Anne-Marie-Louise d'Orleans, duchess de Montpensier, who was always called "La Grande Mademoiselle", has been a figure who has facinated French historians for centuries - unfortunatley, there have not been many books in english about her eventful life.

Born in 1627, Mademoiselle was the first grandchild born in the royal family of France for several centuries. She was destined to be a matrimonial pawn for her family because of her closeness to the throne and the immense fortune she inherited from her mother. She was in her time, the richest woman in France and it's greatest heiress.

We have been fortunate that Mademoiselle thought to write her memoirs during her lifetime. These have been used as the basis for this book. However all her assertions and ommissions have been cross-checked. The author presents a fairly straightfoward accounting of the princesses life. From her early years and the inattention of her father, Gaston (to whom she owed her royal position) and her conflicts with the court, to her later disgrace and exile and grand love of the Sun King's courtier Lauzun.

At the end of the book are three lengthy appedix' (or essays more correctly) dealing with Mademoiselle's writings and her much coveted fortune.

The only complaint I have about this book is that despite lengthy sections dealing with Mademoiselle's writings we actually hear very little of her voice in it. We are given a fairly objective view of her life by the author, but it could possibly have been enhanced by at least one section which let Mademoiselle speak for herself.

One earlier english work on Mademoiselle "La Grande Mademoiselle" by Francis Steegmuller, 1956 reproduces her written "self portrait" and this book is worth looking up for that alone.

Aside from the text it is nice to see such a well bound and produced book as this with nice study covers and acid free paper - designed to last the test of time. A timely reivew of this very active princess' life.

I met Beverly Matherne one winter, two years ago today. We were both taking the same linguistics class at a small univeristy in rural Nova Scotia. The class discussed the differences between standard french and the dialects and differences in the french spoken by Acadians (descendants of the first French settlers to Canada). Beverly was Cadienne, not Cajun, a distinction I soon learned.

She had lost the french she had been taught by her family. The language had been beaten out of her culture by schools which punished students who spoke the language they had known since birth. Beverly learned to speak French once again, in France, but she felt she had lost the tones and notes that were once known to her. Living in a rural area where everyone spoke like her grandparents was almost more than she could understand at times. She was exhilirated.

Upon her leaving, Beverly gave me a copy of her book, La Grande Pointe. I had heard some of these poems before, such as the beautiful and evocative "Paper Boat". The distinction to this volume of poetry (beside its accolades from critics and the public alike) was that the poems were translated into French. She was re-claiming her language, re-membering herself through her words. This is the power of La Grande Pointe. It is the story of a woman who learns to speak to herself and for herself, all over again.

The book doesn't take long to read, but I found it inadequate to tell what is an intriguing story. Its chronolgy leaves something to be desired, and I at least would have appreciated more footnotes, more explanation of the importance of the historical figures who are involved in the swindle, and a more documentary-like account. In my (1958) edition of the Encyclopedia American there is a one-paragraph account of The Humbert Swindle, but in my (1940) edition of the Brittanica I find no mention of the affair. Is this because it involved people who were Dreyfusards rather than anti-Dresfusards? I really think this swindle deserves a better book, tho I suppose Hilary Spurling will say that she has told us all she could find on it. But in view of the extensive press coverage I find that hard to believe.

Who was Thérèse Humbert? She was part Heidi Fleiss, part Frank Abagnale, part Don Juan, part politician, part Nelson Rockefeller, part Jackie O, part social Niccolo Machiavelli and part dumb lucky.

The tale of Thérèse Humbert's ability to build a career of fame and fortune out of completely nothing is better than Spurling's ability to tell it. A better writer would taken this intriguing story and made it into a great book.

To credit Spurling, she did her research well, but she writes with the method of a common feature journalist. The story is strong enough and compelling enough to keep any reader interested.

The story, in the end of it all, is a historic tragedy -- a sad docudrama put to print. Quickly read, it totals roughly 150 pages with ample leading and margins.

Anthony Trendl

I am interested in the Third Republic period of France, and this book detailed another scandal from that period. The book details the life of Therese Daurignac who married a son of the founder of the Republic. It details how Humbert, his son Theodore, and his wife committed a fraud on the French nation by pretending to be rich when in fact they were peasants with no money. Eventually, their scheme of borrowing money to pay other creditors collasped, and Therese and her husband were sent to prison.
If there is a criticism of this book, it is the brevity of it. 132 pages cannot bring to life how thousands of people were cheated out of their money, so that Therese could live the good life. For other books about scandals in the Third Republic, read Prisoners of Honor, The Dreyfus Affair by David Levering Lewis and The Panama Affair by Maron J. Simon.

i really like the Fords book cowritten by horowitz, so surfed his other books. this one may be great for the kkk scholar, but for the casual history buff who wants to learn something about the life inside the kkk in the 20's........it's about as interesting as a phone book.

David Horowitz has provided the scholarly community focusing of the Ku Klux Klan with an incredbily useful tool; the actual minutes from a Klan in La Grande, Oregon. With his brilliantly edited volume, Horowitz provides interesting insights into Klan functions, dress, politics, commerce and attitudes as told by Kligrapp Harold Fosner. What is more amazing though is that these records have survived, and through Horowitz's dilligence, they have been recovered from the Oregon Historical Society and made available by Southern Illinois Univeristy press. The historigraphy of Klan study has been altered greatly thanks to Horowiz's work, as speculation in past work can be either confirmed or refuted by examining Inside the Klavern, if in fact the La Grande Klan is a true representation of small town Klans nationally. A terrific read for all.