking is a good book. Read more
Published on 7 Jan 2006 by Seeker
Ungrateful Daughters
The Stuart family holds a fascination still for many readers and for the most part this book doesn't disappoint. Read more
Published on 23 May 2003 by Dr. W. Creed
A disappointing read
Being a keen reader of later 17th century history I was rather looking forward to reading this book. However, I was quite surprised at the quality of the research. It was poor. Read more
Published on 19 Jun 2002
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