Nerd Picnic reviewed Rakes by Henry Blyth
Review of 'Rakes' on 'Goodreads'
2 stars
- No footnotes and few primary source quotations.
- Takes a Freudian approach to its analysis, which was outdated even in 1971. But that could have been okay (given that men's attitudes toward sex and toward women are actually relevant to the topic) IF he had also brought in some other angles like changing economic conditions etc. to explain the rakes' behavior.
- There were several odd factual mistakes and contradictions that made me wonder if they were simply typos. For example, one chapter leads off by saying that Lord So-and-So was awarded land by King Charles I for his loyalty during the civil war ... in 1627, fifteen years before the civil war started.
- Chastises at least a dozen women as scheming nymphomaniacs or harlots, when all they did was have as much premarital (or extramarital) sex as everyone else seemed to be having while also pursuing their own …
- No footnotes and few primary source quotations.
- Takes a Freudian approach to its analysis, which was outdated even in 1971. But that could have been okay (given that men's attitudes toward sex and toward women are actually relevant to the topic) IF he had also brought in some other angles like changing economic conditions etc. to explain the rakes' behavior.
- There were several odd factual mistakes and contradictions that made me wonder if they were simply typos. For example, one chapter leads off by saying that Lord So-and-So was awarded land by King Charles I for his loyalty during the civil war ... in 1627, fifteen years before the civil war started.
- Chastises at least a dozen women as scheming nymphomaniacs or harlots, when all they did was have as much premarital (or extramarital) sex as everyone else seemed to be having while also pursuing their own economic security. In the author's defense, he explains how many of the women made their choices at least as rationally and independently as the men; in short, he's equally disapproving of male and female promiscuity. Still, I found a lot of the female "side characters" to be more interesting than the rakes who are the subject of the book.
- I was looking for outrageous true stories. I can recognize for myself how a life of hedonism is short-sighted and ultimately self-defeating ... and how the upper class is inherently rotten. But on every other page the author points out how stupid the behavior was. WE GET IT! Let's hear more about the drinking and orgies.