Jacobites - Hardcover

JACQUELINE RIDING specializes in eighteenth-century British history and culture. She was Assistant Curator of the Palace of Westminster and founding director of the Handel House Museum, London. She is completing a Ph.D. at the University of York.

A gripping, panoramic and timely account of the greatest eighteenth-century crisis to menace the Union of Great Britain -- Tom Holland Substantial, deeply researched and fast-moving, it mingles the thrill of revolt with a careful analysis of international contexts and motives * Literary Review * A fresh and historically convincing perspective ... An enthralling narrative [and] and a work of penetrating insight and dispassionate balance, which is captivating from start to finish -- Guardian * Colin Kidd * Page-turning, impeccably researched ... weaves a more complex tale than is taught in schools either side of the border * Tribune * A lively read, combining a good and succinct military account within wider and political social context ... I enjoyed and recommend -- Book of the Month * Military History Magazine * Her specialism in fine art, heritage and architecture means the book has an unusually acute sense of person and place ... It is both scholarly and readable, with 60 bite-sized chapters each presenting a detailed, vivid part of a complex rebellion * BBC History Magazine * Jacqueline Riding's Jacobites brilliantly captures the extraordinary daring of Bonnie Prince Charlie's '45, and takes us step-by-step to the final disaster at Culloden. This is the definitive modern account of the Jacobite Rising -- George Goodwin, author of 'Benjamin Franklin in London' and 'Fatal Rivalry: Henry VIII, James IV and the Battle for Renaissance Britain' Riding will expand even specialists' knowledge of the '45 because of her use of new source material, but her vivid storytelling and lively characterisation will also attract the general reader ... She provides fascinating biographical details of the Jacobite leaders and skilfully uncovers their mutual suspicions and divisions. This is a well-researched and honourable attempt at an impartial history. * Tablet * For those who know nothing about the rebellion, Jacobites is an excellent place to begin. For those who know much about the subject, Jacqueline Riding provides a comprehensive, fair-minded and well-researched account. She will lead every reader, whatever their expertise, on an exciting and highly entertaining journey -- Paul Monod * Court Historian * One of the most incisive accounts of the second Jacobite uprising under Bonnie Prince Charlie succeeds by putting hard-headed analysis before hindsight ... A forensic and accomplished account .. It is an immensely rigorous and meticulous book, but the narrative momentum never flags ... Riding has done sterling service in providing one of the most nuanced and sophisticated histories of the '45. Time and again, it offers fresh perspectives and interesting angles -- Stuart Kelly * Scotland on Sunday * Jacqueline Riding achieves a remarkable feat in producing a history which is both compulsively readable and factually packed. Having brilliantly toured the political situation of mid eighteenth-century Western Europe, she takes us along on the political (and then military) campaign trail with the Young Pretender. But the triumph of Riding's new account of the 1745 rebellion is that, as we move from Rome, through Paris, to Scotland and England, we are taken grippingly from romance to comedy, and even high farce, before the eventual tragedy * Catholic Herald * The use of contemporary accounts, especially from women, offers a different and compelling perspective to events ... Even-handed, refreshingly free of jargon ...[it reads] like a thoroughly researched adventure story * Library Journal * A meticulously researched work of great scholarship. The author writes with flow and panache and the book is immensely readable. -- Maggie Craig, author of 'Damn' Rebel Bitches: The Women of the '45' * goodreads * Witty and psychologically astute ... impeccably researched yet vigorously paced ... Riding has mined the archives to retrieve lost voices and her panoramic vision lets us hear the evolution of a national discourse * Country Life * [Riding's] account of the Jacobite Army's invasion of England conveys, as does no other ... the excitement and uncertainty of all who experienced it. It mattered not that I knew the outcome ... I found myself turning the pages breathlessly, as if reading the oft-told tale for the first time. Riding excels in sustaining so high a level of engagement -- History Scotland Magazine Jacqueline Riding has done a superb job at writing and researching what should, if there is any justice, become the definitive book on one of history's most significant turning points * Hellbound.ca *