Critical Reviews of my academic paper re Jules Verne and Birkenhead
John Lamb
John Lamb has offered a detailed reconstruction of how Birkenhead fed into Jules Verne's imagination. The extent to which local landmarks inspired Verne could be used as a boost to tourism and local heritage.
Paul March Russell. Editor of the International Review of Science Fiction.
Fascinating!
Alex Cox. Film Producer. Director of Sid and Nancy and presenter of cult movie series ‘Moviedrome’. Birkenhead born.
"A fascinating and revelatory overview of the ways Jules Verne's most famous works were rooted in Merseyside and the Wirral - an insightful scrutiny of how inspiration and the creative imagination work."
Ramsey Campbell – Internationally acclaimed Horror fiction writer and critic. Birkenhead resident. Writer on Verne.
John Lamb’s meticulous studies of Jules Verne’s novels and his knowledge of Merseyside history and geography has uncovered a sustained connection between the author of such classics as Around the World in Eighty Days and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea and the town of Birkenhead. The Verne that emerges is one deeply engaged with industry, technology, and empire with Birkenhead standing in as a symbol for the immense energies unleashed for good or ill by industrial modernity.
Thomas Dillon. Science Fiction Curator, University of Liverpool. Keeper of Verne archive.
Gripping Stuff! ….. A Revelatory Treat!
Gyles Brandreth. Broadcaster, British no 1 writer, politician. Father born in Birkenhead.
Astonishing links between Captain Nemo's Nautilus and the CSS Alabama
Jimmy McGovern. Liverpool award winning writer and producer. Writer of 'King Cotton' re CSS Alabama.
This is a great piece — thanks for sending. I mentioned the Laird/Verne connection just offhandedly in the book, but I see you’ve really done the detective work here! I had no idea that Verne referred to Birkenhead so often (kind of wish I’d known that when I was writing it). I think Verne’s eye would also have been attracted to the Rams owing to the involvement of the dubious French bankers, the Bravays.
Alexander Rose. Historian and author of The Lion and the Fox: Two Rival Spies and the Secret Plot to Build a Confederate Navy and producer of the AMC TV series Washington's Spies based on his own book.
Congratulations!
HW Brands author. Twice nominated for Pulitzer Prize. Author of TR: The Last Romantic. President Theodore Roosevelt was the nephew of James Dunwoody Bulloch, the man who Commissioned the CSS Alabama in Birkenhead. The future President Theodore Roosevelt is repeatedly referenced by Jules Verne's Mysterious Island, and having stated he had read all Verne's books and corresponded with the writer. probably knew about his depiction in fiction.
The more that you dig the deeper the hole enveloping your cast of characters, including TR…You have produced a mammoth amount of fascinating information, both geographically and historically. Then there are the fictional connections within it all.
Mary Roosevelt referring to Jules Verne's literary references to the future President Theodore Roosevelt in Mysterious Island ... set in Birkenhead.
Mary Roosevelt was married to James Roosevelt, the eldest son of President Franklin D Roosevelt and is thus the daughter in Law of President Franklin D Roosevelt.
Franklin D Roosevelt married his fifth cousin Eleanor Roosevelt who was the niece of President Theodore Roosevelt and the great niece of James Dunwoody Bulloch, who commissioned the Birkenhead built CSS Alabama. Franklin D Roosevelt, according to his son James, mercilessly teased Eleanor Roosevelt about her 'pirate' Confederate Uncles.
Mary is the custodian of FDR's presidential desk and his personal archive.
Mary Roosevelt was born in Birkenhead England on June 5th 1939.
...with Robert Louis Atevenson attached.
Best John Lamb