Elizabeth The Queen
by Sally Bedell Smith
- Percentage of approved critics who have given this book a positive review.
Critic Rating
54%
Critic Reviews: 24
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- User rating from iDreamBooks & iTunes
Reader Rating
79%
Reader Ratings: 364
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Synopsis
Just in time for holiday gift-giving, the major, revelatory, compulsively readable, New York Times bestselling biography of Britain's Queen Elizabeth II, published to coincide with the Queen's Diamond Jubilee-her 60th year on the throne-celebrated throughout 2012. Now with a new afterword.New York Times bestselling author Sally Bedell Smith is known for her "ravishingly readable" (Newsday) and "impressively well researched" (The Washington Post) portraits of... more
About Sally Bedell Smith
Published: January 12, 2012 by Random House Trade Paperbacks
Genre: Biographies & Memoirs, History. Non-fiction. 688 pages
- All Critics: 24
- Positive: 13
- Negative: 11
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Los Angeles Times | 9 Jan 2012
One frustration in Smith's book is the scantiness of attribution within the chapters themselves.
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The New York Times | 27 Jan 2012
Smith might have added depth by examining why republicanism has never taken root in Britain, why the British people feel so attached to the crown. . .
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Kirkus Reviews | 1 Jan 2012
A microscopically detailed portrait of the reigning Queen of England.
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Boston.com | 8 Jan 2012
. . .enlivened with countless anecdotes that show Elizabeth’s human side, and, at the same time, how fond most everyone is of her. . .
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Mail Online | 7 Feb 2012
. . .it suffers a little from the cautious blandness that characterises so many attempts at Royal biography. . .
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Independent.ie | 27 May 2012
. . .a worthy addition to the shelves of royal watchers everywhere.
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Newsday | 19 Jan 2012
The book is strongest when depicting Elizabeth's early years as queen. . .
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The Washington Times | 30 Jan 2012
. . .filled with insightful anecdotes and asides, framed in language that is delightful as it is instructive.
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The New York Times | 20 Jan 2012
. . . Smith pulls fascinating details into her portrait of Elizabeth, shining a beam onto underlighted corners of the monarch’s experience.
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Richmond Times-Dispatch | 5 Feb 2012
. . .a well-rounded and detailed portrait, a serious, occasionally gossipy but never sensationalized one.
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My San Antonio | 27 Jan 2012
This kind of writing belongs in the same category of sleazy tabloid journalism that prowls for opportunity to make quick, easy bucks.
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The Washington Post | 27 Jan 2012
For the most part, Smith takes on the role of royal apologist. . .
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Oregon Live | 4 Feb 2012
. . .the entire book feels as if it could have been authorized by its subject, and you don't have to be a voyeur to want more than that out of a book like this.
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The Globe and Mail | 25 May 2012
Out of the armada of books celebrating the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, this may be the one royal-watchers find most compelling.
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The Economist | 28 Jan 2012
Smith. . .offers her readers the illusion of knowing the queen as a friend. . .before sprinkling her account with minute indiscretions from other people who have met her.
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Toronto Sun | 15 Jan 2012
It is a portrait with some degree of depth.
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Bloomberg | 8 Jan 2012
. . .prose comes at you like a spray of saliva, its reverence bordering on rapture. . .
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Publishers Weekly | 19 Dec 2011
. . .the queen’s passion for her dogs and horses gets more ink than daughters-in-law Camilla and Sophie, and the monarch remains distant, her thoughts and feelings ultimately unknowable.
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The Daily Beast | 16 Jan 2012
. . .a lighter, more gossipy tale of palace life.
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BuffaloNews.com | 6 Jan 2012
She has a habit of switching from something juicy to something boring.
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Fredericksburg.com
An intriguing aspect of the book concerns the queen’s relationships. . .
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National Post | 18 Jan 2012
Both exhaustive and dizzying, the book goes deep into Elizabeth World and the age that she’s helped define.
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http://query.nytimes.com | 29 Jan 2012
...all this is well-trodden ground. Smith might have added depth by examining why republicanism has never taken root in Britain, why the British people feel so attached to the crown...
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