Rating: 
Summary: Unique for her time
Review: I confess that I had no idea who Georgiana was before I picked up this biography, but I was so fascinated by this woman that I had a difficult time laying it aside.Georgiana was a trendsetter extraordinaire of her day. She freely experimented with fashion, regularly made all the gossip columns and gambled away more than one fortune, sums of money staggering even by today's standards. What I found particularly impressive about her was her grasp of and influence upon political matters. She actively campaigned for candidates, something previously unheard of for a woman in the 18th century. You'll need a baseball score card to keep track of the romantic entanglements. For example, Georgiana's best friend, with whom some believed she had a lesbian relationship, gave birth to Georgiana's husband's child. And those politicians she hobnobbed with? You've heard the old saying that politics makes strange bedfellows? When reading this book, you may take that saying literally. The tidbits of rumor and innuendo thrown in by Forman helped to make this biography very readable. Well-researched, gossipy but scholarly, Amanda Forman did her homework before putting Georgiana to press.
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: Perfect Biography, Disastrous Life
Review: 18th Century is not my favorite period in the history... Georgiana is not the type of person whom I respect and admire... Still, the book, the way it was written, its style, they all kept me reading it until the end with an unprecedented zeal... This is a great history book, this is one of the very rare objective biographies, this is a must for all history lovers...
Rating:
Summary: A beautiful book
Review: I just loved this book. I learned a lot about the time, and about an amazing women. I found the book to be heart-wrenching and sad. I love and hate Georginia. She is the most dynamic person I've read about in a long time. I only wish I could have known her.
Rating:
Summary: Delihtful Duchess
Review: Amanda Foreman who received the prestigious Whitbread Prize for Biography for this book, makes reading history as painless as eating a dish of raspberry ice cream. That is not to say the book lacks scholarship and research, but Ms. Foreman presents her material in such a witty, well-written way; the reader is beguiled. Georgianna was most of all, a very lovable woman. She was beautiful, stylish, lively, witty and unfailingly kind. She was a natural politician and was passionately involved her entire life. Her charisma, cleverness and organization in the political arena bring to mind FDR, JFK and Britain's present Prime Minister Tony Blair. She used all of her advantages of great wealth and high birth to maximum advantage. Georgianna's never-curbed mania for gambling caused her a lifetime of anxiety and misery. At one time, in today's dollars, she was $6 million in debt! She was never free of demanding creditors, and was ever fearful of confessing her great indebtedness to the Duke whom she dreaded would divorce her if he knew the extent of her losses. She was too loyal in her friendships and distinctly untidy in her love life. I noted one reviewer, in comparing Georgianna with her great (four times) niece, Diana, reported the Duchess never knew the joys of motherhood. This is incorrect. Her two daughters and son adored her. At the time of Georgianna's death, her eldest daughter wrote: "Oh my beloved, my adored departed mother, are you indeed forever parted from me? Shall I see no more that angelic countenance or hear that blessed voice? You whom I loved with such tenderness, you who were the best of mothers? Adieu---I wanted to strew violets over her dying bed as she strewed sweets over my life, but they would not let me." What parent could want a more loving tribute? "Georgianna, Duchess of Devonshire" is a compelling biography, not only of the subject, but life and times in Georgian England. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent coverage of a frustrating woman
Review: Amanda Foreman brings extensive research and detailed period knowledge to "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire," but does not let her research or knowledge interfere with her compelling story-telling ability. With admirable aplomb, she details upper-class British existence in the second half of the 18th Century, giving social context to the intrigues, political alliances, patronage, extramarital dalliances, and daily routines that comprised Georgiana's life. Unfortunately, for modern readers, Georgiana might prove to be a distasteful character. Unfaithful to her husband (who was equally unfaithful to her), she was willing to allow his mistress easy access, even encouragement, to him. At the same time, to avoid confrontation, she was willing to pretend illness for days at a time. A friend of Marie Antoinette, Georgiana shared her fear of, and dependence on a strong mother. An able canvasser for her husband and other politicians, she had the intelligence and instinct to have served in public office better than they. Georgiana's addiction to the gaming tables and constantly increasing debt to everyone from her friends and gambling partners to professional loan sharks are a prevalent, and unpleasant theme throughout her adult life and most of this book. Were she living in 20th Century America, one could imagine her checking joining a self-help group, or perhaps checking into rehab. After chapters of this addiction, which as Ms. Foreman clearly illustrates was common in Georgiana's class and period, the reader might be forgiven for wanting to take Georgiana by the shoulder's and attempt to shake some sense into her. The sense of impending doom becomes, at times, an impediment to enjoying Ms. Foreman's well-crafted book. That discomfort is, however, not nearly as much a criticism of Ms. Foreman as it is a compliment to her ability to help the reader empathize with her subject. As an added bonus, there is a centersection of color pictures, some of which depict the luxury in which Georgiana lived. A fascinating history of a complex woman living in extraordinary times.
Rating:
Summary: Almost too sad to read
Review: If you already know how the story ends, it's difficult to watch her throwing all her gifts away. Beautiful, charming, intelligent, rich, well-connected: she should have been happy in spite of that stick of a husband. Otherwise, it's a wonderful biography. "Prince of Pleasure", Saul David's biography of Georgiana's great friend the Prince of Wales, is a good companion piece to this. Between the two, you get a vivid picture of life among the bon ton during this period. (And you don't have to feel anything like as sorry for Prinny as for Georgiana.)
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant biography of Princess Diana's fourth-great-aunt
Review: While reading "Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire", I stumbled across the fact that this elegant, intelligent, misunderstood woman was the late Princess Diana's fourth great aunt. I must relay to you also that I found amazing similarities between Georgiana and her niece- both were educated and dominated by their mothers, both had cool, reserved husbands, and both sought love outside of their marriages. Unfortunately, Georgiana did not have children [though her husband had one illegitimate daughter by a mistress], like Diana did, to give her comfort. Aside from those facts, the biography is exceedingly well done. Ms. Foreman's research is quite apparant; the intricacies and elaborate facts and quotes are numerous; and the book provides an inside look at high society in Georgiana's time. An excellent read; I would recommend the book for history buffs and those fascinated with sixteenth and seventeenth century politics and society.
Rating:
Summary: Sex and Drugs and...Classical Music...Oh my!
Review: Bring on the Romantic era catfights baby! This woman ROCKED. Seriously though, she had a positively fascinating life, and what attracts me to her and kept me reading was the author's vibrance in describing this woman who didn't war with other women using her hair and nails, but with her politics and individuality. I kept getting urges to kill her husband, however. What a mean mean man. He didn't deserve to shine her shoes. I want to see more by Amanda Foreman. The only gripe I have with this book is the way that politics would take up huge meaty chapters, rather than being blended into the pages that described the social aspects. I seriously loved this book. May I soon see more books written by this author, for while no one else understood my fascination over the 5 day period I read it, many others who read it will.
Rating:
Summary: Better than any soap opera!
Review: This book has everything. Sex, royalty, power, travel, spys, false friends. It's better than Washington D.C.! Georgiana is one of the most interesting people ever to have lived and the fact that so many of her letters survive make this virtually an autobiography. Were it not for the beautifully insightful comments of her biographer, Amanda Foreman, I am sure we would be lost in a swirl of too much information. There are rarely books this interesting, and the fact that it is non-fiction is astonishing. I am reminded of how I felt after reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses: outrage, fascination, envy, awe!
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