He applied the “Page 99 Test” to his new book, The Eagle and the Crown: Americans and the British Monarchy, and reported the following:Ford Madox Ford would have taken a particular interest in page 99 of The Eagle and the Crown, for it discusses the burgeoning transatlantic culture of Anglo-Saxonism and the role played in it by Queen Victoria: ‘Proponents of a distinctive Anglo-American friendship saw the rule of law and the liberty of the individual as supreme contributions of the English-speaking people to mankind. They found a priceless focus of sentiment in the Queen, who was hailed for her seminal role in spreading Anglo-Saxon civilization.’ It is a premise of the book that ties of kinship between Britain and the American republic reawakened soon after the Revolution, prompted in part by George III, who believed that Britain might reap more advantages from Americans as friends than had been derived from them as colonists. Indeed, the monarchy played a major role in the comity between the two nations, and served as a kind of lodestar for Americans, who, despite their democratic sentiments, fell in love with royal tradition from the lofty heights of republican virtue. The love-hate relationship with the British monarchy has been part of America’s conversation about itself for centuries. The book is an account of that conversation, of a nation that overthrew British rule only to become captivated by the magnetic attraction of royal renown.Read an excerpt from The Eagle and the Crown and learn more about the book at the Yale University Press website.
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--Marshal Zeringue
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