European RC #3

I read this book for the European Reading Challenge

Eminent Georgians: The Lives of King George V, Elizabeth Bowen, St. John Philby, and Nancy Astor - John Halperin

Four 50-page examinations of an exceptional quartet connected to the United Kingdom between the wars comprise this interesting book. The title is taken after Lytton Strachey’s infamous book, which debunked four Victorian worthies in astonishing prose. However, this book is merely readable nor does it undermine the reputations of the four subjects, though Nancy Astor takes some serious lumps, all of them richly deserved.

Of George V Halperin says, “[T]here can be little doubt that he strengthened the throne in terms of its place in the hearts of his people, both by the role he played in the political affairs of the nation and the affection he commanded and held among his subjects in the Empire. Once could argue that, for the British monarchy, his reign was the most salutary in three centuries." I think even readers like me – i.e., people with little interest in royals – will get food for thought from the king’s refusal to provide asylum to his deposed Romanov cousins and his isolationism toward the Nazi threat.

Readers who liked The Death of the Heart, her best novel will like the overview of the life and work of Elizabeth Bowen. Halperin emphasizes her debt to Henry James rather uncritically. There is also the argument that her Irish exuberance was tempered – not in a good way – by Jamesian methods.

The third chapter gives an account of St. John Philby, the greatest of the Western explorers of Arabia and father of the destructive spy Kim Philby. Halperin makes clear that St. John Philby was the wrong kind of maverick personality to work in government, much less in foreign service.

American Nancy Astor, oddly enough, became the first woman to serve in the House of Commons. Despite her spotty education, her Virginia charm coupled with canny show-biz instincts enabled her to hold on the seat for Plymouth for 25 years. She fought for women and children, much to her credit. Halperin, however, smacks her around on the grounds of anti-Semitism, anti-Catholicism, and the dumb McCarthy anti-communism that gave serious anti-Communism a bad name.

Any reader who enjoys reading popular histories in search of general cultural literacy will like this book. It’s full of curious anecdotes. For example, at one dinner Nancy Astor interrupted Winston Churchill, who hated being interrupted, with “If I were your wife, I’d put poison in your coffee,” to which Winnie replied, “If I were your husband, I’d drink it.”