The Last King of America

The Misunderstood Reign of George III

De: Andrew Roberts

Narrado por: Phillipe Stevens

The last king of America, George III, has been ridiculed as a complete disaster who frittered away the colonies and went mad in his old age. The truth is much more nuanced and fascinating - and will completely change the way listeners and historians view his reign and legacy.

Most Americans dismiss George III as a buffoon - a heartless and terrible monarch with few, if any, redeeming qualities. The best-known modern interpretation of him is Jonathan Groff's preening, spitting, and pompous take in Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda's Broadway masterpiece. But this deeply unflattering characterization is rooted in the prejudiced and brilliantly persuasive opinions of 18th-century revolutionaries like Thomas Paine and Thomas Jefferson, who needed to make the king appear evil in order to achieve their own political aims. After combing through hundreds of thousands of pages of never-before-published correspondence, award-winning historian Andrew Roberts has uncovered the truth: George III was in fact a wise, humane, and even enlightened monarch who was beset by talented enemies, debilitating mental illness, incompetent ministers, and disastrous luck.

In The Last King of America, Roberts paints a deft and nuanced portrait of the much-maligned monarch and outlines his accomplishments, which have been almost universally forgotten. Two hundred and forty-five years after the end of George III's American rule, it is time for Americans to look back on their last king with greater understanding: to see him as he was and to come to terms with the last time they were ruled by a monarch.

©2021 Andrew Roberts (P)2021 Penguin Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

Named a Best Book of the Year by The Economist and The Times (UK)

“The deft portraits and detailed episodes Mr. Roberts provides in The Last King of America - drawing on a vast trove of documents newly digitized by the Royal Archives at Windsor Castle - bring into clear view the man at the center of it all, whose personality, principles and proper reputation have been too long obscured.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“A fair-minded portrait...[written] with insight and aplomb.” (The Washington Post)

Fantastic .. a proud defense of George III

As an American raised and educated in Massachusetts I enjoy hearing the British version of America’s journey to Independence from the British perspective.
With this narrative Mr. Robert’s provided me just that! (Noticed an error when Mr Robert’s says Breeds Hill was in Dorchester .. it is Charlestown). His item by item defense / response to the 28 charges Jefferson made in the Declaration of Independence is passionate and pure gold if you are looking for how Thomas Jefferson’s masterpiece was received in Britain.

Narrator does a good job but he needs to work on his American accent!

Great book, but oh, the narrator.

This book leans on the side of George III, possibly to a fault, but the author has such a heavy lift. George III has been so caricatured that it’s necessary to point out his education, his interests in science, learning, and arts (the observatory to capture the transit of Venus, the book collecting, patronage of architecture, etc.), his religious faith and devotion to his family in order to budge the image of the foolish, spoiled mad tyrant that he wasn’t. Some of this was made possible by releasing so much of the Georgian papers. Among other things, it explodes the theory that he suffered from porphyria and agrees that the poor man had some sort of bipolar disorder. I feel nothing but pity for him for that and admiration for some of the other things. Historical myth-making is fine. Americans needed that caricature to break away and stay away from Great Britain. Now Hamilton has replaced some of the myths and brought in different ones. But I appreciate facts. This book has lots.

HOWEVER. Oh, dear, the narrator and American accents. I wish he hadn’t tried. I think he is under the impression that Americans growl their Rs simply because many of us occasionally use them. It’s Saturday, not Saturrrrrrrrday. We also have social classes, probably more then than we do now. Thomas Jefferson would not have sounded like a working class person from Queens. Frankly, Daveed Diggs bopping onstage singing, “What’d I Miss?” is more believable. I feel bad for seeming harsh, but sometimes it’s better not to try for very distinct accents. I don’t want my students trying for British accents either.

Overall, yes, I’d recommend it, but prepare to wince occasionally. Or laugh.,

Excellent.

Andrew Roberts is a superb writer. His command of the English language is like Rembrandt’s command over his brush strokes. I could visualize the chars pin his history. This book should be filmed as a TV series, much like the TV version of Versailles. It would teach the history of American Colonial times, the separation from the kingdom and that of England prior to Napoleon’s rise and fall.

Perspective

I loved it a different perspective than we as Americans are taught and probably a lot closer to the truth.

Saving a King from Caricature

This is an excellent biography in every way. It is grounded in documents but addresses legends. It explains the real workings of British government in the 18th century. It recognizes that the American war was not the only event in a long reign. The reader is excellent, despite a few places where I might question his pronunciation of a word or the accent chosen for a quotation. But the accents in the quotations did enliven the reading!

Yikes!

I am excited to tackle this book BUT I am struggling with the narrator who sounds as if maybe he’s auditioning a bit too hard for a Broadway show. I love books about the story behind the story and King George has for a long time — as with Benedict Arnold— been turned into nothing more than a cartoonish one dimensional figure out of history.

Informative Historical Update

As an American, I know history is written by the victors. Mr. Roberts gives us a different perspective, explaining WHY Britain would act the way it did. Quite logical, for the day. Triggered by the play ‘Hamilton’, the author does succeed in balancing the playing field. I found myself respecting King George. Yet, he can’t seem to grasp that no matter how noble King George may have been, the world had simply outgrown voluntarily be ruled by non-elected officials. Period! Riches were to be gained, so weaknesses were exploited.

Tireless research so the story is top notch. The performance was a bit difficult at times due to the British accent and a somewhat formal presentation.

And ‘Hamilton’ is still funny…What…what?

Amazing

Everything I thought I knew about George III was wrong ! If I had lived during his monarch, after reading this biography of a truly great man I wonder if I would have been a patriot or a loyalist. Thomas Jefferson and Samuel Adams in particular were two of the main persons to create an image of an narcissistic simpleton ruler in the colonies, pre and during the American revolution.
George was an academic and a major contributor to the sciences. This is a very interesting and enlightening read.

Outstanding work of history and biography

I am an avid student of history and found this to be one of the best works I have come across. I have read/listened to some of the more recent scholarship on the American Revolution so was not completely surprised by Roberts' telling of the British side of the story, however, his biographical narrative on George III broke new ground. His use of George's correspondence allows the reader/listener to get an excellent portrait of the King revealing the good and bad. Also his research should put to bed the "Madness of King George" explanation of the King's illness as false and misleading. The book also paints an outstanding picture of British politics and culture of the late 18th and early 19th century. I highly recommend this book.

Enjoyed a new lens on history.

I really enjoyed the book. Lots of details and insights into the times and king. I also enjoyed the lens of the revolutionary war from their point of view.