Battle of Brothers


Book Description

A New York Times bestseller. From bestselling author and historical consultant to the award-winning Netflix series The Crown, an unparalleled insider account of tumult, secrecy and schism in the Royal family. The world has watched Prince William and Prince Harry since they were born. Raised by Princess Diana to be the closest of brothers, how have the boy princes grown into very different, now distanced men? From royal insider, biographer and historian Robert Lacey, this book reveals the untold details of William and Harry’s closeness and estrangement, asking what happens when two sons are raised for vastly different futures – one burdened with the responsibility of one day becoming king, the other with the knowledge that he will always remain spare. How have William and Harry both agreed and diverged in their views of what a modern royal owes to their country? Were the seeds of damage sowed by Prince Charles and Princess Diana as their marriage unraveled for all the world to see? In the previous generation, how have Prince Charles and Prince Andrew’s own relations strained under the Crown? What role has Queen Elizabeth II played in marshalling her feuding heirs? What parts have Kate Middleton and Meghan Markle played in helping their husbands to choose their differing paths? And what is the real, unvarnished story behind Harry and Meghan’s dramatic departure? In the most intimate vision yet of life behind closed doors, with its highs, lows and discretions all laid out, this is a journey into royal life as never offered before.




Summary of Robert Lacey's Battle of Brothers


Book Description

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The birth of Prince Harry’s first child in May 2019 offered the two brothers a chance to reconcile and embrace. They had tiffs and troubles before the wedding in 2018, but the birth of a spring baby brings everyone together. #2 The warming pan was the electric blanket or rubber hot water bottle of its day, and it was used in 1688 to smuggle a healthy substitute baby into the birthing bed of Mary of Modena, wife of the hated Catholic King James II. #3 The birth of Prince Charles in 1948 was the first post-1688 heir to the British throne to be born without the scrutiny of the people. In 1982 and 1984, Prince William and Harry were born, and they brought their sons out onto the steps of the Lindo Wing for public inspection. #4 The birth of baby Sussex was delayed for two weeks, and when he finally arrived, he was healthy but weighed 7 pounds 3 ounces. The couple returned to Windsor with their son undetected.




Alain Elkann Interviews


Book Description

Alain Elkann has mastered the art of the interview. With a background in novels and journalism, and having published over twenty books translated across ten languages, he infuses his interviews with innovation, allowing them to flow freely and organically. Alain Elkann Interviews will provide an unprecedented window into the minds of some of the most well-known and -respected figures of the last twenty-five years.




Meghan and Harry


Book Description

**A Wall Street Journal bestseller** An updated edition of this blockbuster narrative provides the first behind-the-scenes, authoritative account of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s marriage, by the New York Times bestselling author of Diana in Private. The fall from popular grace of Prince Harry, the previously adulated brother of the heir to the British throne, as a consequence of his marriage to the beautiful and dynamic Hollywood actress and "Suits star" Meghan Markle, makes for fascinating reading in this groundbreaking book from Lady Colin Campbell, who is the New York Times bestselling biographer of books on Princess Diana, the Queen Mother, and Queen Elizabeth’s marriage. With a unique breadth of insight, Lady Colin Campbell goes behind the scenes, speaking to friends, relations, courtiers, and colleagues on both sides of the Atlantic to reveal the most unexpected royal story since King Edward VIII's abdication. She highlights the dilemmas involved and the issues that lurk beneath the surface, revealing why the couple decided to step down as senior royals. She analyses the implications of the actions of a young and ambitious Duke and Duchess of Sussex, in love with each other and with the empowering lure of fame and fortune, and leads the reader through the maze of contradictions Meghan and Harry have created—while also evoking the Californian culture that has influenced the couple's conduct. Meghan and Harry: The Real Story exposes how the royal couple tried and failed to change the royal system—by adapting it to their own needs and ambitions—and, upon failing, how they decided to create a new system—and life—for themselves.




Grant and Twain


Book Description

In the spring of 1884 Ulysses S. Grant heeded the advice of Mark Twain and finally agreed to write his memoirs. Little did Grant or Twain realize that this seemingly straightforward decision would profoundly alter not only both their lives but the course of American literature. Over the next fifteen months, as the two men became close friends and intimate collaborators, Grant raced against the spread of cancer to compose a triumphant account of his life and times—while Twain struggled to complete and publish his greatest novel, Adventures of Huckleberry Finn.In this deeply moving and meticulously researched book, veteran writer Mark Perry reconstructs the heady months when Grant and Twain inspired and cajoled each other to create two quintessentially American masterpieces. In a bold and colorful narrative, Perry recounts the early careers of these two giants, traces their quest for fame and elusive fortunes, and then follows the series of events that brought them together as friends. The reason Grant let Twain talk him into writing his memoirs was simple: He was bankrupt and needed the money. Twain promised Grant princely returns in exchange for the right to edit and publish the book—and though the writer’s own finances were tottering, he kept his word to the general and his family. Mortally ill and battling debts, magazine editors, and a constant crush of reporters, Grant fought bravely to get the story of his life and his Civil War victories down on paper. Twain, meanwhile, staked all his hopes, both financial and literary, on the tale of a ragged boy and a runaway slave that he had been unable to finish for decades. As Perry delves into the story of the men’s deepening friendship and mutual influence, he arrives at the startling discovery of the true model for the character of Huckleberry Finn. With a cast of fascinating characters, including General William T. Sherman, William Dean Howells, William Henry Vanderbilt, and Abraham Lincoln, Perry’s narrative takes in the whole sweep of a glittering, unscrupulous age. A story of friendship and history, inspiration and desperation, genius and ruin, Grant and Twain captures a pivotal moment in the lives of two towering Americans and the age they epitomized.




Reset


Book Description

The bestselling author of Overthrow offers a new and surprising vision for rebuilding America's strategic partnerships in the Middle East What can the United States do to help realize its dream of a peaceful, democratic Middle East? Stephen Kinzer offers a surprising answer in this paradigm-shifting book. Two countries in the region, he argues, are America's logical partners in the twenty-first century: Turkey and Iran. Besides proposing this new "power triangle," Kinzer also recommends that the United States reshape relations with its two traditional Middle East allies, Israel and Saudi Arabia. This book provides a penetrating, timely critique of America's approach to the world's most volatile region, and offers a startling alternative. Kinzer is a master storyteller with an eye for grand characters and illuminating historical detail. In this book he introduces us to larger-than-life figures, like a Nebraska schoolteacher who became a martyr to democracy in Iran, a Turkish radical who transformed his country and Islam forever, and a colorful parade of princes, politicians, women of the world, spies, oppressors, liberators, and dreamers. Kinzer's provocative new view of the Middle East is the rare book that will richly entertain while moving a vital policy debate beyond the stale alternatives of the last fifty years.




Royals at War


Book Description

Reveals Shocking Revelations about Prince Harry, Meghan Markle, and the British Royal Family—and the Divisive Rifts Between Them This explosive exposé, Royals at War, takes readers inside a riven Buckingham Palace to provide the definitive account of the unfolding abdication crisis of 2020—dubbed Megxit—during which the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, Prince Harry and Meghan Markle, became royal outcasts. Through revealing interviews with royal family insiders, friends, aides, historians, royal watchers, and others with intimate knowledge of The House of Windsor, this tell-all book looks back at the events, motives and crises which led to Harry (sixth in line to the throne) dramatically abandoning his birthright—in a move not seen for nearly a century, when King Edward VIII also gave up the crown for the woman he loved as Europe teetered on the brink of fascism and war. Like Edward and Wallis Simpson, the catalyst for the scandal here is also an ambitious, controversial American woman. Dylan Howard, bestselling author of Diana: Case Solved and Epstein: Dead Men Tell No Tales, charts how Meghan’s relationship with Harry was viewed as controversial from the start—and how her brief honeymoon with the British public began to sour shortly after she and Harry announced in November 2018 that they would be leaving Kensington Palace to move to Frogmore Cottage, an hour outside London. As senior royals expressed disapproval, the public at first seemed to enjoy the royal spat, with many still supporting Team Meghan—until it emerged that the bill to renovate Frogmore Cottage to Meghan’s lavish expectations would be $3 million . . . and be picked up by British taxpayers. Finally, in a move nobody saw coming, Harry announced he was turning his back on the role he had been groomed for since birth—giving up his HRH title, repaying the renovation costs of Frogmore Cottage, abandoning his royal duties, and leaving Britain for good. Buckingham Palace reeled. Howard’s unique access and insight into this constitutional crisis will not only address the tensions and tantrums behind closed palace doors, but seek to answer the questions many are still asking: Has Prince Harry ever really recovered from the death of his mother Diana—and the resentment he feels against the institution that tried to destroy her? Why did Meghan, once hailed as a breath of fresh air, rile up the monarchy? Why did she refuse to conform to royal conventions in the way that Catherine did before her? Did the public and media criticism of Meghan go too far? And just how valid are the accusations of racism? How did these modern royals treat the tabloids differently to tradition? And did it backfire? What next for Harry and Meghan? And how will they—and the institution they’ve turned their back on—react to their new lives outside the confines of the Palace and free from the strict codes and conventions that bind all members of the Royal Family? Caught in a trap by virtue of a life entombed in a gilded cage, Royals at War answers these questions and more . . . and reveals how Harry’s infatuation with Meghan and desire to modernize the monarchy could yet end in disaster for the House of Windsor. Played out against the cataclysm of the British tabloid's laser focus on the duchess’ every movement—for good or ill—this is the true story of Harry and Meghan’s split from the Establishment . . . and perhaps just the beginning of a whole new Monarchy, redefined for the modern age.




William and Harry


Book Description

Nicholl delivers a fascinating insight into the lives and loves of two extraordinary young men who have captured the hearts and minds of not only the British public, but those the world over. This is the definitive book about the princes, bringing their story up to date.




Great Tales from English History


Book Description

With insight, humor and fascinating detail, Lacey brings brilliantly to life the stories that made England -- from Ethelred the Unready to Richard the Lionheart, the Venerable Bede to Piers the Ploughman. The greatest historians are vivid storytellers, Robert Lacey reminds us, and in Great Tales from English History, he proves his place among them, illuminating in unforgettable detail the characters and events that shaped a nation. In this volume, Lacey limns the most important period in England's past, highlighting the spread of the English language, the rejection of both a religion and a traditional view of kingly authority, and an unstoppable movement toward intellectual and political freedom from 1387 to 1689. Opening with Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and culminating in William and Mary's "Glorious Revolution," Lacey revisits some of the truly classic stories of English history: the Battle of Agincourt, where Henry V's skilled archers defeated a French army three times as large; the tragic tale of the two young princes locked in the Tower of London (and almost certainly murdered) by their usurping uncle, Richard III; Henry VIII's schismatic divorce, not just from his wife but from the authority of the Catholic Church; "Bloody Mary" and the burning of religious dissidents; Sir Francis Drake's dramatic, if questionable, part in the defeat of the Spanish Armada; and the terrible and transformative Great Fire of London, to name but a few. Here Anglophiles will find their favorite English kings and queens, villains and victims, authors and architects - from Richard II to Anne Boleyn, the Virgin Queen to Oliver Cromwell, Samuel Pepys to Christopher Wren, and many more. Continuing the "eminently readable, highly enjoyable" (St. Louis Post-Dispatch) history he began in volume I of Great Tales from English History, Robert Lacey has drawn on the most up-to-date research to present a taut and riveting narrative, breathing life into the most pivotal characters and exciting landmarks in England's history.




Black Power TV


Book Description

In Black Power TV, Devorah Heitner chronicles the emergence of Black public affairs television starting in 1968. She examines two local shows, New York's Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant and Boston's Say Brother, and the national programs Soul! and Black Journal. These shows offered viewers radical and innovative programming: the introspections of a Black police officer in Harlem, African American high school students discussing visionary alternatives to the curriculum, and Miriam Makeba comparing race relations in the United States to apartheid in South Africa. While Inside Bedford-Stuyvesant and Say Brother originated from a desire to contain Black discontent during a period of urban uprisings and racial conflict, these shows were re-envisioned by their African American producers as venues for expressing Black critiques of mainstream discourse, disseminating Black culture, and modeling Black empowerment. At the national level, Soul! and Black Journal allowed for the imagining of a Black nation and a distinctly African American consciousness, and they played an influential role in the rise of the Black Arts Movement. Black Power TV reveals how regulatory, activist, and textual histories are interconnected and how Black public affairs television redefined African American representations in ways that continue to reverberate today.