David Pryce-JonesCritiques

The mention of Vienna evokes images of symphonies and concertos, long coats and powder puff hairdos, elegant dances, fairy lights and beautiful landscapes, all linked to our memories of Mozart, Julie Andrews and the Sound of Music. This volume in the Great Cities series shows us the darker side of Vienna and the legacy of the Habsburg regime, with its social hierarchies amounting to almost a type of 'caste' system, the barriers to entry and recognition, the watertight compartments, and so on. An absorbing and informed account, supported by unique images of a bygone age.

1/14/23

Poorly organized doesn't do this justice: for a book supposedly based on extensive interviews it would be nice to know who is being interviewed and when. No such luck here - a lot of information, but no real answers to anything in here. I was very disappointed - this is really nothing more than a series of anecdotes about the last decade of the Soviet Union. Read with that in mind, I suppose it's worth it, but come prepared for boredom.½

A unique hybrid of criticism, memoir and essay. David Pryce-Jones uses books that authors have inscribed to him as a springboard to discuss their life, works, themes or subjects – all interwoven with and informed by his personal experiences and reflections. The book is arranged alphabetically by subject, which suggests that should be browsed rather than read. However, Pryce-Jones is so engaging, and his style so consistent, that it is easy to read Signatures as a cohesive work rather than a collection of disparate pieces. Pryce-Jones's own enthusiasms and preoccupations run throughout the book; this leads to some repetition, though it is entirely forgivable and justified by the context. One final plaudit must be given to the book as a physical object: Signatures is one of the most elegantly designed volumes that I have seen in recent times; from the choice of typeface to the architecture of the page and to the blind-stamped cover border, this is a book that honours its contents. Highly recommended.

Confirm many things I discovered Book given away

A stylish exploration of faith and fervour in rural England. Shirley's Guild is enigmatic, evocative and a joy to read.

The Strange Death of the Soviet Empire by David Pryce-Jones (1995)

A must read book for Cold War and Post Cold War History Buffs.
Beware this is a book that is not easy to read and extends over 400 pages. Language is good and clear. This book is a true first hand account from a long list of often un-identified iron curtain politicos and provides their first hand recollections as recorded by Pryce-Jones himself, a hardened and successful journalist.
Therefore the work will be a record for future reference as the true facts become dispersed and others add their spin and versions of the actual order of events.
The problem however for the casual reader is a lack of organization in this work. There is no time line summary of events. Each country of the former eastern block is covered with naturally overlapping time lines. This is not an academic work as such as there are no foot-notes, references, bibliography or even an index of merit. The chapter headings do not reference the name of the country of interest but are merely bon-mots perhaps. It is most often extremely difficult to identify at all who the first person-singular in any section might be. The detail of events ensuing is often over-whelming. Often it would appear that an hour by hour recollection of events is detailed.
On the plus side the book contains a very clear two page map containing all of the former Soviet Empire constituent countries.
Yes this book will provide a good reference for future historians to set the record straight. The book was written in 1995 at a good time to capture impacts preceding the 1991 demise of the Communist regime.
In short the book best chronicles the break-up of the Soviet Empire and the impacts of Gorbachev’s policies of “glasnost” and “perestroika”.

Wow! I love to read about the Mitfords but this is just pure gossip. It has many people's opinions but doesn't seem to have much basis in fact.½

This is a good book and an interesting approach, but it's so slim--it was expanded from a magazine article--that it leaves you hungering for more.

As an excellent summary in Amazon by Craig Matteon puts it, "Anti-Semitism has been a part of the tradition and history of the French Foreign Affairs Ministry - ... and is reflected increasingly in its policies towards Israel, but this is not the focus of the book. " The focus is on France's long quest to be a power broker in North Africa and the Middle East, regardless of the dire collateral damage.

And, boy, there has been a tremendous amount of that. Just consider how many people were killed from $20 billion in arms sales to Saddam (well, that's something I thought he should have elaborate on. Ditto why it was supplying Iran at the same time). Ditto Chirac's role over so many years in that. There was new info to me, tho: I didn't realize Chirac was the one that broke the deal between Arafat and Israel during the Clinton administration.

To backtrack, he also skims over the British-French struggle to control the region from Napoleon through WW2 and beyond. It may sound like the Crusades, but, as Pryce-Jones shows with documents from the Quai D'Orsay, some of the high-level anti-Semitism of the 20th century stems from France's vision of itself as the protector of Christianity in Palestine and vicinity.

How does France influence overall EU policy vis a vis Israel, Iraq and Arab countries? Does the Quai d'Orsay still have a great deal of autonomy? Just a few of the questions not answered here.

This should have been a fascinating read, but lacks academic authority. The author knew Mitford and family personally, plus many of the other persons mentioned in the book. It is not necessarily biased, but it lacks footnotes and properly cited comments. Also, because of his personal relationship with people whom he interviewed, he allowed their recollections (in some cases 20 years later) to go unchallenged. He also assumes that the reader will be familiar with the persons mentioned in the book and does not give background information on persons who are now obscured from history (doubtless they were widely known by people who remember the 1940's and 1950's). For more biographical information on Unity Mitford, read a more well-researched biography on the family, such as The Sisters, by Mary Lovell.

2910 The Strange Death of the Soviet Empire, by David Pryce-Jones (read 23 Sep 1996) This is a 1995 book by an English journalist who interviewed people concerned with that fantastic and pleasing event and then wrote, in a poorly organized way, this book. There are many interesting things in the book, but I suspect the author is a far right figure, since he says snide things about Graham Greene and even Harry Hopkins--while admitting there is no evidence to support the suspicion that Harry was a fellow traveler. It does seem hard to understand why Gorbachev just gave up some things, such as the DNR. Was Gorbachev really wanting to end Communism? One cannot believe it, but he surely was the principal architect of its fall.½