DECEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
There’s something uniquely soothing and enlightening about listening to this excellent history of the long struggle for Catholic emancipation in Britain and Ireland under the reign of King George III and his successors. The issues are safely remote, rooted in ancient prejudices and interparty rivalries that are centuries removed from our own. Steven Crossley is a highly polished narrator, worthy of a position in any of the courts whose head buttings he so elegantly surveys. You may sometimes lose your bearings in this long progression of ministers, mistresses, and legislative maneuvers, but the very remoteness of Regency ecclesiastical politics is what makes this polished narrative so very engaging. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
The New York Times Book Review - Randy Boyagoda
The King and the Catholics [is]…a convincing and worthy addition to the already impressive Fraser corpus.
Publishers Weekly
★ 07/09/2018
Fraser (Cromwell) provides a brisk popular history of the fight for Catholic emancipation in England and Ireland. She begins with the Gordon Riots in 1780 and takes readers through the complexities of nearly 40 years of politicking around the question of religious rights in the United Kingdom, leading up to the passage of the Catholic Relief Act in 1829. The Act was designed to ease penalties that had been on Roman Catholics in the United Kingdom since the 17th century. Fraser discusses a variety of these laws—they included restrictions on the ownership of private property and the education of children—and how they affected the Catholic population from peasant to aristocrat. Although some small pieces of legislation to relieve Catholics had been passed prior to 1829, general relief legislation always foundered on resistance in the House of Lords and from monarchs. Fraser traces how the conditions arose in the 1820s to allow this resistance to be overcome, including the convincing of two dedicated opponents of relief, Arthur Wellington and Robert Peel, leaders of the Conservative Party government in the House of Commons. Fraser’s account, which entertains with fine descriptions of London’s heated political and religious climate, will interest any reader of popular histories. (Sept.)
From the Publisher
A convincing and worthy addition to the already impressive Fraser corpus.” —The New York Times Book Review
“[Fraser] tells the story with erudition, sprezzatura, and a tremendous sense of fun. Every page is shot through with humour and humanity.” —The Guardian
“[A] lively account . . . Fraser writes with verve and lightness of touch.” —The Wall Street Journal
“Fascinating. . . . Fraser profiles a mighty battle over religious freedom.” —The Christian Science Monitor
“A splendid account of the struggle for Catholic emancipation . . . Fraser knows better than anybody how to make political and religious history fun . . . Her tale flows with such elegance and enthusiasm that you barely stop to notice just how skillfully she does it.” —The Sunday Times (London)
“Triumphant . . . The King and the Catholics explains, without ever obviously seeming to do so, how implacable prejudices and intractable issues can be tackled and overcome. In other words, it is that rarest of things: a good-news story.” —The Sunday Telegraph (London)
“This is an absolutely splendid book. With the brio and narrative skill which has been in evidence since her first book—the irreplaceable classic biography of Mary Queen of Scots—Fraser gives us a vivid account of Catholic Emancipation. Some of the most dramatic scenes in our parliamentary history are here brought to life with unmatched verve.” —The Spectator
“Fraser’s prose is a pleasure to read . . . Her book is the ideal introduction to the subject.” —The Daily Telegraph (London)
“As she has accomplished with so much modern British history, Fraser makes the story of the Catholic Question’s resolution riveting.” —Booklist
“A gripping telling of the struggle for Catholic rights in England and Ireland that is still relevant and will appeal to all who appreciate a good story about the fight for justice.” —Library Journal
“Fraser's account, which entertains with fine descriptions of London's heated political and religious climate, will interest any reader of popular histories.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
DECEMBER 2018 - AudioFile
There’s something uniquely soothing and enlightening about listening to this excellent history of the long struggle for Catholic emancipation in Britain and Ireland under the reign of King George III and his successors. The issues are safely remote, rooted in ancient prejudices and interparty rivalries that are centuries removed from our own. Steven Crossley is a highly polished narrator, worthy of a position in any of the courts whose head buttings he so elegantly surveys. You may sometimes lose your bearings in this long progression of ministers, mistresses, and legislative maneuvers, but the very remoteness of Regency ecclesiastical politics is what makes this polished narrative so very engaging. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2018, Portland, Maine
Kirkus Reviews
2018-06-27
Acclaimed popular historian and novelist Fraser (My History: A Memoir of Growing Up, 2015, etc.) rehearses the half-century of maneuvering that culminated in the 1829 liberation of English and Irish Catholics from crushing de jure discrimination.In 18th-century England, Catholics were a thoroughly oppressed minority. Despite the easing of some restrictions in 1778, in the early 19th century, new members of Parliament were required to swear an anti-Catholic oath. How was the government persuaded to pass "An Act for the Relief of His Majesty's Roman Catholic Subjects" (1829), which was, in the words of one Catholic cardinal, "to us what the egress from the catacombs was to the Christians"? Fraser's cast of characters won't surprise readers familiar with the outlines of the story: Her three stars are Irish Catholic activist Daniel O'Connell (who, despite insisting that "ours is a moral not a physical force," likened himself to Simón Bolívar) and, in Downing Street, the Duke of Wellington and Robert Peel, pragmatic politicians who served, respectively, as Prime Minister and Home Secretary. Both eventually championed Catholic Emancipation not out of a sudden love of Rome but because they feared that if they did not, "we must look to civil war in Ireland sooner or later" (as the Duke wrote to Peel in 1824). The supporting cast of anti-Catholic bigots included William Wordsworth, various Archbishops of Canterbury, and Mrs. Arbuthnot, a salon hostess who seems to have stepped out of a Trollope novel (it's disappointing that Fraser didn't make more use of Arbuthnot's pungent two-volume diary). Though marred by the occasional cliché ("these were…fighting words"), Fraser's account is salted with delicious details. For example, speaking in Parliament against emancipation, Attorney-General Charles Wetherell (who may have been drunk) gesticulated so aggressively that his suspenders broke and his pants started to fall down.Not for readers seeking innovative analysis, but a perfectly solid and sometimes-entertaining overview of the great men who brought about vital political change in Britain.
