5288. Victoria An Intimate Biography, by Stanley Weintraub (read 5 Jul 2015) This 1987 biography of Queen Victoria was read even though I read the very excellent biography of her by Elizabeth Longford and remembered it well--but that was clear back on 18 Aug 1966, and I also remembered well how much I enjoyed Stanley Weintraub's excellent A Stillness Heard Round the World (read 24 Nov 1985) and his The London Yankees (read 29 Apr 1994 and his Long Day's Journey Into War (read 23 Nov 2001). This book on Victoria did not disappoint. It does an excellent job detailing the amazing life of the queen from the time of her accession in 1837 to the day she died on 22 Jan 1901, covering all the events in Britain during that almost 63 year span. One can of course become annoyed at some of Victoria's idiosyncrasies (she wanted reports to her handwritten even after typewriters were available, and often insisted that plays be put on for her rather she going to the theater, and insisting that some 100 people accompany her when she went in the spring to the Riviera). But some of these idiosyncrasies actually led to a more democratic Britain, especially the years when she was a recluse after her husband died, since the power of the monarch declined. I found the book a joy to read, even though some of the events were well-known and remembered by me from other reading I have done. ( )

First biography by an American. Very readable ( )