Kirjahaku

No woman in the Gilded Age made as much money as Hetty Green. Now the acclaimed author of Desert Queen delivers the definitive biography of America's first female tycoon, "an investment pioneer who matched her male counterparts in ambition and guile, and never backed down from a fight.... Filled with colorful historical details of an economic time that eerily parallels our own." --San Francisco Chronicle Hetty Green was a strong woman who forged her own path, she was worth at least $100 million by the end of her life in 1916--equal to about $2.5 billion today. Green was mocked for her simple Quaker ways and her unfashionable frugality in an era of opulence and excess; the press even nicknamed her "The Witch of Wall Street." But those who knew her admired her wit and wisdom, and while financiers around her rose and fell as financial bubbles burst, she steadily amassed a fortune that supported businesses, churches, municipalities, and even the city of New York. Janet Wallach's engrossing biography reveals striking parallels between past financial crises and current recession woes, and speaks not only to history buffs but to today's investors, who just might learn a thing or two from Hetty Green.

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE "A compelling story that pulsates with the energy of a thriller"--The Wall Street Journal "Suspense, lan and a generous helping of glamour: Think George Smiley in a mink-trimmed coat."--The New York Times Book Review The true story of socialite Marguerite Harrison, who spied for U.S. military intelligence in Russia and Germany in the fraught period between the world wars Born a privileged child of America's Gilded Age, Marguerite Harrison rebelled against her mother's ambitions, married the man she loved, was widowed at thirty-seven, and set off on a life of adventure. Hired as a society reporter, when America entered World War I she applied to Military Intelligence to work as a spy. She arrived in Berlin immediately after the Armistice and befriended the enemy, dining with aristocrats and dancing with socialists. Late into the night she wrote prescient reports on the growing power of the German right. Sent to Moscow, she sneaked into Russia to observe the results of the Bolshevik Revolution. Although she carried press credentials she was caught and imprisoned as an American spy. Terrified when told her only way out was to spy for the Cheka, she became a double agent, aiming to convince the Russian rulers she was working for them while striving to stay loyal to her country. In Germany and Russia, Harrison saw the future--a second war with Germany, a cold war with the Soviets--but her reports were ignored by many back home. Over a decade, Harrison's mysterious adventures took her to Europe, Baghdad, and the Far East, as a socialite, secret agent, and documentary filmmaker. Janet Wallach captures Harrison's daring and glamour in this stranger-than-fiction history of a woman drawn to the impossible.

A NEW YORK TIMES EDITOR'S CHOICE The true story of socialite Marguerite Harrison, who spied for U.S. military intelligence in Russia and Germany in the fraught period between the world wars Born a privileged child of America's Gilded Age, Marguerite Harrison rebelled against her mother's ambitions, married the man she loved, was widowed at thirty-seven, and set off on a life of adventure. Hired as a society reporter, when America entered World War I she applied to Military Intelligence to work as a spy. She arrived in Berlin immediately after the Armistice and befriended the enemy, dining with aristocrats and dancing with socialists. Late into the night she wrote prescient reports on the growing power of the German right. Sent to Moscow, she sneaked into Russia to observe the results of the Bolshevik Revolution. Although she carried press credentials she was caught and imprisoned as an American spy. Terrified when told her only way out was to spy for the Cheka, she became a double agent, aiming to convince the Russian rulers she was working for them while striving to stay loyal to her country. In Germany and Russia, Harrison saw the future--a second war with Germany, a cold war with the Soviets--but her reports were ignored by many back home. Over a decade, Harrison's mysterious adventures took her to Europe, Baghdad, and the Far East, as a socialite, secret agent, and documentary filmmaker. Janet Wallach captures Harrison's daring and glamour in this stranger-than-fiction history of a woman drawn to the impossible.

The untold story of Gertrude Bell, a woman as vital to the history of the Middle East as her friend and colleague, Lawrence of Arabia.

The definitive biography, mesmerizing and "richly textured " (Chicago Tribune), that inspired the acclaimed documentary, Letters from Baghdad. - With a new Afterword - "Desert Queen...plucks Gertrude Bell out of the shadow of Lawrence of Arabia." --The Boston Globe Here is the story of Gertrude Bell, who explored, mapped, and excavated the Arab world throughout the early twentieth century. Recruited by British intelligence during World War I, she played a crucial role in obtaining the loyalty of Arab leaders, and her connections and information provided the brains to match T. E. Lawrence's brawn. After the war, she played a major role in creating the modern Middle East and was, at the time, considered the most powerful woman in the British Empire. In this masterful biography, Janet Wallach shows us the woman behind these achievements--a woman whose passion and defiant independence were at odds with the confined and custom-bound England she left behind. Too long eclipsed by Lawrence, Gertrude Bell emerges at last in her own right as a vital player on the stage of modern history, and as a woman whose life was both a heartbreaking story and a grand adventure.