false http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1184987966m/1544257.jpg 1544257 5 She was born on a bitterly cold December night in 1626 and, in the candlelight, mistakenly declared a boy. On her father's death six years later, she inherited the Swedish throne. She was tutored by Descartes, yet could swear like the roughest soldier. She was painted a lesbian, a prostitute, a hermaphrodite, and an atheist; in that tumultuous age, it is hard to determine which was the most damning label. She was learned but restless, progressive yet self-indulgent; her leadership was erratic, her character unpredictable. Sweden was too narrow for her ambition. No sooner had she enjoyed the lavish celebrations of her officialcoronation at twenty-three than she abdicated, converting to Catholicism (an act of almost foolhardy independence and political challenge) and leaving her cold homeland behind for an extravagant new life in Rome. Christina, Queen of Sweden, longed fatally for adventure. <P>Freed from her crown, Christina cut a breath-taking path across Europe: spending madly, searching for a more prestigious throne to scale, stirring trouble wherever she went. Supported and encouraged in turn by the pope, the king of Spain, and France's powerful Cardinal Mazarin, Christina settled at the luxurious Palazzo Farnese, where she established a lavish salon for Rome's artists and intellectuals. More than once the cross-dressing queen was forced to leave town until a scandal died down. She loved to buckle on a sword and swagger like the men whose company she adored, but the greatest mystery in her life was the true nature of her elusive sexuality, which biographer Veronica Buckley explores with sensitivity and rigor. For a time it seemed there was nothing this extraordinary woman might fear attempting, until a bloody tragedy of her own making foreshadowed her downfall. <P>Pairing painstaking research with a sparkling narrative voice and unerring sense of the age, Veronica Buckley reclaims a protean life that had been preserved mostly as myth. Christina was a child of her time, and her time was one of great change: Europe stood at a crossroads where religion and science, antiquity and modernity, peace and war all met. Christina took what she wanted from each to create the life she most desired, and she dazzled all who met her. 1536527 2004 Christina, Queen of Sweden: The Restless Life of a European Eccentric total:35|5:4|4:8|3:14|2:6|1:3| 35 109 93 11 4 1 false true Mon Jul 20 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Thu Dec 04 15:50:26 -0800 2008 Thu Jul 23 12:41:31 -0700 2009


Here we have a sad case of an ingrate and malcontent penile envier who showed great propensity for hubris, cruelty and disloyalty. Your average European ruler then!

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I spent more than a year trying to work my way through this book.

I really love story of Queen Christina (and not just because we share the same name).

It's a shame Buckley has to ruin it with overwrought, ugly prose.

I have another book a...more...]]> 2 0 false false Mon Sep 08 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 05 20:52:05 -0700 2008 Fri Sep 12 22:08:00 -0700 2008 1 0 false false Wed Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2009 Wed Jul 08 14:29:51 -0700 2009 Sun Aug 09 09:17:09 -0700 2009 3 0 false false Tue Jul 01 00:00:00 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 17:20:34 -0700 2008 Sun Jul 27 17:22:46 -0700 2008 0 0 false false Sun Nov 22 10:59:20 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 10:59:20 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sun Nov 22 10:56:06 -0800 2009 Sun Nov 22 10:56:06 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Sat Nov 21 20:09:14 -0800 2009 Sat Nov 21 20:09:14 -0800 2009 3 0 false false Fri Nov 20 09:41:28 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 20 09:41:28 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 17 08:27:45 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 17 08:27:49 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Fri Nov 13 19:42:44 -0800 2009 Fri Nov 13 19:42:44 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Thu Nov 12 04:43:17 -0800 2009 Thu Nov 12 06:41:49 -0800 2009 0 0 false false Tue Nov 03 18:01:19 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 18:01:19 -0800 2009 4 0 false false Tue Nov 03 17:04:23 -0800 2009 Tue Nov 03 17:04:23 -0800 2009 http://www.goodreads.com/book_link/follow/8?book_id=1544257