super fast and easy read, that was nice enough and gave a brief overview of an interesting person and life. I do wish the author would have made the book a bit longer and added a bit more into it to take away the rushed feeling of the book but it was still a good start to learn basic information about emma hamilton.

I received a free E Arc from Netgalley.

Albion Press is an independent ebook publisher of classic books that have fallen out of print but deserve to be read once again. And indeed this biography of Emma, Lady Hamilton, should be as much interest to the reader for its content and writing style, as the object of its subject.

The book was written in the early 1900's, by someone who clearly professed a great deal of respect and admiration for Lady Hamilton, and perhaps found it a little difficult to reconcile it with the more stringent mores of the early Twentieth Century. When reading the work, which is quaint and relies quite heavily on the actual texts of letter that Lady Hamilton wrote during her life, it is quite sobering to think that the author knew nothing of the two World Wars, or the vast advances in technology which have since overtaken the world, or even of the advance of Women's Right, or of the more demanding rigours now required of a work of historical biography. There is no discussion of source material and at one point the author does make an assumption that the reader knows all about Nelson and the battles he commanded, which I think is no longer in the social consciousness of most people, swept away by the politics and war of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first.

However, the book is still worth a read for those who are interested in Lady Hamilton for both general interest and for those interested in the study of how women have been variously catalogued throughout history, and perhaps for those interested in the study of the Twentieth Century. Much current historical thought has its basis in the scholarship of the late Nineteenth and Twentieth Century and without their efforts history as we know it would not exist. For all it's antique style, and flaws, this book is thoroughly enjoyable and only gets a three star review not because of its content and writing style but because of its age!

This is the second book I have read about Emma Hamilton and its nice to read one so well researched. In the eras of double standards, with completely different codes of acceptable conduct for men and women, Emma has often in the past been painted as a gold digging harlot. She was attractive, and eventually became well educated for a woman of her class and time and had a genuinely good heart. Emma made good with whatever life threw at her; being passed from two men before eventually marrying William Hamilton. The story of her and Horatio Nelson is tragic and it has always been sad that Emma's years after Nelson's death were spent in poverty and illness. This books is a marvelous read for anyone interested in a slice of of Regency Era and two of the most famous people of that era - Emma Hamilton and Horatio Nelson.

Another reprint from Endeavor press. This time it is a very short biographical sketch of Lady Hamilton, who started out as a commoner, ended up marrying a Lord, and became the mistress of a beloved naval officer. Prior to reading this, I had only known her as the mistress of Lord Nelson. I had no idea of what her life was like prior to that scandal. She was a bit of a wild child, which makes it surprising that she went so far in English society. The only issue I had with this short book was the extremely flowery Victorian language used when discussing the virtues of lady Hamilton. Thankfully with the book being so short, it didn't get extremely annoying.

This book drew my attention because, while I knew of Lady Hamilton, I knew little about her. As such, The Life of Emma, Lady Hamilton offered an intriguing, if brief, overview of her life. I particular appreciated the way the author disproved some of the more salacious myths and concentrated on the facts. That said, this book was let down by a lack of notes and references. There was no bibliography, so it was difficult to confirm his sources or know where to turn for further reading. A scholarly work without referencing is a problem. How are you supposed to judge its authenticity? Overall, I enjoyed the book, and it certainly sparked my interest in this fascinating figure, but the absence of proper notations limited my review to three stars.