Kirjahaku

A candid and compelling portrait of the legendary opera diva describes Callas's youth in New York City, her struggle to transform herself into a glamorous star of international operatic theater, and her passionate love affair with Aristotle Onassis. Reprint.

Anne Edwards is the author of several bestselling biographies of notable figures, including film stars Judy Garland, Vivien Leigh, and Katharine Hepburn, as well as Queen Mary and Gone with the Wind novelist Margaret Mitchell. A fastidious researcher and accomplished writer, Edwards received a Pulitzer prize nomination for her book Early Reagan: The Rise of an American Hero. In this new memoir, Edwards turns the spotlight on herself, chronicling her 20-year exile from the United States from the 1950s until the early 1970s. After working for MGM as a junior writer, Edwards sold two original screenplays and was employed as a story editor on a television program. An attack of polio left her physically compromised and struggling to make ends meet, so the divorced mother of two left her homeland to find work in Europe. After arriving in London, she was able to find writing jobs under an assumed name, along with her expatriated colleagues. Leaving Home is a personal story about a young mother and her two small children, but it is also about the many famous—and not so famous—people whose lives intertwined with theirs: Judy Garland, John Garfield, Rod Serling, Norman Mailer, Greta Garbo, and several others. This is an intimate story of a woman who refused to be subdued by her circumstances and determined to rebuild her life in the wake of McCarthyism. It is also a story about a woman who found and lost love and will appeal to any readers wanting to learn more about Hollywood history during one of its darkest periods.

"Diana's many fans are sure to be delighted by Edwards's intimate prose and detailed descriptions." -Publishers Weekly. Perfect for fans of Netflix's The Crown. "This is the stuff of fairy tales," said the Archbishop of Canterbury on July 23, 1981, after the 20-year-old Lady Diana Spencer arrived in a glass coach for her wedding to Prince Charles. But everyone knows how that fairy tale ended. Drawing upon intensive research and interviews, acclaimed biographer Anne Edwards, well-known for her revelatory and incisive books on members of Britain's royal family, here uncovers new details of Diana's life and her search for love; of her family background; and of a betrayal, historic in its outcome. What the public did not know at the time of her storybook wedding was the true story of Diana's troubled childhood-of the cold, autocratic grandfather who disdained her father, who was himself an abusive husband obsessed with having a son to inherit the Spencer wealth and title. When Diana married Prince Charles, she joined the equally troubled House of Windsor, and was caught up in a plot Shakespearean in its deception and eventual tragic ending. Anne Edwards paints a vivid portrait of a woman desperate in her marriage, fearful of her life, who became devious-and often brilliant-in the moves she played in a treacherous royal chess game. As in her superb biographies of other royal and celebrated women, Anne Edwards's Ever After transcends the one-sided views of Diana in a work that must be called definitive. At long last, and with all of the insight and narrative drama that have marked her previous bestsellers, Edwards brings us the first full-scale, authoritative portrait of a more intelligent, more resourceful, and sometimes more ruthless woman than we have seen before.

The life of Princess May of Teck is one of the great Cinderella stories in history. From a family of impoverished nobility, she was chosen by Queen Victoria as the bride for her eldest grandson, the scandalous Duke of Clarence, heir to the throne, who died mysteriously before their marriage. Despite this setback, she became queen, mother of two kings, grandmother of the current queen, and a lasting symbol of the majesty of the British throne. Her pivotal role in the abdication of her eldest son, the Duke of Windsor, is just one of the events that provide the backdrop for both thrilling biography and for narrating the splendors and tragedies of the entire house of Windsor.

At the age of five, Shirley Temple became the world’s most famous and acclaimed child—the most talented, beautiful child performer ever to capture the public’s imagination. By the time she was ten, she had either met or had received words of admiration from almost everyone of distinction. Nine-tenths of the world could recognize her on sight. She single-handedly cheered an entire nation caught in the firm grip of a depression. Her films saved a major studio from bankruptcy. She earned more than the President of the United States and lived in her own junior-sized San Simeon. As lionized, idolized and protected as royalty, Shirley Temple was the one and only American Princess. Shirley Temple is brought into focus in this definitive, intimate portrait of her as a child and as the woman that child became: a woman forced to live her entire life in the shadow of her own past glory. We follow the tumultuous events and disappointments that marked Shirley Temple’s meteoric rise to unprecedented fame as a child star, her fall as an adolescent who had outgrown her appeal, and her surprising ascent into a word figure as ambassador to the United Nations, Chief of Protocol for the United States, and Ambassador to Ghana; her “princess in the tower” upbringing that isolated her from friends and real child’s play and from studio co-workers as well; her obsessive relationship with her mother, Gertrude, who lived her life through her famous daughter; her power over one of Hollywood’s greatest despots—Darryl Zanuck; her fairy-tale marriage to John Agar that became a nightmare filled with flaunted infidelities and alcoholism; her romance with Charles Black and her transformation from film start to society matron, television tycoon, to American diplomat; her courageous battle with cancer; and her ever-present realization that “little Shirley Temple’s” greatness would always exceed that of the grown woman. Shirley Temple’s most notable diplomatic achievement was her appointment by President H.W. Bush as the first and only female ambassador to Czechoslovakia. She was present during the Velvet Revolution, which brought about the end of Communism in the country, and she played a critical role in hastening the end of the Communist regime by openly sympathizing with anti-Communist dissidents and later establishing formal diplomatic relations with the newly elected government led by Václav Havel. She took the unusual step of personally accompanying Havel on his first official visit to Washington, riding along on the same plane. Anne Edwards has had the cooperation of those who have been closest to Shirley Temple in all stages of her unique life. She has written a book that does not spare the truth, and is as glittering an expose of Hollywood and its power brokers as any bestselling novel of that genre. Shirley Temple: American Princess is a moving and inspirational story that gives great insight into the privileged corridors of fame and glory where only the legendary figures of our times have walked.

The Grimaldis of Monaco tells in full the remarkable history of the world’s oldest reigning dynasty. For nearly eight hundred years, from the elegant Genoese Rainier I to the current Prince Albert II, the Grimaldis—“an ambitious, hot-blooded, unscrupulous race, swift to revenge and furious in battle”—have ruled Monaco. Against all odds, they have proved themselves masterful survivors, still in possession of their lands and titles despite the upheavals of the French Revolution and the First and Second World Wars, when royal heads rolled and most small countries met their demise. With insufficient weaponry and military forces far too small to go into combat against their more powerful neighbors, France and Italy, the Grimaldis endured by their cunning and their shrewd choice of brides—rich women and high connections in the most influential courts of Europe, and often, strong sexual appetites. The French nobleman’s daughter who married Louis I later became the mistress of France Louis XIV. Her son, Antoine I was wed to an aristocratic wife who outdid her mother-in-law by having so many lovers her husband took to hanging them in effigy. The seafaring adventurer Prince Albert I was unfortunate enough to have two wives, one British, one American, who ran off with their lovers. His second wife, the American Alice Heine, a fabulously rich heiress from New Orleans and the widowed Duchesse de Richelieu, was the model for Proust’s Princess of Luxembourg. Heine used her own wealth to bring grandeur, culture, and sophistication to the palatial center of Monte Carlo; and with the introduction of gambling, an internationally celebrated resort was born, initially for the privileged few and later for raffish café society, The last section of the book is devoted to the most recent generations of the Grimaldis. Here, a new image of Rainier III emerges as both man and monarch, beginning with his blighted childhood as the son of divorced parents and of a mother scorned as illegitimate. And preceding the drama of his marriage to Grace Kelly, there is an account of his intense love affair with a French film start and reasons behind his sister’s lifelong malice and envy of him. The final note is necessarily tragic, detailing in full the deaths of both Princess Grace and Princess Caroline’s husband in sudden and shocking accidents

He was an actor, newly divorced, whose controversial tenure as president of the Screen Actors Guild was drawing more attention than his fading film career. She was a contract player at MGM, unmarried and rapidly growing too old to play the starlet. It was time, she decided, to settle down and become Mrs. Somebody Important. So Nancy Davis contrived an introduction to Ronald Reagan, and the Reagans march into history began. The Reagans: Portrait of a Marriage is a penetrating portrayal of one of the most powerful couples of the twentieth century. Distinguished biographer Anne Edwards paints the first in-depth, intimate portrait of the man who became our fortieth president and the woman without whom he might never have reached such heights. It was a dramatic love story from the start: Nancy was always first in Reagan's thoughts and he was paramount in Nancy's actions. But this obsessional love had a darker side for the four Reagan children. Anne Edwards brings the Reagans' dysfunctional family life into sharp focus, along with a fascinating array of supporting players such as Reagan's evangelistic mother, Nelle, Frank Sinatra, and Gerald Ford. Few first ladies had as much power as Nancy Reagan, and few were so widely disliked. Anne Edwards shows a side of her never before revealed---from Nancy's ardent defense of Reagan's interests with both opponents and supporters, to the most difficult battle yet, the struggle to maintain her husband's dignity through his descent into Alzheimer's disease. The Reagans is an original and mesmerizing look at one of America's most important presidential marriages.

Katharine Hepburn: grande dame of American actresses, fierce individualist, and living legend. Nominated for 12 Academy Awards and winner of four, Hepburn achieved stardom against formidable odds. The woman behind the legend emerges in this sympathetic yet clear-eyed portrait of her exceptional life and loves. Filled with accounts of her relationships with Spencer Tracy, Howard Hughes, and many others, here is the fascinating story of a determined and invincible woman. From her ferociously guarded private life to Broadway's lights and Hollywood's Golden Age, A Remarkable Woman reveals a star whose courage and magnetism knew no bounds. Throughout her life Hepburn spoke her mind, mixing a native Yankee forthrightness with the social conscience she learned from her parents and her own brand of stubbornness. This book is a fascinating look not only at the invincible Katherine Hepburn but at a whole era—the golden age of Hollywood set against the struggles for women’s equality and the glittering lights of Broadway.

On September 23, 1947, a number of the film industry’s leading writers, producers, and directors received subpoenas that summoned them to Washington to testify before the Un-American Activities Committee of the House of Representatives. The McCarthy era had begun—and with it the destruction of hundreds of careers. This bold, multidimensional novel recreates life in the inner circles of the film industry in Washington, Hollywood, and the major capitals of Europe, portraying desparate people trying to rebuild their lives in the wake of McCarthyism.

Wallis Simpson rocked the British royal family—and indeed society at large—when the twice-divorced American socialite agreed to marry David Windsor, otherwise known as King Edward VIII, forcing his abdication of the throne. This novelization of this chapter in Wallis’s life starts with the couple’s first encounter in 1920, their romance beginning in 1934, and finally their marriage following the abdication of the King in 1937. Based entirely on research both in the United States and Britain, this is a solid factual presentation of the tumultuous events surrounding a king’s abdication, brought to life with dialogue and the story arc of a fine novel.

First published in 1986 and nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Early Reagan is still the most in-depth portrayal of the pre-government years of the late president. The book uncovers Reagan’s formative years: childhood poverty, film stardom, and his politicization via the Screen Actors Guild. Anne Edwards interviewed more than two hundred people important in the life of Reagan as well as those of his two wives, Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis. The book concludes with Reagan’s entry into politics in 1966, when he announced his candidacy for Governor of California in the living room of his hilltop San Onofre home. As the late historian Barbara Tuchman noted, “For anyone who wants to know about the circumstances . . . that formed Ronald Reagan into a political figure, this is the book to read.”

This is the story of the actress who became a Hollywood legend by winning the coveted role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, and whose circle included both theatrical and political celebrities, from Winston Churchill to Noel Coward, John Gielgud, and Marlon Brando. But behind the dazzling exterior lay the sinister shadow of another Vivien Leigh—a shadow which pursued her throughout her aristocratic upbringing, her frustrating first marriage, her tempestuous romance with Laurence Olivier, and her meteoric rise to stardom. As The New York Times wrote of the hardcover edition, “To read her story is to be inspired with pity and terror.”

Praised as “undoubtedly the best of the many books on Judy Garland” by no less a critic than John Lahr (the son of Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz), Anne Edwards’s biography attempts to present a complete picture of the late actress, and not just the boozing, drug-addicted caricature of a woman that is central to lesser biographies. From Edwards's account we learn, for example, that Garland saw it as her duty to provide for her family financially, a generosity that her mother Ethel exploited with disastrous results. A student of great poets—Shelley, Keats, and Browning in particular—she often tried her own hand at verse; surviving poems are reproduced here. Above all Judy Garland sought to please, whether it was an audience or a studio head, and therein lies her powerful and heartbreaking story.

Margaret Mitchell was as complex and compelling as her legendary heroine, Scarlett O’Hara, and her story is as dramatic as anything out of her own imagination—indeed, it is the basis for the legend she created. Gone With the Wind took the American reading public by storm and went on to become the most popular motion picture of all time. It was a phenomenon whose success has never been equaled—and it shattered Margaret Mitchell’s private life. In this commemorative reprint of Road to Tara, Anne Edwards tells the real story of Margaret Mitchell and the extraordinary novel that has become part of our heritage.

Streisand: A Biography is much more than the story of the world's greatest living performer, how she got there, and why she remains at the top after three decades, it is also, in Anne Edward's sure hands, a compelling chronicle of a woman's fight to validate her appearance, her talent, and her right to love and be loved. Time and time again Streisand has demonstrated the ability to reinvent herself to keep pace with the continuing changes in musical taste. This updated edition of Edwards's pioneering biography chronicles her public life as a political activist as well as her private life as Mrs. James Brolin.

In Royal Sisters, Anne Edwards, author of the best-selling Vivien Leigh: A Biography and Matriarch: Queen Mary and the House of Windsor, has written the first dual biography of Elizabeth, the princess who was to become Queen, and her younger sister, Margaret, who was to be her subject. From birth to maturity, they were the stuff of which dreams are made. “I’m three and you’re four,” the future Queen, then a child, imperiously informed her sister. The younger girl, not understanding this reference to their position in the succession, proudly countered, “No, you’re not. I’m three, you’re seven.” The royal sisters had no choice in their historic positions, but behind the palace gates and within the all-too-human confines of their personalities, they displayed tremendous individuality and suffered the usual symptoms of sibling rivalry. Royal Sisters provides an unprecedented and intimate portrait of these most famous siblings during their formative and dramatic youthful years. It is also one of the twentieth century’s most fascinating stories of sisterly loyalty. Edwards’s book is an honest look at how the royal sisters feel toward each other, their parents, their close relations and the men whom they have loved. It openly discusses, with new insights and information, the romance of Elizabeth and Philip and the tragic aborted love affair between Margaret and Group Captain Peter Townsend, and it has a cast of characters ranging from the youthful sisters’ suitors to Winston Churchill and the entire Royal Family. It is also the story of the making of a queen, of the high drama of her situation in the Townsend affair, of the real effect their uncle’s abdication had on the sisters’ lives, and of the internecine feuds that have brewed within the Royal Family since that time. Brought vividly to life through the many personal interviews of close royal associates, filled with new facts, previously unpublished anecdotes and photographs, Royal Sisters is a never-before-glimpsed look at the relationship of the Queen and Princess Margaret.

Many Canadians say that British Columbia is the zaniest political province. It's too diverse, too polarised -- geographically, demographically and ideologically. But the British Columbia political arena is lively, and it has often led the way in electing women to parliaments -- as respected spokespeople for the public and as equal people. In "Seeking Balance", Anne Edwards shares her conversations with more than eighty Briths Columbia women politicians, including Rita Johnston, Rosemary Brown, Grace McCarthy, Kim Campbell, Pat Carney, Darlene Marzari, Joy MacPhail and Carole James. These women who served as members of the provincial legislature or the Canadian parliament reveal their ambitions and their reactions to serving in a political system designed and dominated by men. Women struggle to find their place in the pyramids of power. They reach decisions in ways untraditional to Canadian politics; they bring ideas to a system ill-suited to respond; and they see clearly the jagged edges that should be smoothed in order to create a vibrant democratic state.These women -- of many ages, across party lines and from all parts of the province -- share attitudes and insights into the lively world of British Columbia politics, at home and across our nation.

Professionals deal with complex problems which require working with the expertise of others, but being able to collaborate resourcefully with others is an additional form of expertise. This book draws on a series of research studies to explain what is involved in the new concept of working relationally across practices. It demonstrates how spending time building common knowledge between different professions aids collaboration. The core concept is relational agency, which can arise between practitioners who work together on a complex task: whether reconfiguring the trajectory of a vulnerable child or developing a piece of computer software. Common knowledge, which captures the motives and values of each profession, is essential for the exercise of relational agency and contributing to and working with the common knowledge of what matters for each profession is a new form of relational expertise. The book is based on a wide body of field research including the author’s own. It tackles how to research expert practices using Vygotskian perspectives, and demonstrates how Cultural Historical and Activity Theory approaches contribute to how we understand learning, practices and organisations.

Professionals deal with complex problems which require working with the expertise of others, but being able to collaborate resourcefully with others is an additional form of expertise. This book draws on a series of research studies to explain what is involved in the new concept of working relationally across practices. It demonstrates how spending time building common knowledge between different professions aids collaboration. The core concept is relational agency, which can arise between practitioners who work together on a complex task: whether reconfiguring the trajectory of a vulnerable child or developing a piece of computer software. Common knowledge, which captures the motives and values of each profession, is essential for the exercise of relational agency and contributing to and working with the common knowledge of what matters for each profession is a new form of relational expertise. The book is based on a wide body of field research including the author’s own. It tackles how to research expert practices using Vygotskian perspectives, and demonstrates how Cultural Historical and Activity Theory approaches contribute to how we understand learning, practices and organisations.