“A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia”, by Michael John Sullivan

473 pages, Random House, ISBN-13: 978-0679424000

A Fatal Passion: The Story of the Uncrowned Last Empress of Russia by Michael John Sullivan is a biography of Princess Victoria Melita of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Edinburgh, the third child and second daughter of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha and Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, as well as a granddaughter of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom and Emperor Alexander II of Russia. Victoria’s siblings were Alfred, Hereditary Prince of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, the only son and heir apparent of Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha who died aged 24 under circumstances still not entirely clear; Marie Alexandra Victoria, who became the last Queen of Romania as the wife of King Ferdinand I; Alexandra Louise Olga Victoria who, upon her marriage to Ernst II, became the Princess of Hohenlohe-Langenburg; and Beatrice Leopoldine Victoria who married Alfonso de Orleans y Borbón, Infante of Spain, a first cousin of Alfonso XIII of Spain (got all that?).

While it didn’t take long for the marriage of the Duke and Grand Duchess to go south, Marie managed to raise the girls to be smart, cultured and independent women for their times. Victoria Melita wound up marrying Ernst Ludwig Karl Albrecht Wilhelm, the last Grand Duke of Hesse and by Rhine and who was also the brother of the last Tsarina of Russia, Alexandra – and then divorcing the same, whereupon she married Grand Duke Kirill (Cyril) Vladimirovich of Russia, a son of Grand Duke Vladimir Alexandrovich of Russia, a grandson of Emperor Alexander II and a first cousin of Nicholas II, Russia’s last Tsar (don’t worry; my head is spinning, too). This was a huge scandal at the time since divorce was almost unheard of, especially amongst the nobility, most of whom were content to stay trapped in loveless marriages and conduct a series of empty affairs.

All of these European dynastic entanglements are fascinating, and all, but ultimately this is a rather frustrating biography as we learn so little of Victoria Melita herself. What were her principles? What did she stand for? What were her hopes and dreams, and so forth? Sullivan would have it seem that her body and soul went from being controlled first by her parents, and then by first one husband and then another. Are we forgetting that this was a fabulously wealthy woman with connections to the most important people in the world in her day? Oh, the author’s writing style is enjoyable enough as it flows so easily from topic to topic, and his interjections of relevant background stories, talks about the times, and chapter-ending cliffhangers – which, worry not, get explained in the next chapter – are all well and good.

But it seems from this book that Victoria Melita was an empty shell of a person without decisiveness or a will of her own. The image it casts is of a Royal Victim, swept along in a tide over which she had no control her entire life. This is plainly untrue, and plainly a matter of her own choice and her own decisions, as any member of royalty who pursued a divorce in the 18^th Century must have had a backbone of steel, but we see none of that in this book. Where is the spunk? Where is the determination? How were other royal divorcees treated by society at large? Was she snubbed? Did it hurt her? Or was she just the perennial mournful martyr and victim? Surely that can’t be true of the real person behind this facade.

“The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House”, by H.R. Haldeman, introduction and afterword by Stephen E. Ambrose

718 pages, G.P. Putnam’s Sons, ISBN-13: 978-0399139628

The historian Theodore Draper once wrote that “[i]f an historian had had a fantasy of knowing all that one man nearest to Nixon had known, he would have chosen Haldeman”, a fantasy that came true, for when H.R. Haldeman died, he left behind a chronicle of the four years he was Chief of Staff for President Nixon. This fascinating book, The Haldeman Diaries: Inside the Nixon White House, sheds light on virtually every aspect of the Nixon presidency. Many of the entries are priceless as his diaries offer a fascinating portrait of the major events of this era, including the Cambodia bombings, the Kent State shootings, the fall of Spiro Agnew, the Watergate scandal and new insights on Richard Nixon himself.

We are treated to a litany of enlightening quotes from the Nixonian inner circle, such as: “[Nixon] must be totally ruthless inside the Oval Office, but firm and human outside” from John Connally, who served as Nixon’s Secretary of the Treasury, advice that, on the evidence of these diaries, Nixon seemed often to invert; or “[r]ight after he hung up the P[hone] [Nixon] heaved a deep sigh, looked out the window, and said it would be goddamn easy to run this office if you didn’t have to deal with people” from Nixon himself after placing the disagreeable call to then-Secretary of State William Rogers, the man who had been cut out of Kissinger's “back channel” negotiations with Soviet diplomat Anatoly Fyodorovich Dobrynin.

But perhaps the most touching quote comes from the preface, in which Haldeman’s widow, Joanne, recounts how her husband recorded his impressions of each day’s work before going to bed, a thought made even more poignant by the fact that such diaries could not possibly be prudently kept today by any public servant. This situation, dramatically confirmed by every political scandal in the Republic since Watergate, is not only a gross invasion of the privacy of public figures – who are no longer allowed the asylum of a confidential journal – but, as is amply demonstrated by this book, is a terrible loss to future historians.

“Frederick the Great’s Army (1) Cavalry; Frederick the Great’s Army (2) Infantry; Frederick the Great’s Army (3) Specialist Troops”, written by Philip Haythornthwaite, illustrated by Bryan Fosten

48 pages, Osprey Publishing, ISBN-13: 978-1855321342 (1); ISBN-13: 978-1855321601 (2); ISBN-13: 978-1855322257 (3)

The Prussian army of King Frederick II, “the Great”, became so renowned as a result of its campaigns, principally during the Seven Years’ War (1756 – 1763), that it was regarded as a model for many of the other armies of Europe. In these three volumes from the Osprey Publishing “Men-at-Arms” series, author Philip Haythornthwaite examines the organization, tactics and uniforms of the Great Frederick’s splendid Cavalry, Infantry and Specialist Troops, a fighting force that contested battles such as Mollwitz (April 10^th, 1741), Hohenfriedeberg (June 4^th, 1745), Kesselsdorf (December 15^th, 1745), Rossbach (November 5^th, 1757), Leuthen (December 5^th, 1757), Liegnitz (August 15^th, 1760) and Burkersdorf (July 21^st, 1762), to name just a few, while utilizing numerous illustrations (including eight full page color plates per book) by artist Bryan Fosten. Throughout the reign of Frederick the Great, his greatest resource was his army, and it is a mark of the king’s determination that, despite wars which almost destroyed both Prussia and its army (especially the Seven Years’ War), he was able to maintain its numbers – even if the quality declined as the attritional campaigns took their toll. Packed with specially commissioned artwork, maps and diagrams, the Men-at-Arms series of books is an unrivalled illustrated reference on the history, organization, uniforms and equipment of the world's military forces, past and present, and these three volumes showcasing the army of the Great Frederick are no exception.

“The Oxford Companion to American Military History”, edited by John Whiteclay Chambers II, Joseph T. Glatthaar, Fred Anderson, Ronald H. Spector and Lynn Eden

960 pages, Oxford University Press, ISBN-13: 978-0195071986

The Oxford Companion to American Military History is a gold mine of information on American military history, exploring battles and soldiers, ships and weapons, services and doctrines, and even the social and cultural impact of the U.S. military at home and around the world. This work, edited by John Whiteclay, the Distinguished Professor Emeritus of History at Rutgers University, boasts over 1100 entries written by some 500 distinguished contributors covering a gambit of topics. Thus, readers will find a description of the D-Day landings by Stephen E. Ambrose, a brief biography of Jane Addams by Jean Bethke Elshtain, a discussion of the changing experience of combat by John Keegan, a blow-by-blow dissection of the Battle of Antietam by James M. McPherson, an entry on religion and war by Mark A. Noll, and a chat about Sitting Bull by Robert M. Utley, to name an extreme few.

Ranging from brief factual pieces to extensive essays, the entries examine every major war from the Revolution to the Persian Gulf; important battles from Bunker Hill, the Alamo, Gettysburg, Little Bighorn, Normandy, Khe Sanh and more; and military leaders like Washington, Grant, Lee, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Westmoreland and Schwarzkopf. Moreover, the Companion goes well beyond the usual “drum and trumpet” coverage of battles and wars to examine a wide range of subjects you might not expect to find, with entries on relevant acts of Congress and on diplomatic policies (such as the Monroe Doctrine and the Marshall Plan); on peace and antiwar movements; on war in film, literature, music and photography; and on war viewed through the disciplinary lenses of anthropology, economics, gender studies and psychology. The result is the widest ranging account compiled in one volume of war, peace, and the U.S. military. With its authoritative and vividly written entries, maps of several major wars, extensive cross-referencing, lists of further readings, and an exhaustive index, this volume is the first place to turn for information on our nation’s military history.