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Annette Carson

Autore di Richard III: The Maligned King

10 opere 159 membri 6 recensioni

Opere di Annette Carson

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Annette Carson's CAMEL PILOT SUPREME CAPTAIN DV ARMSTRONG DFC is an important addition to the history of early aviation and its role in the First World War. However, it did seem to be more of a history book than a biography, as it seems Armstrong himself left very little in the way of notes or letters, forcing Carson to rely primarily on an album of old photographs with a few brief, sketchy captions, that Armstrong's family had kept. So in fact Carson drew heavily from other early aviators' accounts of flying, including many of Armstrong's friends and colleagues.

Aviation was still in its infancy during the great war, and Carson presents an apt description in this passage from Arthur Gould Lee's book, NO PARACHUTE -

"the aeroplanes of the day not only lacked brakes, but had an open cockpit, no heater, no oxygen, no parachute, no radio link with air or ground, and no compass worth the name. These deficiencies were in keeping with the construction, wooden frames braced by wires and covered with highly inflammable doped fabric."

So yes, flying was a pretty iffy and dangerous business in those days, and demanded a daredevil spirit, which the young pilot from South Africa, DV Armstrong, apparently had in spades. And although he wrote almost nothing himself about his stunt-flying and aerobatic escapades, his fellow flyers did remember him as the most daring and accomplished of them all, both while he was serving at the front and while he worked as a trainer of other new pilots on the home front. Carson drew heavily from those accounts, as well as battle histories of the war and how these aviators were utilized.

One of her sources was Cecil Lewis's memoir, SAGITTARIUS RISING, a book I read myself not long ago, primarily because a later edition of the book boasted an introduction by Samuel Hynes, an author I have admired for many years. Hynes penned his own memoir of his WWII years, when he was a Marine Corps pilot in the Pacific (FLIGHTS OF PASSAGE), and, years later, he wrote his own history of early aviation and its use during the Great War, THE UNSUBSTANTIAL AIR, a book which I absolutely loved, personalized as it was by the voice of "an old pilot."

While CAMEL PILOT SUPREME does boast many photos and drawings of planes and pilots, some of the photographs from Armstrong's own album, it remains, to my mind, a rather impersonal and sketchy portrait of Armstrong the man. The primary and first-hand sources were apparently just too meager. Students and scholars of the Great War and early aviation will find much to admire here, however, as Carson obviously dug deep and widely for secondary sources to tell Armstrong's story. It is a pity there wasn't more written by the subject himself, and perhaps he might have written his own story, like Lee and Lewis did years later. Sadly though, Armstrong's life was cut short when he died in a crash at a French airfield just two days after the Armistice was signed.

I found Carson's book to very good as a history book, if a bit dry. As a biography it is not quite as successful. The primary sources were simply too thin. But the Air World imprint of Pen & Sword Books has done a wonderful job in presenting Armstrong's story in a most attractive edition, and I will recommend it highly to war and aviation buffs.

- Tim Bazzett, author of the Cold War memoir, SOLDIER BOY: AT PLAY IN THE ASA
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Segnalato
TimBazzett | Nov 16, 2019 |
Traces the history of acrobatic flying, gives profiles of top pilots from around the world, and discusses individual craft and maneuvers
Aerobatics began with the very birth of mechanical flight, when the Wright brothers realized that man must fly as birds do; not straight and level, but in banked curves: climbing, diving, turning, zooming and rolling.
 
Segnalato
MasseyLibrary | Mar 1, 2018 |
I had hoped that this overview of the controversy surrounding Richard III would have a bit more about the recent discovery of his remains in a Leicester car park. While the author alludes a couple of times to what has been learned from Richard’s skeletal remains and to DNA evidence, the main thrust of the book is to analyze the evidence either substantiating or refuting the accusations that Richard III usurped the throne and murdered his nephews. Even though it is aimed at a popular rather than an academic audience, the book could have benefited from a bibliography of recommended sources for readers who want to explore the topic in greater depth. Primary sources are mentioned throughout the book, such as Thomas More’s History of King Richard III and Polydore Vergil’s English history, and it would be helpful to non-academics to provide a little more information about the availability of modern editions of these works. This book covers a lot of the same ground as Josephine Tey’s The Daughter of Time. Readers who have already read Tey’s book may not feel like they’re picking up many new details.

This review is based on an electronic advanced reading copy provided by the publisher through NetGalley.
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Segnalato
cbl_tn | 1 altra recensione | Sep 17, 2013 |
published-2013, history, archaeology, net-galley, nonfiction, plantagenet-1154-1485, britain-england
Read on September 05, 2013

About the author: Carson has researched and written extensively on Richard III. Her book Richard III: The Maligned King (The History Press, 2008) was revised in 2013 and sold out within 3 months. The print edition of A Small Guide was published on 1 July this year and is already stocked, in hundreds, by visitors’ centres at Leicester, Bosworth Battlefield and elsewhere. (Source: netgalley.com )

ARC from Troubador Publishing Ltd, Matador

Opening: The recent dramatic discovery of Richard III's grave in Leicester gave rise to enormous media interest.

The debate in question is 'was Dicky as dire as he was drawn?', and for one of the answers Carson urges us to take a look at how William the Conqueror branded Henry II as an usurper, thereby clearing the way to grab bounty from Harold Godwinson's traitorous followers. It was such, that this coffer-filling parallel move, made by Henry IV against Richard III and his followers, that has influenced the way we think about Richard III.

So if it's a quick view you are looking for, at 80 pages this is really worth the hour or so it takes to read; if you are wanting more, as I am, Richard III: The Maligned King looks good.
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Segnalato
mimal | 1 altra recensione | Sep 7, 2013 |

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Statistiche

Opere
10
Utenti
159
Popolarità
#132,375
Voto
3.9
Recensioni
6
ISBN
15

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