1999 Articles by Amanda Foreman

The New York Times: December 1999
Blue at the Mizzen: Patrick O`Brian`s dashing heroes from Nelson`s victory over Napolean return to the sea for more derring-do.
AMBITION can make a man, but a surfeit will kill him. It is a short passage from the reasonable to the excessive. Capt. Jack Aubrey, once master of the Napoleonic seas, has been left stranded by the peace of 1815. Like the sea snake that fatally bites itself on land, Aubrey deprived of battle is in danger of consuming himself.

"Blue at the Mizzen," the 20th volume of Patrick 0' Brian's saga of heroism and friendship on the high seas, is a welcome return to form. After a spell in the doldrums 0'Brian has presented his readers......................
Harpers & Queen: October 1999
Loch, Scotch and two smoking barrels
Shooting, with its strict etiquette and arcane vocabulary, can be baffling to the uninitiated.
Best-Selling historian Amanda Foreman takes the plunge and braves a high-calibre weekend in Scotland......................
The Sunday Times: August 1999
Decline and fall of the American can-do empire
One of the drawbacks of historical research is that it usually involves long periods away from home. I feel homesick north of the Watford Gap. I miss my friends, my garden and cooking my own dinner. Ideally, everything would be at the Public Record Office in Kew, failing that, the British Library or an attractive spa town. Knowing how much I hate being on the road, I could not have chosen a more insane project. For the next three years I shall be driving around America in a rented car, with a mobile phone and road map for company, in search of information about the British men and women who fought in the American civil war...................
The Guardian: July 1999
Uncommon touch
The scene was carefully staged to reinforce the image of an accessible, modern queen. Instead the photograph on the front page of almost every British newspaper seemed to capture a declining and disconnected monarchy. Amanda Foreman explains why the picture is 'one of the most important artefacts of the Elizabethan reign'.........................
The Evening Standard: June 1999
Greg - another triumph for life`s triers. Greg Dyke, The BBC`s D-G, left school with just one A-level. Amanda Foreman explains why late starters - she was one herself - often turn into super-achievers
What were Greg. Dyke's ambitions when he was 18? Did he think, "I've been written off, but one day I will show the world that Greg Dyke is an important person." Or did he just want to own a flashy bike, like his mates? That is the great question about late starters: what happened to make them late?........................
The Sunday Times: May 1999
Take me away from the dreaming spires
Universities are dusty places for the modern academic, says free-range historian Amanda Foreman

A couple of months ago, Sophie S, an Oxford undergraduate, wrote to me saying: "I plan to do a masters at the LSE next year. I am also keen to embark on research for a book, which would be an extension of my undergraduate Russian history thesis .... I would be extremely grateful for any advice or recommendations."...............................
The Guardian: March 1999
Bill's fatal distraction
Neurotic, needy, naive . . . what more could a president want in a mistress, wonders Amanda Foreman

Monica's Story by Andrew Morton 288pp, Michael O'Mara, £16.99

Just towards the end of Monica's Story there's a single line of intelligent commentary. Suffice to say it does not come from Andrew Morton himself, but from Alan Dershowitz. Morton quotes the American lawyer who saved from prison that other shining light of probity, Claus Von Bulow, as saying that Special Prosecutor Kenneth Starr turned a "tawdry series of Oval Office..........................
The Sunday Times: January 1999
The naughty story is the real stuff of history

"Great abilities are not requisite for a historian" declared Dr. Johnson. "Imagination is not required in any high degree." Well, he may be right about historians. But he is wrong about history. It is all about imagination. Knowing the rate of inflation during the Elizabethan era is less interesting, and arguably less important, than understanding why Elizabeth clung to her virginity. If that sounds like a posh way of saying "it all boils down to sex," then so be it............................

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