Klik op een omslag om naar Google Boeken te gaan.
Bezig met laden... The Long Weekend: Life in the English Country House, 1918-1939door Adrian Tinniswood
Geen Bezig met laden...
Meld je aan bij LibraryThing om erachter te komen of je dit boek goed zult vinden. Op dit moment geen Discussie gesprekken over dit boek. Possibly deserves a better rating than my 3* but it wasn't what I was expecting. I was expecting more about the weekenders and the visits and what went on during the weekend. A lot about architecture, buying and selling. And a lot more about southern rather than northern England though this may be because this is where these houses were situated. But some interesting anecdotes about the sexual intrigues of some familes. One I especially enjoyed was of Viscount Castlerosse who got himself into a nasty bunker and cried: "Oh, God come down and help me with this shot. And dnn't send Jesus. This is no job for a boy." I think I was expecting more focus on life in country houses and less details on the country houses themselves, so I found myself disappointed. I got bogged down in the chapters detailing the sales and resales and redecorating and demolition of country houses. When the focus turned to the people enjoying the houses, and to the people doing all the work to keep them running, the book became much more interesting. A superlative and detailed look into two to three hundred country houses of the nobility and the wealthy during the time between WWI and WWII. These houses, manors, castles, and palaces were not the “main” home of the family, but the “country retreat” so to speak, and what retreats they were. Time has not been kind to the English Country House after WWII for only a small number remain in the hands of the original family, many were given to the National Trust, a few were reincarnated as schools, several became swanky hotels, a handful were renovated to become private retirement apartments, more became museums owned by local governments, a lucky few were set aside as official residences of British Prime Ministers or Foreign Secretaries, and the remainder are in private hands. geen besprekingen | voeg een bespreking toe
OnderscheidingenErelijsten
"In The Long Weekend, acclaimed historian Adrian Tinniswood tells the story of the rise and fall of the English aristocracy through the rise and fall of the great country house. Historically, these massive houses had served as the administrative and social hubs of their communities, but the fallout from World War I had wrought seismic changes on the demographics of the English countryside. In addition to the vast loss of life among the landed class, those staffers who returned to the country estates from the European theater were often horribly maimed, or eager to pursue a life beyond their employers' grounds. New and old estateholders alike clung ever more desperately to the traditions of country living, even as the means to maintain them slipped away"--
"Drawing on thousands of memoirs, unpublished letters and diaries, and the eye-witness testimonies of belted earls and bibulous butlers, historian Adrian Tinniswood brings the stately homes of England to life as never before, opening the door onto a world half-remembered, glamorous, shameful at times, and forever wrapped in myth. The Long Weekend revels in the sheer variety of country house life: from King George V poring over his stamp collection at Sandringham to fascist leader Sir Oswald Mosley collecting mistresses at ancestral homes across the nation, from Edward VIII entertaining Wallis Simpson at Fort Belvedere to the Duke of Marlborough at Blenheim, whose wife became obsessed with her pet spaniels. Tinniswood reveals what it was really like to live and work in some of the most beautiful houses the world has ever seen during the last great golden age of the English country home"-- Geen bibliotheekbeschrijvingen gevonden. |
Actuele discussiesGeenPopulaire omslagen
Google Books — Bezig met laden... GenresDewey Decimale Classificatie (DDC)305.5Social sciences Social Sciences; Sociology and anthropology Groups of people ClassLC-classificatieWaarderingGemiddelde:
Ben jij dit?Word een LibraryThing Auteur. |
This is mostly gossip primarily about royalty and the houses, castles, estates, etc they own. It covers primarily the Edwardian Age, with a bit of Victorian and Windor Era thrown in for good measure.
Interesting and fun ( )