Rating: 
Summary: The Enquirer Meets Royal History
Review: A tabloid treatment of history. Don't expect any in-depth explanations of a socio-politico-historic nature, but this book is well-written for the most part, if not terribly hip on scholarship (although the medical histories of some of Europe's rulers were fascinating and frankly somewhat scary). That being said, I enjoyed reading through it in one sitting. Nice light reading, if you take it for what it is.
Rating: 
Summary: Alarming indeed....
Review: Alarming is an apt description, as after reading this, you wouldn't want to spend much time in the company of any of the monarchs listed in this book. Rapists, murderers, cheats, drug fiends, and liars have ruled over a duchy or a kingdom or two and that's just in England. Granted, the high proportion of mad German blood might explain a thing or two as well. Shaw keeps things entertaining while the pace is brisk. This is light, amusing material that shouldn't be regarded as some highly important discourse on the relevancy of the monarchy in the modern world. Obviously, a monarchy serves a more populist role than a political one these days so you shouldn't see this as a smear tactic against any kingdom in particular. I am curious to research many of the dynasties written about if only to put this book into perspective. You have to admit that Oxford's History of the British Empire probably wouldn't reveal half of what's here. An entertaining read, that could have featured a few more chapters, hence the four stars. Well done, Shaw.
Rating: 
Summary: NOT if you are a serious reader of royalty
Review: I am always searching for new books on Russian and English royalty from 1875 to 1940. I enjoy reading about their inner families, habits, fights etc but I want it to be true and done in a serious manner.I want to know that the author is above board and knows his facts. I didn't enjoy Royal Babylon for two reasons. One, most of the characters he wrote of I am not interested in. He went clear back into the 1600's. Two, everything was done in a flippant way, which made me doubt his accuracy. Very little on English or Russian royalty of my time period of interest.
Rating:
Summary: Entertaining and a fun read, not academic but interesting
Review: I enjoyed this book. I never tried to take it seriously and I think that's why it was so fun. It was the kind of book you can read, put down, and go back to over time. It was something you had to committ to but it was fun and I learned quite a bit about those wonderful royals.
Rating:
Summary: Things we weren't supposed to know
Review: I have to admit I wasn't expecting much from an author whose previous works, according to the bio on the back cover, include 'Gross,' 'Gross II,' and 'The Mammoth Book of Tasteless Lists.' However, I was very pleasantly surprised. Compared to 'A Treasury of Royal Scandals,' by Michael Farquhar, which covers much of the same ground in a far more tendentious fashion, 'Royal Babylon' is a very good book. The sell-copy on the book's cover makes 'Royal Babylon' sound like nothing more than recycled gossip and titillating stories about Those Nasty Royals. It's actually a somewhat more systematic history than that, with in-depth profiles of several monarchs and thumbnail sketches of many others. Shaw also charts thoroughly the recurring incidences of mental and physical illness in the massively inbred family trees of European royalty, and tells tales of drunkenness and debauchery that never made it into the official history books. Unlike Farquhar, Shaw doesn't moralize about monarchy as an institution, or argue that his findings invalidate the very idea of having a hereditary head of state. In fact, he makes the important distinction (on pages 125-127) that in a constitutional monarchy like Britain, having a nut -- to use the clinical term -- on the throne, while still not a good thing, has far fewer negative repercussions than it does in absolute monarchies like Prussia or Imperial Russia. An eye-opening and disturbing element of Shaw's history is the body-count of people whose lives were taken or destroyed at the whim of a monarch. Throughout the book, people are beaten, starved, frozen, marched to death, or handed back and forth like trading cards. Thousands died in the construction of St Petersburg. Tall men from across the continent were kidnapped to Prussia to form Frederick William I's Potsdam Giant Guards. Other monarchs laughed at, or even enabled, this 'eccentricity.' As another review on this page notes, however, the death toll from monarchs is still far less than that exacted, in the twentieth century alone, by leaders acting in the name of the People. It may be outside the scope of Shaw's history to point that out, but it's still important to keep in mind that monarchies have tended to be far less sanguinary than 'dictatorships of the proletariat' are. I wish Shaw had included an index. But apart from that failing, this is a decent general survey of the seamy underside European royal history. Fans of the contemporary House of Windsor will want to read the evidence that suggests the domestic tableau of the post-Victorian British monarchy hides some secrets every bit as dark and troubling as those of the Wittlesbachs, Hohenzollerns, or Romanovs.
Rating: 
Summary: interesting cover, but could use some work!
Review: I rated this book two stars because sometimes it got extremely boring. Shaw seems to only depict English royalty and it got boring reading stories about the Hanovers. I would recommend A Treasury of Royal Scandals instead it was written much better.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent reading.....with great humor!!
Review: I really enjoyed this book because you get to realized a couple of things.Number One,history can be fun and you can still enjoy without digging too deep.Number two,once in a while i enjoy a light reading that will give me insight to better understand situations in other countries.Mr Shaw delivers a very good book that,in my case,never made me wanna put the book down.Altough we might sound a little "gossipy", the information is accurate and well researched.If you want a light reading this is your book,but dont be surprised with Mr Shaw's accuracy.My favorite parts were those that deal with the Romanovs and The English monarchs.Great book!
Rating:
Summary: Promising start - incredibly sloppy
Review: I thought that the book had some promise, when it started to describe how the inbreeding of the Royal houses caused a number of genetic health problems. The book quickly degenerated into a history according to rumor. The usual scandals are dredged up with no attempt to separate fact from fiction. The book then started to get sloppy, did anyone edit it? For example, in the section of Catherine the great the author states that she had three children with three different fathers. On the same page he then names the man responsible for her three children. The author also wants to cover as many people as possible so there is little depth on any one figure. It really reads like a long gossip column.
Rating:
Summary: Yawn, old news
Review: If you follow European Royalty, or know royal history, this book is nothing but a big yawn. If you are an amateur, this book may be exciting. It contains no new information, and is horribly one-sided. My advice -- don't bother. You get better coverage from the tabloids.
Rating:
Summary: Trashy, but a good read nonetheless
Review: No legitimate historian would be caught dead with this book. Shaw has gone through a bookcase of European history books and assembled all the trashy tidbits, especially where sex or personal hygiene is concerned. The end result is a very, very strange book. Focusing mainly on European monarchs of the 1700s and 1800s, the author details the shocking excesses of the royals, with an emphasis on the sexual. Attention is mainly on the monarchies of Britain (before the reign of Elizabeth II), France, Germany, and Russia, with secondary attention on Belgium, Poland, Portugal, Spain, and Austria. The people discussed are all long-dead; look elsewhere for a recounting of the Charles-and-Di story. The author assumes the reader has some background in European history. Historians will sneer at this book, but it kept me amused during a long day of flying and sitting in airports. It also reminds us that the potential to abuse power is bottomless, and it reminds us why we fought a revolution to get rid of the British monarchy (oops, I forgot -- I live in Canada).
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