Tarnished Crown: The Quest for a Racetrack Champion

Looks at a year of American thoroughbred horse racing, from the debut of a two-year-old at Saratoga, to the triple crown, the Kentucky Derby, the Preakness, and the Belmont Stakes

Brook-Shepherd's 12 previous books established his reputation as a historian with the talent for clarifying extremely complicated events. Here he reports little-known facts on follies and tragedies that made the First World War inevitable. He shows why only England survived as a monarchy after the "Great War"; the others were doomed long before 1914, when the assassination of Austria's crown prince triggered the hostilities. The author describes manipulations by rulers in Serbia, Bulgaria and Montenegro, the power plays that contributed to the juggernaut. There is new light shedon Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm, who emerges here as feckless rather than determined on war as usually claimed and terribly jealous of his uncle Edward VII and cousin George V. Letters by Tsar Nicholas, foreshadowing the Romanovs' fate, are among the profuse communiques discussed that make the past immediate. Illustrations not seen by PW.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Nine European monarchs and their families played an active part in the events leading up to the outbreak of World War I. When the war was over, most of them had lost their thrones. The author introduces each of these colorful dynasties and examines the role played by each in provoking a cataclysm he believes was caused more by folly and blundering than by evil design. Only George V of England is held free of guiltand fittingly enough, England's throne and empire survived. Combining chatty narrative with serious examination of the steps to war, this readable history is a good choice for general readers. Nancy C. Cridland, Indiana Univ. Libs., Bloomington
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.