Bøger af Virginia Cowles

'A fascinating book about a fascinating historical/psychological case' Kirkus ReviewKaiser William II was an unusual character. He took control of the most powerful European state. He unwound the alliances and treaties of Bismarck. He fortified the German navy to rival Britain's and was then surprised when they took this as a threat to British naval supremacy and then refused to deploy his navy in the greatest war the world has witnessed.When supreme war lord during World War One, he fell far short of the task. He considered himself usurped of power whilst also neglecting the responsibility of Kaiser in wartime, preferring to parade at victorious battlefields than command them. However, many viewed the Kaiser as the reason the war started and at least part of the reason why it was lost.His vanity-fuelled naval project stifled relations with the British which led to their willingness to declare war. At the loss of the war, the Kaiser fled a revolution in Germany; his actions and the actions of the politicians around him changed Germany forever in a most volatile period of European history.In later life, he remained in exile in the Netherlands, but maintained that God had a plan to restate his authority and, at the promise of certain powers, he was a supporter of the Nazi Party. But, as this promise was betrayed, the Kaiser became a virulent opponent of Nazism.Virginia Cowles's account of the Kaiser's life is studded with the personal tribulations of other significant German politicians. Not only does Cowles shed light on the Kaiser's life, but The Kaiser is also an insight into the Machiavellian world of late 19th Century and early 20th Century German politics.Virginia Cowles (1910-83) was a well-respected American journalist and biographer, especially known for her coverage of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. For her service as a war correspondent she was awarded an OBE by the British government in 1947. She authored fifteen books, about her journalistic experiences, various historical topics, figures and families, and was a contributor to Vogue and Harper's. Praise for Virginia Cowles: 'A fascinating historical read' The Telegraph'A rarity and a joy - a witty novel' Birmingham Daily Post'A luminously sketched view of human folly' The New York Times'For the political background alone you must read Cowles' book, which deals with it admirably' Country Life

"Cowles keeps her narrative flowing fearlessly through the troubled times." Kirkus ReviewThe Russian Dagger tells the dramatic story of Imperialist Russia and its appetite for expansion in Europe during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.Beginning with the reign of the repressive Nicholas I, Virginia Cowles traces the rule of the Romanov dynasty right to the cusp of one of the greatest political conflicts of the twentieth century - the First World War.In an engaging and entertaining style, Virginia Cowles covers Russia's role abroad in the conflict over the Balkan States against an intriguing backdrop of family feuds and revolutionary impulses back home. Bitter family rivalries and assassination attempts abound - including the violent assassinations of Tsar Alexander II and the Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria. Cowles also examines the subversive revolutionary activities which numbered among the many challenges facing the reign of the Russian Tsars.The Russian Dagger shines a light upon the frailty of the Tsarist position at the beginning of the twentieth century, and how Russia's expansionist aspirations led the country to the brink of its own destruction.Recommended for fans of Simon Sebag Montefiore, Orlando Figes and Helen Rappaport.Virginia Cowles (1910-83) was a well-respected American journalist and biographer, especially known for her coverage of the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War. For her service as a war correspondent she was awarded an OBE by the British government in 1947. She authored fifteen books, about her journalistic experiences, various historical topics, figures and families, and was a contributor to Vogue and Harper's. Praise for Virginia Cowles: 'A fascinating historical read' The Telegraph'A rarity and a joy - a witty novel' Birmingham Daily Post'A luminously sketched view of human folly' The New York Times'For the political background alone you must read Cowles' book, which deals with it admirably' Country Life

Europe. 1913It's the eve of the First World War. One era ends as another is set to begin. Before life is changed forever in the maelstrom of war, the excess and extravagance of European high society blazes its trail. Acclaimed historian Virginia Cowles paints a picture of the glamour and scandals within the upper echelon of society of seven major cities, through rich prose and lively anecdotes.Rumours thrived in the public eye - King George V's speculated alcoholism, the devotion of the Russian Empress to the charlatan Rasputin - Archduke Franz Ferdinand's quick temper and conspicuous affairs. It was not only nobles who caused scandals however; even the ballet was drawn into controversy. The fame of Isadora Duncan, with her self-taught dancing in bare feet and a Greek tunic, drew equal derision and adoration.'A Defiant Swan Song' chronicles all the highs and lows of 1913 - from major cultural events such as the suffragette movement in London, to the folly and fame of ruling elite. Parties and affairs, fashion and intrigue, dancing and duelling abound. But life was was not all one endless party before the war. Cowles reveals the tensions and divisions behind the mask of European society.1913 would be the beginning of the end.Recommended for fans of Simon Sebag Montefiore, Andrew Roberts and Antonia Fraser.Virginia Cowles, who was brought up in Boston, left America for Europe at an early age to become a well-known journalist and historian, and is the author of 'Winston Churchill: The Era and The Man', 'Edward VII and His Circle', and 'The Kaiser', amongst other books.She was married to Aidan Crawley, M.P., and had three children.Praise for Virgina Cowles'One of the most delightful books I have read. Miss Cowles has given us a tour-de-force, well researched, comprehensive, frank ... [it] abounds in amazing stories of extraordinary personalities' Books and Bookmen'Splendidly readable' The Sunday Times

First published in June 1941, the original hardback blurb is worth quoting. 'Miss Virginia Cowles has modestly entitled this account of four years as a roving journalist ''Looking for Trouble''. Never was a search more amply rewarded. She has found trouble in Spain - behind the barricades in Madrid, and among the polyglot armies of General Franco. She has found in Russia, in Germany, in Czecho-Slovakia at the time of Munich, in Roumania during the Polish war, in Finland throughout the Finnish war, In Italy during the ''lull'', in Paris a few hours before the Germans moved in, in London during the ''blitz''. Whether this is a world's record in successful trouble-hunting her publishers do not presume to say.' The question must still be left unanswered but it is unlikely that any other journalist in the five crucial years from 1935 to 1940 was so often in the right place at the right time. Anne Sebba devotes a chapter to Virginia Cowles in her Battling for News (also Faber Finds) and writes, 'For Virginia getting to the top man in any situation was both important in itself and valuable for smoothing her path whenever she might need help.' In short, she was blessed with the sort of chutzpah that could secure an interview with Mussolini (browbeating and insecure at the same time) and make sure she was on the last plane in or out of the latest hotspot. To return to the original blurb, 'It is Miss Cowles' outstanding merit that she is magnificently capable of writing a book. Her journalist's eye never fails her; her lucid, human, humorous style is never at a loss. This is a book to which the old clich, 'never a dull line' can be honestly applied. It is as good a first-hand account of the mad world of Hitler's Europe as is ever likely to come off the printing press. And there is something oddly fitting and perhaps prophetic, in the fact that a woman should have written it.' Looking for Trouble is a tour de force fully deserving to be reissued on the 100th anniversary of the author's birth.