Rating: 
Summary: Fascinating portrayal of a spirited woman
Review: Foreman really draws the reader into the interesting life of Georgiana, one of the most influential women in 18thC society. This is a very well-written portrait and makes for great reading. It contained a bit more about the politics of the time than is of interest to me, but for those interested in such things I imagine all of that was entirely riveting. I was most interested in Georgiana the woman and what motivated her, and here Foreman did not disappoint. An excellent biography and an eye-opening look in to the 18th Century.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating biography of a wretched woman
Review: Foreman's biography provides a fascinating view of England in the late 1700s/early 1800s and the country's aristocracy and politics. I kept reflecting throughout the book that it was why America won its independence from Britain. America had statesmen like Adams, Madison, Jefferson, Washington, Franklin, etc. England had "statesmen" like the duchess of devonshire & her husband, and the rest of the aristocracy. I couldn't find anything in Georgiana to admire. Her trials & tragedies were completely self-inflicted. She & the rest of the aristocracy led pointless existences. They partied, gambled, spent shocking sums of money on nonsensical things, had affairs, bore illegimate children, were in debt because of all the former. Foreman tried to paint Georgiana as politically relevant, but I never was able to buy it. She was continually in debt. When given opportunities to have her debts repaid, she lied about their amounts and thus never have them completely paid off. What a self-destructive individual. A far better example of an extraordinary woman of the time is Abigail Adams.
Rating: 
Summary: Less is more
Review: Georgiana is a very interesting person and can easily be compared with Jacky Kennedy in terms of popularity in the society. She had a husband who was unfaithful. People at that time did not mind having affairs and gambling was a big business even if they did not have the money for losing. However learning about history and behaviors of that time was great.
Unfortunately the author spent to many pages on politics. A lot of political details were described and endless political discussions went on and on(most of them not necessary for a biography). If you skip them than it is fun to read this book. I expected more details on Georgiana. How did she overcome the problem of an unfaithful husband and the mistress living in the same house ...
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating story, but reads like a text book
Review: Georgiana is such an interesting character, that I recommend this book to anyone with an interest in English history, womens' studies or political science. However, I read this book on vacation, and it is anything but "light reading." In trying to document her subject accurately, the author often gets bogged down in historical citation and unimportant details. I am a good skimmer, and that's what you need to be to enjoy this book. Once you commit yourself to reading it, however, you are in for a treat!
Rating:
Summary: The Duchess of pleasure and pain
Review: Georgiana Spencer, Duchess of Devonshire, is one of the legendary personalities of 18th century English high society. Her name often comes up as a passing reference in English history of this period, but most books don't go beyond the fact that she lived in an unusual menage de trois with her husband and Lady Elizabeth Foster later in her life.This is the true story of a woman of great gifts, who through folly in her youth spent the rest of her life paying the price for it. It is a story of excess and living life to the hilt, an unhappy marriage and love in unusual places. Real life really is stranger than fiction. This book is well written and detailed and successfuly brings Georgiana, her family and friends to life. However, if you read this book be prepared for large doeses of English politics as this was one of the passions of her life and without following the politics of the period many of her actions would not make sense. An illuminating and worthwhile book, with lessons for us all on the consequences of obsession.
Rating: 
Summary: Biography Brilliantly Done
Review: GEORGIANA, DUCHESS OF DEVONSHIRE is a beautifully written biography. Amanda Foreman's style is so sure that it's more like reading a novel than nonfiction. In the end, one is as fascinated by the Duchess as her generation was. The book consists of four parts under which several chapters are given. Part One is called Debutante under which are the following: chapter 1 - Debutante: 1757-1774, chapter 2 - Fashion's Favourite: 1774-1776, chapter 3 - The Vortex of Dissipation: 1776-1778, chapter 4 - A Popular Patriot: 1778-1781, and chapter 5 - Introduction to Politics: 1780-1782. Part Two is called Politics and contains the following: chapter 6 - The Newcomer: 1782-1783, chapter 7 - An Unstable Condition: 1783, chapter 8 - A Birth and a Death: 1783-1784, chapter 9 - The Westminster Election: 1784, chapter 10 - The Opposition: 1784-1786, chapter 11 - Queen Bess: 1787, hapter 12 - Ménage à Trois: 1788, and chapter 13 - The Regency Crisis: 1788-1789. Part Three is called Exile and has the following: chapter 14 - The Approaching Storm: 1789-1790, chapter 15 - Exposure: 1790- 1791, chapter 16 - Exile: 1791-1793, chapter 17 - Return: 1794-1796, chapter 18 - Interlude: 1796, and chapter 19 - Isolation: 1796-1799. Part Four is the final part and is called Georgiana Redux. It consists of chapter 20 - Georgiana Redux: 1800-1801, chapter 21 - Peace: 1801-1802, chapter 22 - Power Struggles: 1802-1803, chapter 23 - The Doyenne of the Whig Party: 1803-1804, and chapter 24 -"The Ministry of All the Talents": 1804-1806. The biography also includes an introduction, A Note on Eighteenth-Century Politics, Chronology, Family Trees of Spencers and Cavendishes, an epilogue, Notes, Select Bibliography, Index, Reading Group Guide, and many picture, both b & w and in color.
This book will appeal to romance readers of Georgette Heyer, to readers of Georgian or Regency novels, to those interested in the 18th century and those interested in women's history.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Read
Review: Georgianna deserves to find an American audience as proportionately big as its British audience. Georgiana was a smash over there in England, a country fond of behind-the-scenes stories of aristocratic ladies in the past. (And in the present, too: much has been made of the connections between the Duchess of Devonshire and her descendent, Diana, Princess of Wales.) Yet Amanda Foreman's Georgiana is much more than one of those ersatz popular biographies full of pillow talk and emotions that result more from the biographer's imagination than real research. The book is written in an unpretentious, straightforward style that values clarity above everything. You don't have to be a Masterpiece-Theater-watching anglophile to appreciate its glamour, wit, and intrigue, and you don't have to be a professional historian to grasp its many provocative implications about history and the birth of mass political campaigning. Amanda Foreman must thank heaven every day that such a brilliant subject came her way, and she serves it well. Still, it would be hard to write an uninteresting book about the Duchess of Devonshire. She is a wonderfully paradoxical figure whose meaning seductively eludes the reader's grasp: was she a dilettante or a genuine, energetic talent frustrated by the sexism of her time? Was she merely acting out of the privilege of her class (really, she was above class) or was she genuinely driven ? The ladies of Stella Tillyard's Aristocrats come across as pampered pawns who infrequently lucked into a little free will. Foreman's Georgiana, in contrast, proves that at least one late-18th-century Englishwoman was capable of acting upon her will-even if she made more than one life-altering whopper of a bad decision. Foreman clearly loves her subject, but she does not leave out the flaws and weaknesses in Georgianna's character--all her indulgence, dishonesy, and self-interestedness are on display here. Still, one of Georgianna's greatest charms was learning from her mistakes, and thus her life-narrative has the arc of a good novel. One problem: it's hard for the non-historian to judge Foreman's claim that the duchess's political success represented a general involvement of women in politics of the time greater than is usually acknowledged. What woman other than Georgiana, so unlike anyone else, enjoyed her kind of power and how many were so advantageously poised, by birth and marriage, to find or create that power? Still, Georgianna's story, in Foreman's skillful telling of it, points to the truth of her claim that "the propensity of women's historians to ignore high politics, and of political historians to ignore women, has resulted in a profound misunderstanding of one of the most sexually integrated periods of British history."
Rating:
Summary: A Biography that reads like a novel
Review: Here we have a well-written, insightful, honest biography of a fascinating woman who lived in a remarkable age. Foreman shows us a woman who had flaws (a gambling habit every bit as bad as a drug habit) but also had imagination, intelligence, drive, and a willingness to live her life apart from the standards of her time. Combine this character with a husband to whom she was hopelessly unsuited, and an "All About Eve" friend and this book reads like a wonderful novel. Read and enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: the age of excesses
Review: I am a novice at historical biographies and this one prooves an amazing read! After the first page the colourful lives of the Duchesses,the Dukes,the Ladies and the Lords became irrisitable.Imagine being a fly on the wall in this extraordinary regency yarn. The book is so well reserched and constructed by the author that it is wholly believable.It is a fascinating insight into the decadence of the ton,the enormously wealthy and titled set with little to do but enjoy themselves by every possible means,sex gambling,drugs and politics are just a few of the diversion.A must read book!
Rating:
Summary: A Book You Want to Read Again and Again
Review: I bought this book because it had such a glowing review in the New Yorker, but frankly I was a little dubious about its obscure subject. However, once I started reading it I couldn't put it down. Think money, sex, adultery, lesbianism, aristocracy, drug addiction, gambling, politics, scandals, betrayals, blackmail, fashion, theater, and the French Revolution, and you have just some of the potent elements in this book. Foreman writes with great clarity and verve. The book reads more like a novel than a work of history. And yet it is full of fascinating insights and historical information. Georgiana seems more like a modern woman with thoroughly modern neuroses than an eighteenth-century character. I couldn't help but root for her all the way along. The evil Bess, on the other hand, is a character straight from the movie Single White Female - a classic evil best friend who cannot completely disguise her intentions. I recommend this book to all readers.
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