Reviews
"Substantial, deeply researched and fast-moving, [it] mingles the thrill of revolt with a careful analysis of international contexts and motives." -- Literary Review "[Riding] maintains objectivity . . . making this work unusual among the many passionate and patriotism-tinged treatments of the oft-romanticized prince . . . Throughout, Riding seamlessly incorporates journal entries, letters, and other primary sources [and] effectively shows why Bonnie Prince Charlie's once-great hopes . . . continue to inspire the romanticization of his legend centuries later." -- Publishers Weekly "Given the popular sentimentality of her subject 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 "[Riding] unflinchingly describes the consequences for those who supported the rebellion. The use of contemporary accounts, especially from women, offers a different and compelling perspective to events, resulting in a persuasive work geared toward 21st-century readers. Even-handed, refreshingly free of jargon, and organized into short, succinct chapters focused on geographic location that make the book read like a thoroughly researched adventure story, this work will appeal to the lay reader while also being an ideal resource for a Scottish history course." -- Library Journal, "Substantial, deeply researched and fast-moving, [it] mingles the thrill of revolt with a careful analysis of international contexts and motives." -- Literary Review "[Riding] maintains objectivity . . . making this work unusual among the many passionate and patriotism-tinged treatments of the oft-romanticized prince . . . Throughout, Riding seamlessly incorporates journal entries, letters, and other primary sources [and] effectively shows why Bonnie Prince Charlie's once-great hopes . . . continue to inspire the romanticization of his legend centuries later." -- Publishers Weekly, "[Riding] unflinchingly describes the consequences for those who supported the rebellion. The use of contemporary accounts, especially from women, offers a different and compelling perspective to events, resulting in a persuasive work geared toward 21st-century readers. Even-handed, refreshingly free of jargon, and organized into short, succinct chapters focused on geographic location that make the book read like a thoroughly researched adventure story, this work will appeal to the lay reader while also being an ideal resource for a Scottish history course." - starred review, Library Journal "A comprehensive history . . . Riding provides an exciting account of a doomed rebellion and ably explores the psyche of the fierce, devoted Highlanders." - Kirkus "Substantial, deeply researched and fast-moving, [it] mingles the thrill of revolt with a careful analysis of international contexts and motives." - Literary Review "[Riding] maintains objectivity . . . making this work unusual among the many passionate and patriotism-tinged treatments of the oft-romanticized prince . . . Throughout, Riding seamlessly incorporates journal entries, letters, and other primary sources [and] effectively shows why Bonnie Prince Charlie's once-great hopes . . . continue to inspire the romanticization of his legend centuries later." - Publishers Weekly "Given the popular sentimentality of her subject 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 "[ Jacobites ] 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 "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 "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, "Substantial, deeply researched and fast-moving, [it] mingles the thrill of revolt with a careful analysis of international contexts and motives." -- Literary Review, "[Riding] unflinchingly describes the consequences for those who supported the rebellion. The use of contemporary accounts, especially from women, offers a different and compelling perspective to events, resulting in a persuasive work geared toward 21st-century readers. Even-handed, refreshingly free of jargon, and organized into short, succinct chapters focused on geographic location that make the book read like a thoroughly researched adventure story, this work will appeal to the lay reader while also being an ideal resource for a Scottish history course." - starred review, Library Journal "A comprehensive history . . . Riding provides an exciting account of a doomed rebellion and ably explores the psyche of the fierce, devoted Highlanders." - Kirkus "Substantial, deeply researched and fast-moving, [it] mingles the thrill of revolt with a careful analysis of international contexts and motives." - Literary Review "[Riding] maintains objectivity . . . making this work unusual among the many passionate and patriotism-tinged treatments of the oft-romanticized prince . . . Throughout, Riding seamlessly incorporates journal entries, letters, and other primary sources [and] effectively shows why Bonnie Prince Charlie's once-great hopes . . . continue to inspire the romanticization of his legend centuries later." - Publishers Weekly "Given the popular sentimentality of her subject 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 "[Jacobites] 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 "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 "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 "[A]n engrossing account . . . Riding allows those involved to tell the story; the narrative consists in large part of excerpts from the writings of participants and witnesses, including the Duke of Cumberland, which lends a sense of immediacy." - Choice
