Still Here
Still Here, The Madcap, Nervy, Singular Life of Elaine Stritch by Alexandra Jacobs The talented Broadway singer, actress, and comedian Elaine Stritch was the definition of her own worst enemy. […]
Spain in Our Hearts
Spain in Our Hearts, Americans in the Spanish Civil War, 1936-39 by Adam Hochschild Sum total of my knowledge of the Spanish Civil War: 1-Guernica (the painting not the city) […]
Shy
Shy, the Alarmingly Outspoken Memoir of Mary Rodgers by Mary Rodgers and Jesse Green Mary Rodgers (1931-2014) was the composer of the musical Once Upon a Mattress, which launched the […]
My Life on the Road
My Life on the Road by Gloria Steinem Gloria Steinem just goes. Whenever asked and wherever to. She is the last of a breed that believes to make a difference […]
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret
Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret by Craig Brown If you are a fan of The Crown and enjoy Royal gossip, I recommend Ninety-Nine Glimpses of Princess Margaret, which for lack […]
Kingmaker
Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman’s Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue by Sonia Purnell In her old age, she was the American ambassador to France and a confidant of Bill Clinton, […]
Flappers
Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation by Judith Mackrell Sex, Drugs, and Jazz. They drank, smoked, took drugs, had multiple sexual partners, earned their own money, wore short skirts, […]
First: Sandra Day O’Connor
First: Sandra Day O’Connor by Evan Thomas When Justice O’Connor, the first female Supreme Court justice, arrived at the Supreme Court in 1981, one of the first things she did […]
Empresses Of Seventh Avenue
Empresses of Seventh Avenue by Nancy MacDonell American fashion designers are so ubiquitous that it is hard to imagine a time when there was no such creature. But prior to […]
Madame Fourcade’s Secret War
Madame Fourcade’s Secret War by Lynne Olson I have read almost all of Lynne Olson’s World War II era nonfiction books. Although I have my favorites, Citizens of London and […]
Empress of the Nile
Empress of the Nile by Lynne Olson I love Lynne Olson’s nonfiction books, Citizens of London, Those Angry Days, Madam Fourcade’s Secret War. Like Madam Fourcade, Olson’s latest book, Empress […]
Empress Dowager Cixi
Empress Dowager Cixi, The Concubine Who Launched Modern China by Jung Chang The daughter of a government worker, Empress Dowager Cixi was not an heir to the throne of China […]
Clementine
Clementine: The Life of Mrs. Winston Churchill by Sonia Purnell When you are married to a legend, you get short shrift in the great one’s biography. And if that legend […]
Catherine the Great
Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie Like many rulers before her, Catherine the Great of Russia muscled her way into the job. A German born princess with no hereditary […]
All In by Billie Jean King
I was inspired to read Billie Jean King’s autobiography, All In, after listening to a terrific interview with eighty-year-old BJK on the Wiser Than Me podcast. Other than the highlights, […]