George III

Starred review from December 1, 2006
The fame of King George III rests almost solely on losing the American colonies and going mad. Black (history, Exeter Univ., U.K.; "The British Seaborne Empire") has produced a magisterial new treatment of George's life (17601820), exploring his long and eventful reign. Drawing on original research (especially into the English and Hanoverian correspondence) as well as synthesizing recent historiography, Black positions the king relative to his predecessors; places him in context with contemporary European rulers; considers the political development and constitutional implications of his reign; recovers the role of the Hanoverian possessions; and takes seriously the king's moral, religious, and cultural influences. Black locates the American War of Independence as the defining feature of George's reign (although one wonders if the subtitle is not calculated to boost sales in an American market) and moves away from treating the king's mental state as determinative. Black's background in Anglo-American military, diplomatic, and cultural history serves him well here, though some may find his prose a bit heavy. Libraries interested in a more intimate biography may prefer Christopher Hibbert's "George III: A Personal History".

Tillyard presents an altogether different side of George III, not so much as monarch but as family head. George's five underemployed sisters and brothers became pawns in the dynastic marriage game, although they did not always cooperate enthusiastically with the semipublic, semiprivate roles they were assigned. George's reign produced the Royal Marriages Act of 1772 (in part to keep royal unions in the personal control of the monarch)a legal provision that continues to impact the royal family today. Tillyard writes in an engaging, quick-moving style; her prose is less weighty than Black's (Tillyard's previous book, "Aristocrats", was turned into a "Masterpiece Theatre" series), though she relies on solid archival research carried out in Britain, Denmark, and Germany. Black's book is recommended for all college and research libraries; Tillyard's work is recommended for public libraries and undergraduate collections.Matt Todd, Northern Virginia Community Coll., Alexandria

Copyright 2006 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.