royal babylon

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　Anyone who loves scandal, particularly the juicy dish onroyalty, will inhale this gossipy account by British writer Shaw(The Mammoth Book of Tasteless Lists). In a style reminiscent oflow-end tabloids, the author presents a litany of negative andsometimes disgusting details about the personal lives of the menand women who ruled Britain, Germany, Russia, Belgium, Spain,Portugal, Poland and Austria. Leaving the late 20th century mostlybehind (his only mention of Charles and Diana is in theintroduction), the author concentrates instead on royal misbehaviorback to the 1700s. Entertaining overall, many entries areindisputably not for the faint of heart, such as the truly grossstory of Russia's Peter the Great ("`Great' was generally arecognition of power or brute strength, no matter how they lived,how many people they had killed or how repulsive they were"),described by Shaw as a "paranoid sadist." This tsar was analcoholic who tortured people for fun and once forced an attendantto bite into the flesh of a corpse. This chronicle is replete withroyal sexual activities, including those of the Bourbons of France,whom Shaw credits with possessing "extraordinary appetites." Ironyis Shaw's strong suit, which lends a great deal of humor to oftenhumorless anecdotes. For example, he notes that Spain's King PhilipIV fathered 30 illegitimate children "but being a good Catholicalways felt bad about it" and forced his wife to have sexualrelations three times daily. Like Michael Farquhar's A Treasury ofRoyal Scandals，this irreverent and amusing exposé of royalindiscretions will appeal especially to those who like theirhistory "lite." Illus. not seen by PW.

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