Barbara Leaming

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Leaming answers the question: What was it like to be Mrs. John F. Kennedy during the dramatic thousand days of the Kennedy presidency? Here for the first time is the full story of the extravagant interplay of sex and politics that constitutes one of modern historys most spectacular dramas.Drawing from recently declassified top-secret material, as well as revelatory eyewitness accounts, Secret Service records, and Jacqueline Kennedys personal letters, bestselling biographer Barbara Leaming answers the question: what was it like to be Mrs. John F. Kennedy during the dramatic thousand days of the Kennedy presidency? Brilliantly researched, Leamings poignant and powerful chronicle illuminates the tumultuous day-to-day life of a woman who entered the White House at age thirty-one, seven years into a complex and troubled marriage, and left at thirty-four after her husbands assassination. Revealing the full story of the interplay of sex and politics in Washington, Mrs. Kennedy will indelibly challenge our vision of this fascinating woman, and bring a new perspective to her crucial role in the Kennedy presidency.

Winston Churchill rages against time and his own mortality, in conflict with friend and foe alike, in this tumultuous political drama of his last ten years of public life. Here is Churchill at his most outrageous, maddening and devious but also at his most human, courageous, and defiant. At the end of July 1945, Churchill was a defeated man hurled from power by the British people after a war in which he had saved his country. Churchill Defiant is the story of how, when it seemed impossible, Churchill fought his way back over the next six years to the centre of great events. In 1951, at last Prime Minister once more, he was ready to begin his dash to win the last prize I seek: the lasting peace that had eluded the world after Hitlers defeat. But Churchills battles were just beginning. He would have to wage war with both his closest colleagues and his most indispensable allies, the Americans, to get to where none of them wanted him to go: the negotiating table with the Soviets. Barbara Leaming has written a gripping, fast-paced narrative of bare knuckle politics, of life and death decisions, of old grudges, and fresh blame. It is a compelling, vivid, and often deeply poignant portrait of the great man at a time when almost no one wanted him to remain on the public stage and when he was willing to do absolutely anything to stay there.

Barbara Leamings Marilyn Monroe is a complex, sympathetic portrait that will totally change the way we view the most enduring icon of American sexuality. To those who think they have heard all there is to hear about Marilyn Monroe, think again. Leamings book tells a brand-new tale of sexual, psychological, and political intrigue of the highest order. Told for the first time in all its complexity, this is a compelling portrait of a woman at the center of a drama with immensely high stakes, a drama in which the other players are some of the most fascinating characters from the worlds of movies, theater, and politics. It is a book that shines a bright light on one of the most tumultuous, frightening, and exciting periods in American culture. Basing her research on new interviews and on thousands of primary documents, including revealing letters by Arthur Miller, Elia Kazan, John Huston, Laurence Olivier, Tennessee Williams, Darryl Zanuck, Marilyns psychiatrist Dr. Ralph Greenson, and many others, Leaming has reconstructed the tangles of betrayal in Marilyns life. For the first time, a master storyteller has put together all of the pieces and told Marilyns story with the intensity and drama it so richly deserves. At the heart of this book is a sexual triangle and a riveting story of betrayal that has never been told before. You will come away filled with new respect for Marilyns incredible courage, dignity, and loyalty, and an overwhelming sense of tragedy after witnessing Marilyn, powerless to overcome her demons, move inexorably to her own final, terrible betrayal of herself. Marilyn Monroe is a book that will make you think--and will break your heart.

Como en los mejores melodramas folletinescos, en la vida de Rita Hayworth, la legendaria "diosa del amor", estrella inolvidable de míticas películas como Gilda, La dama de Shangai y Sangre y arena, hubo de todo : pobreza, soledad, riqueza, fama, sonados amores (David Niven y Howard Huges entre otros), cinco tormentosos matrimonios (entre ellos, con Orson Welles y el principe Ali Khan, padre de su hija Yasmin), toda suerte de accidentados episodios producidos por su adiccion al alcohol y, para colmo, la terrible enfermedad de Alzheimer que la llevo a la muerte en 1987, sin que la cegadora luz de las candilejas jamas consiguiera borrar del alma de la atormentada Rita el recuerdo de la pequeña Margarita Cansino, hija de un bailarin de origen español quien la obligo, aun adolescente, a formar pareja con el en los mas sordidos escenarios. No es de extrañar que Orson Welles le comentara un dia a la autora de esta biografia acerca de su matrimonio con Rita : "Si aquello fue felicidad ¡imagine lo que habra sido el resto !"

Este libro es todo un acontecimiento porque, por primera vez, aparece una biografía de ese genio que es Orson Welles en la que el mismo participa activamente. En su compañía, seguimos su vida desde su insolita infancia de niño prodigio hasta su misteriosa existencia de los ultimos años, pasando por su inquieta adolescencia teatral, su precoz y escandalosa irrupcion en la radio, con la celebre emision de La guerra de los mundos que sembro el panico en Nueva Yorka; su titanica carrera cinematografica con obras maestras como El cuidando Kanea; su meteorica actividad politica y, por supuesto, su pasion por Dolores del Rio, su atormentado matrimonio con Rita Hayworth, su relacion con Judy Garland, su profunda amistad con Marlene Dietrich y su caprichosos amorios con bailarinas y coristas. Tras cada episodio de su vida contada parece oirse la voz de Orson Welles, comentandola, reinvetandola, casi reescribiendola con Barbara Leaming quien sabe registrarlo todo con habilidad para nuestro mayor deleite.

Como en los mejores melodramas folletinescos, en la vida de Rita Hayworth, la legendaria "diosa del amor", estrella inolvidable de míticas películas como Gilda, La dama de Shangai y Sangre y arena, hubo de todoa: pobreza, soledad, riqueza, fama, sonados amores (David Niven y Howard Huges entre otros), cinco tormentosos matrimonios (entre ellos, con Orson Welles y el principe Ali Khan, padre de su hija Yasmin), toda suerte de accidentados episodios producidos por su adiccion al alcohol y, para colmo, la terrible enfermedad de Alzheimer que la llevo a la muerte en 1987, sin que la cegadora luz de las candilejas jamas consiguiera borrar del alma de la atormentada Rita el recuerdo de la pequeña Margarita Cansino, hija de un bailarin de origen español quien la obligo, aun adolescente, a formar pareja con el en los mas sordidos escenarios. No es de extrañar que Orson Welles le comentara un dia a la autora de esta biografia acerca de su matrimonio con Ritaa: "Si aquello fue felicidad ¡imagine lo que habra sido el restoa!"